What Is Plagiarism? A Deeper Dive into the Consequences and How to Avoid It

The writing industry has diversified a lot in the current era. Look for them; you will find one writer sitting in at least 7 out of 10 houses you search. What Is Plagiarism If we were to categorize writers using the most basic criteria possible, there would be two types of writers – known writers and hidden writers. Now, what are these?

When you are a writer and you either pursue that professionally or at least some people know about your writing skills, you fall in the category of known writers. But there are many who love writing but tend to keep it a secret – either because they lack the confidence to showcase their skills or just because they follow it as a passion. But why are we discussing this?

Since the writing industry is a vast space now, we will find an infinite number of written pieces all over the internet. In fact, there will be at least a million copies available on the internet on the same topic! And this is where the problem arises. Many people – professional writers and passionate writers – prefer simply picking a topic and copying and pasting someone else’s work in their own name.

This is unethical and hampers the credibility of the one who copies and the efforts of the one whose work was copied. This is what we call Plagiarism. But what is plagiarism if we think about it broadly?

In this post, we will discuss plagiarism in detail, delving deeper into its consequences and how to avoid plagiarizing content.

Plagiarism – A Detailed Overview

You already have a basic overview of what plagiarism is. Let’s take a closer and broader look at it now.

Whenever we talk about plagiarism, we tend to describe it as an act of stealing where one person copies the work of another and uses it as his own. But is plagiarism just stealing? The answer is no. Plagiarism is a much more serious offense than just stealing or copying and pasting.

According to Merriam-Webster, plagiarism is a form of literary theft where the ideas or content of one person are either stolen and passed off or used directly without crediting the actual owner. We can also describe plagiarism as a scenario where a piece of content is portrayed as completely new after straightaway copying it from an old, existing source.

If we look at it closely, there are several definitions of plagiarism. But in a nutshell, plagiarism is the case where a person copies and pastes the original work of another person either knowingly or unknowingly without crediting the actual owner.

Types of Commonly Found Plagiarism & Examples

We have had a look at the diverse definitions of plagiarism, and a lot of you might be new to some of the definitions cited above. Now, let us take a look at the various types of plagiarism. Yes, plagiarism is like a book with several different chapters woven into one.

Below are some of the most common types of plagiarism found –

Direct Plagiarism

Direct plagiarism is one of the most commonly found cases of plagiarism. In this category, when a person directly copies the work of another person without using his own words, citing the name of the original author and crediting, or acknowledging them, it is known as direct plagiarism.

One of the most common examples of direct plagiarism is the scenario where a writer researches a topic, and straightaway copies the content of the actual source in his writing without crediting the original author. In direct plagiarism, certain or most parts of the content are copied and pasted.

Complete Plagiarism

Complete plagiarism is somewhat similar to that of direct plagiarism, but there is a major difference. In complete plagiarism, a person does not carry the act of copying and pasting literally but uses the work of someone else under his own name.

For example, Your elder brother has completed some XYZ course, and you ask him to complete your research paper just because he has experience. He does it and you submit it under your name. This is complete plagiarism where the entire content belongs to someone else.

Mosaic Plagiarism

Mosaic Plagiarism, also known as patchwork plagiarism, is the scenario where a writer uses the plagiarized content in his own writeup, but not entirely. Just like a mosaic, when a writer uses some phrases or parts of another content and pastes it into his own work, it is called mosaic plagiarism.

For example, while writing a story or an essay, a lot of us copy certain words or phrases from a source and paste them into our sentences. This becomes mosaic or patchwork plagiarism.

Self Plagiarism

Yes, you can plagiarize your own content as well. But how is that possible if the ideas are of your own? In the case of self-plagiarism, a writer, while preparing a new piece of content on a specific topic, tends to use certain parts of his own writeup prepared on the same topic previously.

For example, you wrote an article on the benefits of exercise on the human body. And while you were preparing another article on the importance of exercise daily, you used some part of your previous writeup in the new one. This becomes self-plagiarism. You can avoid that by citing your own previous work in the new one.

