Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
Writers should maintain honesty in their works and have a comprehension of what plagiarism entails. Plagiarism involves the use of another person’s data, words, and intellectual property without crediting them. Plagiarism can be classified into various violations including clone, CTRL-C, remix, and find-replace. I once committed the find-replace violation.
Find-replace is the act of retaining the actual words of someone’s intellectual property despite altering the keywords and phrases. In this case, the original creator or author is not credited for his/her work. Besides, no advancement is seen from the academic coursework in the case of find-replace plagiarism (Louw, 2017). It also shows that the writer or student does not comprehend the main concepts of an article, book, or other sources from which he or she obtains information.
To avoid the find-replace violation, one should paraphrase an author’s intellectual property. It is also essential to read and comprehend the author’s data and words thereby developing own ideas and opinions that suit one’s context of academic coursework. The violation can also be avoided by correctly quoting data and words as they appear in articles and books used as resources in the writing process (Landau, Druen, & Arcuri, 2002). One can also avoid this by crediting the owner of the quote through parenthetical citations. Correct referencing of written work also helps to avoid the mentioned violation.
Writing entails sharing ideas, findings, and opinions with others who may include colleagues or educational instructors. One of the critical things to be avoided in the writing process, especially in the academic context, is plagiarism. One of the violations I have committed in this regard is find-replace. Avoiding plagiarism is essential in maintaining academic integrity.
References
Landau, J. D., Druen, P. B., & Arcuri, J. A. (2002). Methods for helping students avoid plagiarism. Teaching of Psychology, 29(2), 112-115. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15328023TOP2902_06
Louw, H. (2017). Defining plagiarism: Student and staff perceptions of a grey concept. South African Journal of Higher Education, 31(5), 116-135. Retrieved from www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/download/580/1634