Plagiarism: Not Worth the Risk
They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. This is not the case in the world of academia. Plagiarism is “the idea of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.” This is one of the most serious offenses in the academic and professional environment and can result in failure, expulsion and termination.
Amateurs tend to assume plagiarism is simply stealing a previous paper, test or project from former students or coworkers. With the current technologies available, it is far too easy for this type of plagiarism to be caught. A more common form is stealing ideas and often simply improper credit the source.
In the academic and professional world it is nearly impossible to write on a genuinely innovative topic. Most papers stem from previous ideas and the author continues to add value and input to the previous thoughts. While citing and expanding from previous work is acceptable, the correct author must be given credit through proper citations. There are a variety of acceptable citation styles including MLA, APA, Turbania and Chicago. Regardless of the style chosen- it needs to stay consistent throughout the paper.
As technology scientists, we need to utilize the resources available through academic libraries, websites and stylebooks to properly cite sources. We all know how tedious writing a research paper can be, and at times we just want to finish the assignment and move on. At the same time- proper citation can be more important than the actual content of the work. If you are caught plagiarizing- not only is your assignment worthless, you have done irreversible damage to your professional image.
Works Cited:
"Avoiding Plagiarism." 2009. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.
"Plagiarism." Def. 1. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.