Plagiarism final Report Peoposal 2022

MEMORANDUM
Date: January 28,2020
To: Sarah Duncan
From: Gaganpreet Kaur Brar(S50)
Subject: Final Report Topic Proposal – Plagiarism
I am writing to inform you that the following proposal is for the approval of my final report topic. I choose this
topic because it is most important to look upon as in student life for doing projects and assignments. Plagiarism
is defined as turning someone else’s work as your own and act of intellectual dishonestly. Plagiarism is when
students work for their assignments by browsing different websites and sources which are written and publish
by other writers, if students do not cite the information and use it same as website information then it would be
considered as crime. The consequences of plagiarism may lead to failing grade. Through this topic, I want to
inform the students that the best way to avoid plagiarism is to understand the concept itself which help to
improve skills of writing. For this reason, I choose this topic which focused upon different ways of plagiarism
and solutions to tackle this problem effectively. I want to research which reasons may cause plagiarism and
effects on student grades.
I wish you will like this topic because it is very common problem in student life while studying. In the end, I
want your permission to continue my research. If you require any further information, please contact me at
[e-mail].
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The Proposal
Introduction:
Plagiarism is an unethical practice to make own words of another authors or researchers without proper
acknowledgement. It is a serious offence because in universities, student academic career is more effected by
plagiarism because it may lead to F on your assignment or course if anyone caught in plagiarism. Being from
Indian education environment it seems to be a problem because this is not so common in the style which I was
taught. The best way to avoid from plagiarism is to use your own words, original thoughts. personal experience.
It also helps students to avoid copyright issues which are considered as a serious crime which put adverse effect
on student academic career and even student get kicked out from the institution.
I have interested in this topic because it is very important to avoid the plagiarism for every student
because they have to prepare assignments and projects through websites information if they use it same then it
causes to plagiarism which fall down their course grades and academic standing.
Recommended questions for the research:
The five questions which I have chosen to research on final report are:
 What is plagiarism?
 What kind of sources needed to be cited?
 What are the different ways to cite the sources?
 If any source not properly cited can it lead to copyright issues?
 What is the proper mechanism and structure of cited?
 What are the punishments of plagiarism?
Questions to be researched:
These are the two questions which I will explain in my final report:
 What are the punishments of plagiarism?
 If any source not properly cited can it lead to copyright issues?
I want to chosen these two questions because I want to aware students to avoid from plagiarism and use
their own creativity to rephrase sources which they get from internet and any other informative
resources.
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What are punishments of plagiarism?
Plagiarism is considered as the crime, and the consequences of this crime can be professional, personal, legal or
ethical. There is software that help in detection of plagiarism and caught this at an alarming rate. If any person
accused of this crime always be regarded with suspicion and ignorance is not an excuse. Plagiarism can be seen
in different areas such as professionals, academic, authors, students and journalists.
Copying content of other and pasting few lines into own content without giving credit might seem harmless.
This situation is harmful in the professional and academic world, any act of plagiarism resulted in consequences
that are serious. In academic terms, the punishment for plagiarism is failed module or expelled from school or
college. On the other side, in the professional world result of plagiarism is even harsher that includes missed
opportunities, loss of jobs and criminal record (Joob & Wiwanitkit,2018).
The legal punishments are given in the case of stolen copyright work, as if an individual is earning from
copyright work of others it is a serious crime. In this case copyright laws come into effect and penalties for
violation of copyright varies from $200 to $ 150,000 to jail time and this depend on the level of crime done by
person (Starovoytova,2017).
For example; In 2016, “The New York Daily News Plagiarism scandal” was highlighted that a reporter Shaun
King copied an article from “The Daily Beast”. This included overlapping text that was used without giving
credit to author and even a typo found in the original but later on he provided proof to Twitter showing emails
of his submission that clearly indicate that person was not involved in the crime of plagiarism it was the editor
of paper who copied content. This case proved as the strongest lesson for authors , that is save previous drafts
or keep careful notes of original work. Authors never know when they required proving themselves.
