Academic Plagiarism: Definition, Types, Examples and Prevention

This article discusses academic plagiarism, its definition, types, and examples. It also provides tips on how to prevent plagiarism, including proper citation and referencing. The importance of paraphrasing is also highlighted. References are provided for further reading.

Plagiarism
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Table of Contents
a. Definition of academic plagiarism...........................................................................................................2
b. Significant forms or types of academic plagiarism..................................................................................2
c. Scenarios and examples of academic plagiarism.....................................................................................3
d. How to avoid academic plagiarism..........................................................................................................5
e. Things learned from this research............................................................................................................5
f. References................................................................................................................................................7
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a. Definition of academic plagiarism
Academic Plagiarism can be defined as using and presenting someone else work or their ideas
considering as own work without having their proper consent1. In other words, it can be
explained as to be the ideas or work copied or steal from someone other’s work in the written
form. Academic plagiarism can also be defined as the desired act of copying from someone else
work or direct quoting without having their adequate or proper acknowledgment. To avoid using
copying of the work, putting references or referring the work of the concerned person is essential
to the use of appropriate in-text citations.
b. Major forms or types of academic plagiarism
There are few of the academic plagiarism, which is listed below:
Direct plagiarism
It is defined as the word-for-word transcription of the particular section of some other person’s
work without having proper attribution, and the particular quotation marks2. The copying of
putting the ideas of someone else work is effectively considered as to be unethical and is
academically dishonest as well as grounds for the various disciplinary actions including of the
inclusion.
1 Ross, David B., and Rande Matteson. "Copying Something Good and Making it Evil: An Examination
into Global Plagiarism Schemes in the 21st Century and How it Impacts Society." (2015).
2 Cronan, Timothy Paul, Jeffrey K. Mullins, and David E. Douglas. "Further understanding factors that
explain freshman business students’ academic integrity intention and behavior: Plagiarism and sharing
homework." Journal of Business Ethics 147, no. 1 (2018): 197-220.
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Self-plagiarism
It is defined as to be that situation in a particular student submits his or her previous work or
mixes the parts of the earlier works without having the proper consent or approval by the
concerned professors.
Mosaic Plagiarism
It is defined as to be that situation where the student copies the expressions from a particular
source deprived of providing proper quote marks or finding out some alternative word for the
author’s used language and keeping with the similar general structure3.
Accidental Plagiarism
It happens when an individual accidentally misquotes to cite the sources or neglects to cite the
relevant sources or sometimes inadvertently rewordings a basis by using the alike works or
sentences4.
c. Scenarios and examples of academic plagiarism
Scenario 1
When a student copy from some another student's work without having his or her proper consent
and misses out to put the desired quotations and the in-text citations in the concerned job.
3 Eaton, Sarah E., Melanie Guglielmin, and Benedict Otoo. "Plagiarism: Moving from punitive to pro-active
approaches." (2017).
4 Dalal, Vijay. "Role of Plagiarism in Research Publication-A Review." International Journal of Research 5,
no. 7 (2018): 2005-2009.
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Example
In case some messages are conveyed, and the same structure of the work is being reflected in two
of the concerned student without having the desired proper form of citations. It goes for
academic misconduct as the consent and referring the work of the relevant write is required
within the work presented in front of the professors.
Scenario 2
In a situation where the work has been copied from that of a particular website, boo or journal
without highlighting the proper references and citations for those websites or the journals and
books5.
Example
For example, when a student has used a particular journal or book as the desired source to
complete the work but has missed out to provide the proper concerned reference as well as the
citation, then it goes for academic misconduct and plagiarism. To avoid such type of plagiarism,
it is vital to put references as well as citations at the end of the concerned sentences1.
Scenario 3
Using of the material or the written form of the assignments which are created or developed by
someone other such as by a friend, anyone family members or by the use of some agencies which
executes these works.
5 Smedley, Alison, Tonia Crawford, and Linda Cloete. "An intervention aimed at reducing plagiarism in
undergraduate nursing students." Nurse Education in Practice 15, no. 3 (2015): 168-173.
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Example
If a student takes the help of his or her friend to complete their assignment and it goes for
complete plagiarism. Moreover, if the student takes the support of a few other agencies to
complete their work and then submits the work to the university or the respective colleges, then
it is a form of plagiarism. In case of help taken, it is essential to notify the teacher that the
support has been made by copying in some written firm.
d. How to avoid academic plagiarism
There are a few of the crucial ways that need to be adopted to prevent any type of academic
misconduct or academic plagiarism.
 Paraphrasing- Researching the internet for a collection of the information and writing in
our own words 6
 Citing the required sources- Citing is the best way to avoid plagiarism, and in-text
citations are put at the relevant lines.
 Quoting-Citing of the concerned and proper quotes used in work should be done.
 Referencing- One of the most vital ways to avoid plagiarism is to putting references in
different styles such as APA, Harvard, Chicago, MLA, Vancouver, etc.
e. Things learned from this research
The research helps in evaluating the fact that there should not any academic misconduct or any
form of plagiarism while executing the development of own assignment and in case of few
quotes then the proper references should be used. The use of the citations and adequate
6 Gunnarsson, Jenny, Wlodek J. Kulesza, and Anette Pettersson. "Teaching international students how to
avoid plagiarism: librarians and faculty in collaboration." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 40, no. 3-
4 (2014): 413-417.
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references are considered to avoid plagiarism and application of useful paraphrasing are vital too.
No direct quote should be provided without the use of the proper references and citations in the
contend sentences. The purpose of effective and efficient paraphrasing should be done to
complete the wiring process with great effectiveness.
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f. References
Cronan, Timothy Paul, Jeffrey K. Mullins, and David E. Douglas. "Further understanding factors
that explain freshman business students’ academic integrity intention and behavior: Plagiarism
and sharing homework." Journal of Business Ethics 147, no. 1 (2018): 197-220.
Dalal, Vijay. "Role of Plagiarism in Research Publication-A Review." International Journal of
Research 5, no. 7 (2018): 2005-2009.
Eaton, Sarah E., Melanie Guglielmin, and Benedict Otoo. "Plagiarism: Moving from punitive to
pro-active approaches." (2017).
Gunnarsson, Jenny, Wlodek J. Kulesza, and Anette Pettersson. "Teaching international students
how to avoid plagiarism: librarians and faculty in collaboration." The Journal of Academic
Librarianship 40, no. 3-4 (2014): 413-417.
Ross, David B., and Rande Matteson. "Copying Something Good and Making it Evil: An
Examination into Global Plagiarism Schemes in the 21st Century and How it Impacts Society."
(2015).
Smedley, Alison, Tonia Crawford, and Linda Cloete. "An intervention aimed at reducing
plagiarism in undergraduate nursing students." Nurse Education in Practice 15, no. 3 (2015):
168-173.
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