Looking Past the 8 Myths of Plagiarism

Instead of contributing original ideas to a particular field, researchers tend to paraphrase the existing information. There has been a growing tendency in academic and non-academic writers to simply copy, paraphrase or reproduce content from other sources, without including citations. This has led to degradation in quality research work, scientific thinking and basically leads to lack of unique content online.

But, while we argue the immorality of plagiarism acts, nothing about it is simple. There are myths surrounding the act that lead to more inconsistencies and confusion.

For instance, contrary to the popular belief, duplicate work can now be easily detected; all thanks to AI-based software, which can scan millions of sources online for even the vaguest hints of duplicity.

Individuals in PR, corporate communications and marketing departments openly copy-paste texts, make mistakes in paraphrasing or forget to include citations. But these do not go undetected with the advent of plagiarism checkers for business.

Here are some common myths surrounding plagiarism that one needs to be aware of:

Plagiarism can take place in multiple fields. This includes SEO agencies, law firms and other corporate offices, websites, freelancing activities, research journals or publishing houses. It is not linked to young individuals in academia only but is widely prevalent in business environments

Unintentional or not, it is still a breach of legal guidelines. The punishments might be adjusted according to the extent of the act. Expulsion from college, loss of employment and legal proceedings upon infringement of copyrights are common.

Under no circumstances, copy-pasting others’ work and passing them off as your own can be justified. Therefore, any misconduct or unethical act is to be paid for. Only the original author has the right to enjoy credits or profit from his work unless permitted otherwise.

Although open to everyone, internet is full of unsolicited information. Not all information is accurate.

Many websites present articles based on researches by government bodies and statistical offices. Therefore, it is crucial to check the exact source and cite it in the paper.

Recycling your work can land you in serious troubles; particularly when done without the permission of your publisher. The search engines do not take into account whether the same person is writing two different articles or not. Copied content leads to decline in Google rankings.

This is also common among students in different semesters. Copying your own work directly without paraphrasing well can lead to consequences.

There are trillions of sources on the internet. How would the instructor know if you have copied? Well, top universities and enterprises today use AI and machine learning based software. These can detect duplicate content including statistics, figures and general information from sources in multiple languages.

Even if you are including bibliography and source references, it is mandatory to include in-text citations. This way, reader is able to identify the source of external information from the list of references made. Where the borrowed data starts and ends can be easily understood.

This is the last thing you would want to believe. Plagiarism checkers for business are powered by multi-layered extensive search mechanisms. It can extract data even from the password protected archives. Therefore, if your work is being scanned, chances are, each duplicate text will be highlighted.

Myths of plagiarism instill a sense of false confidence among authors. As much as it is important to avoid duplicity, knowing the basics of plagiarism is also mandatory.