The Definition of Plagiarism
Everyone knows that plagiarism is an extremely bad idea and that it is unethical, unfair, and downright abhorrent. It can also get a writer into serious trouble and the content that you write must truly be your own. That is an assumption that everyone makes.
The definition of plagiarism
You may think that plagiarism means that you have taken someone else’s words (in their entirety) and claimed that they are your words by putting yourself as the author of the content. That is certainly one definition of plagiarism. However, the definition of plagiarism also contains levels of subtlety that you may not even have considered. In fact, there are several ways to plagiarize another person’s work and you may not even be aware that you are plagiarizing.
It is important to have a really accurate idea about what plagiarism is so that you can determine if you are inadvertently plagiarizing. If you are aware of what you are doing, you can correct it.
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Verbatim plagiarizing: Verbatim plagiarizing is when you copy someone else’s words, letter for letter, without attributing the words to that person.
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Partial plagiarizing: This is when you take someone else’s content and use part of it (or “massage” the text) and use some of your own words, which you have interwoven into the content. You will embellish your content with someone else’s words because yours are falling short (in your estimation).
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Changing some of the content: The reality of this is that if any of the words in your content are the same as the words in the other person’s content, you have plagiarized. That, of course, is unacceptable. All of your words need to be your words.
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Using the concepts: If you take someone else’s content and use any part of it closely, you are plagiarizing. That means that you are not allowed to closely match any part of what that person has written, including the actual structure of the article. It must all be original and unique.
The many downsides to plagiarism
When you write content, you are sharing something that is unique to you and to your business and brand. If you plagiarize, you are robbing yourself of that uniqueness. As you must clearly understand, as you are establishing relationships with your online connections, you are building trustworthiness, credibility, and you are positioning yourself as a subject matter expert. If you plagiarize, you are weakening all of those attributes. It simply is not worth the price that you have to pay. How other people perceive you online (and in person) is critical to the success of your business.
If you present yourself as someone whom those people cannot trust, they will not want to do business with you and you will be finished before you even begin. Remember that you can use other people’s words as long as you attribute the words to that person. Another obstacle when it comes to plagiarism is content scraping. Content scraping is basically automatic, non-human plagiarism. People who use scraped content most likely did not get permission to do so from the people who actually wrote the original content.
Conclusion
Plagiarism is wrong on any level. You can take concepts that have been inspired by other writers but you must make sure that the words that you use in your content are all your own. You must present unique, exciting, compelling, and original content online that other people will be able to learn from. From a technological perspective, there are many plagiarism software products that can detect plagiarism. It is a good idea to research those to make sure that your content is in the clear. If you have inadvertently plagiarized or if someone else has plagiarized from you, either scenario must be dealt with and dealt with quickly.
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Via LinkedIn Group
Group: Business Writers of America
Discussion: The Definition of Plagiarism
While it is virtually impossible to create completely new and original material each time you endeavor to write something (anything), my time spent as a professor of writing (news writing, broadcast newswriting and business communications) opened my eyes to forms of plagiarism I had never thought about before. One form I ran into on a regular basis was the use of multiple research sources in a way that took bits and pieces from each but not very much from any one in particular. This was difficult to detect but extremely troubling because it demonstrated a calculated effort to create an entire article (or whatever) out of other people’s work. Somehow, students thought that if you only used bits and pieces of a lot of source materials that was not plagiarism at all. Another type that amazed me was when a student would try to disguise plargiarized material by using foreign or foreign language source material. This also showed a deliberate effort to hide the plagiarism in a manner that assumed the reader would never look beyond English in checking sources. A third form I encountered was the use of key words which I knew immediately were beyond the vocabulary of the writer and so acted as a red flag to spur an in-depth search for the true writer. Rather than try to scale down the level of the writing so as not to set off an alarm, the plagiarist would try to create the percetion that he or she was smarter or a better writer than they really were. Again, a sad testimonial to the decline of writing as a skill. A most difficult type to explain to students was the theft of an idea or the conversion of one medium (film for example) into another (writing). Obviously, if you watch a movie and then write a story that is an exact (or close) parallel, you have plagiarized. Finally, there was the one I call: “How on Earth could you write about something you don’t understand or know anything about?” This would always be difficult to explain to a student because they would see “rewriting” (even without understanding) as a perfectly acceptable way of making an article their own. I would have to explain that if the only place you ever saw something explained or discussed was in a piece of source or research material and then you opted to write your own article on the very same topic, you have plagiarized. So, I guess the short answer to the question is that almost all writing (or any other art form) has some degree of plagiarism in it since it is incredibly difficult to always be totally original. However, after writing for over 40 years, I have also come to the conclusion that originality of expression is always possible if there is the desire to create what no one else has done before. That is why certain films, plays, books, and even performances are considered classics or are given awards. All writers should be inspired to “bake from scratch” and, if they do, they will always be rewarded with the satisfaction of being beyond even the slightest suspicion of having plagiarized.
By Steven Di Joseph
Via LinkedIn Group
Group: “Write It Down”-A Website for Writers
Discussion: The Definition of Plagiarism
It has often been said that everything has been written. This is not true, adding your unique voice and your perception will make an idea new and exciting.
Plagiarism is the voice of a coward, a weak smudge lurking in the shadow of its creator.
By Ron Mahedy
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Jewish Professionals
Discussion: Is it Justifiable for Melania Trump to Plagiarize Someone Else’s Speech?
Greg Marcus: In short, no. It is disrespectful and unethical to take someone else’s idea without attribution.