The most highlighted scandal of plagiarism in 2016 was “The Melania Trump Plagiarism Scandal”, this began
when she gave speech on behalf of her husband. It was revealed and observed that a part of speech was copied
from speech delivered by the Michelle Obama in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention in support of her
husband. Later on, whole blame fell on speech writer of Melania Trump and he apologized and resigned from
job. Hence, the punishment for this crime is loss of reputation and loss of jobs and opportunities and if crime
proves to be serious it leads to monetary penalty and serious legal consequences (Bailey,2017).
If any source not properly cited can it lead to copyright issues? And what plagiarism look likes and
compare to Indian education system?
Yes, if a source is not properly cited it leads to issues related to copyright. Citing others work is a cure of
plagiarism. As citation is the way to give credit of work to person who originally wrote it and citation helps to
show the ethical values and good faith fair use of other work. Copyright is not only way to protect everything,
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as copyright does not protect ideas. If proper citation is given it help in to use of other ideas and work in a fair
and ethical manner.
This plays an important role in academic and professional aspects. In context to academic aspect if work cited
properly it is a fair work and if not cited properly it leads to some issues as it violate the copyright issues.
Hence, it is important to cite work and to give credit to people who originally done it.
Plagiarism can occur in many ways such as verbatim copying, sham paraphrasing, copy and paste, purchase,
and illicit paraphrasing. When an individual copy same from another source without giving any credit it is
termed as verbatim copying. Theft is using another person work without informing them. There are many types
and ways of plagiarism. People use different tools and software to detect plagiarism and this look likes (see
figure 1).
(Figure 1) Plagiarism highlighted in blue and pink and the sources are given on right from where content is
copied.
In Indian education system, the unique approach to solve the issue of plagiarism is adopted. According to
UGC, the plagiarism that is acceptable is 10% of article, thesis, books and other document but extensive
copying of other person content leads to serious punishment. The four tier policy created by UGC India that
includes; first tier- similarity up to 10%, the second tier- 10% to 40% document would require student to submit
again, 40% to 60% plagiarized solution would lead to suspension for a year and more than 60% would lead to
kicked out of program. Further, academic integrity panel at the institution level is required in order to ensure
ethical and fair practices in the education system (Bagla,2018).
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Hence, the plagiarism is the crime and its punishment varies from the level of work plagiarized and level of
violation of copyright laws. An individual might face punishment in terms of penalty or in terms of legal
consequences. Penalty for this crime varies from $200 to $ 150,000, it depend on the level of plagiarism.
Further, legal consequences include on time jail and criminal records and at last plagiarism can be of different
ways and each country has different punishments and legal consequences of issues of plagiarism.
Research sources:
For my research I used my KPU library and university articles to know more about plagiarism.
“Plagiarism Awareness Tutorial” on KPU Moodle site is also very helpful to have knowledge as well as
some awareness about plagiarism.
1. KPU Moodle
2. Online guide tutorial “OWL”
I found these two sources are very helpful for me to research on plagiarism. KPU Moodle is course
website with plagiarism awareness bandage which aware students from plagiarism.(KPU Moodle) To
overcome with this problem I found the “OWL” online guide having free resources which help student
who trouble with plagiarism (KPU Awareness
Tutorial)https://libguides.kpu.ca/academicintegrity/plagiarism.
Thus, I got some information from university library and workshops which increased my level of
awareness and I found meaningful resources which helps me to research on plagiarism.
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References:
Academic Integrity & Plagiarism: Plagiarism & tutorial Info for KPU Students. (KPU Moodle) Retrieved From:
http://libguides.kpu.ca/academicintegrity/plagiarism
Bagla, P. (2018). India creates unique tired system to punish plagiarism. Retrieved From:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/india-creates-unique-tiered-system-punish-plagiarism
Bailey,J. (2017). The Top 10 Plagiarism stories of 2016. Reterived From:
http://www.ithenticate.com/plagiarism-detection-blog/the-top-10-plagiarism-stories-of-
2016#.XnSR_ogzbIU
Joob, B., & Wiwanitkit, V. (2018). Plagiarism: Either intentional or unintentional, it is still
plagiarism!. Perspectives in clinical research, 9(3), 151.
Starovoytova, D. (2017). Plagiarism under a Magnifying-Glass. Journal of Education and Practice, 8(15), 109-
129.
The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. Retrieved from
http://owl.purdue.edu/research/research.html
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