Accidental Plagiarism

Accidental plagiarism is arguably the most common form of plagiarism found, where a person commits the act of plagiarizing content unknowingly or accidentally. This happens when you forget to credit the original writer, credit the original writer by citing the sources but incorrectly, or fail to quote the exact copied sentence or phrase.

For example, if you are writing a poem and use one of the famous quotes of some famous writer, but forget to quote the author’s name, it becomes accidental plagiarism.

Paraphrased Plagiarism

While plagiarism is a commonly known offense, a lot of people try to avoid it by paraphrasing the copied content or writing that in their own ideas. In such scenarios, you are stealing the ideas of the original author, thereby promoting plagiarism.

For example, if you take someone’s quote “Harry likes to play cricket” and write it in your own words as “Cricket is Harry’s favorite game”, it is paraphrased plagiarism.

What Is Plagiarism? A Deeper Dive into Its Consequences

There are several consequences of plagiarism, some of the prominent ones are listed below –

Legal Consequences

Legal Consequences are probably one of the most dire but lesser-known consequences of plagiarism. Since plagiarism is a serious offense and is cited as the theft of ideas or words, the concerned person or organization can decide to take legal action against the accused. This can lead to monetary penalties or certain consequences even worse.

Damaged Reputation

When you copy the content of a person, you are promoting the act of stealing. If you get caught, it becomes an ethical offense that can damage your reputation. This is most common in students and working professionals where plagiarism offense can damage their academic or professional careers respectively.

Expulsion

The act of committing theft is heinous, and the same is the plagiarism case. According to the US laws, plagiarism is a fraud. The ideas and words of a person are their intellectual property and are protected by copyright laws, so when you plagiarise, you’re stealing. Be it a student or a professional, such an act can lead to their expulsion from the respected firms, hammering their reputation.

Loss in Creativity

Writing means using one’s creativity to craft something. So when you write something, you are using your creativity to give meanings to regular words. But if you copy someone’s work, you are taking a hit on your creative level, thus losing the creative mind in you.

Loss in Learning Opportunities

When you are writing on a specific topic and you don’t have an idea, you research. And when you research from various sources, you learn. But when you skip these and copy ideas or words, you are missing out on the learning opportunities, barring yourself from learning new things.

How Can You Avoid Plagiarizing Your Content?

How Can You Avoid Plagiarizing in Your Content?

How can you avoid plagiarism then? There are a lot of ways to avoid plagiarism, but below are the most effective ways –

Cite the Sources

One of the most common ways to avoid plagiarism is to cite the source from which you refer. Do not try to forge the citation or try to present it incorrectly. Once you are done with your writing, you can simply leave a small citation mentioning the original author without any discrepancies.

Start Quoting

Another effective way to avoid plagiarism is to quote the text that you use from someone else’s work. After you put the text in your content, put the exact sentence or phrase in a quotation, denoting that it is not your words but an inspiration that you have used.

Use Your Own Ideas

Using your own ideas is arguably the best method to prevent plagiarism while teaching yourself something new. You can conduct extensive research on the given topic and start writing only when you are sure of having understood the concept to present it in your own words.

Paraphrase

Paraphrasing is a type of plagiarism, but only when done incorrectly. You might not always be able to write every sentence from your understanding; there are chances that you might need to refer to someone. But when you do so, try to understand the given concept and write it in your own words. In simpler words, try to paraphrase the sentence and avoid using too many similar words to the original content.

Final Takeaway

Plagiarism might be a literary offense, but it is unavoidable. This is because every topic or keyword has something written on it on the internet. And you won’t always be able to design something completely unique. But this does not allow you to copy someone’s work and promote it under your name.

Plagiarism is an act of fraud and can have serious consequences if identified. So, it is always advised to use your own creativity and understanding to create content or credit the original author in case you use their work.

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