Knowledge Is Built From Previous Knowledge

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

1.0 Introduction

“All knowledge is built from previous knowledge. As we read, study, perform experiments, and gather perspectives, we are drawing on other people’s ideas. Building on their ideas and experiences, we create our own” (The Writing Center, n.d.). Regardless of any field, a person has to rely on established works as their reference. Works differ and correlate with each other in various ways, from their subject down to the very message they want to imply to the readers, however, each author leaves a mark on their work and that is the mark of originality. So when it comes to research, there is nothing wrong with making use of another person’s work but one has to make sure that they give proper acknowledgement of their sources. Moreover, final output must be created by them.

So, in order to continue the fluidity of the spirit of literature and research, one has to know and familiarize oneself about plagiarism. "Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s literary, artistic, or musical work as one's own" (Dunlap, 2012, p. 513). It can range from the inaccurate use of citations [accidental plagiarism] and deliberate plagiarism in which you intentionally copy another person’s work and turning the work as your own. Also, other acts considered as plagiarism are: buying, stealing or borrowing paper, hiring someone to do your paper, constructing your ideas from another source without citation, copying from another source without proper citation, and lack of paraphrasing of the given source (Avoiding Plagiarism, 2002). Nowadays, it has become a disturbing issue among academic institutions around the world. In addition to that, when students are not taught about it, most likely, students would be ‘stealing’ works of another person with or without them knowing it. However, one has to bear in mind that the act of plagiarism has several forms. Thus, careful analysis on various situations should be applied.

According to the a survey conducted by Education Week, about 54% of students admitted plagiarizing literary works in accomplishing their requirements. At the same time, this survey found out that 47% of teachers ignore students committing the plagiarism. For instance, Pincus and Schmelkin (2000) illustrate the movie, Cheaters based on a 1995 Chicago high school cheating scandal shows that academic dishonesty can even exist between students and faculty staff. Another example, the case of a highly-respected Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Manual V. Pangilinan, was found to have plagiarized the works of others after giving out his commencement speech at Ateneo de Manila University (“Incidence of plagiarism”, 2010). Consequently, one should keep in mind not to take plagiarism lightly in order to avoid severe consequences such as expulsion or dismissal for students, and loss of credibility and professional standing for professionals.

Indeed, this paper agrees that plagiarism is certainly an offense to the academic field, however it also emphasizes to the inconsistencies and certain situations about plagiarism that are ought to be questioned and tackled further. For instance, how do we actually say that a person has plagiarized? Is the punishment given to those who commit plagiarism, rational enough or just pure exaggeration? What is the fine line of utilizing common knowledge? Is plagiarism only limited to writing or is it also applicable in arts or other fields as well? Why is there a need to give credit to the original source when this author might not even know that someone is using the information author has given to the public? And if plagiarism is considered a criminal offense, how can we best eliminate these incidents from occurring?

In reality, there is a need for us to look for these problems since the definition of plagiarism varies in distinct cultures and unlike situations relating to plagiarism can also confuse a person. For instance, it is inappropriate to purposely replicate an entire document as your assignment but for some people it is acceptable to make use of a common knowledge such as articles posted in Wikipedia without the need to cite the source or other internet sites that offer free services to students. On these sites, a student can ask for the service provider to do their assignment, project, research, and whatnot in which after the task is done; the student will pay for the services, acquire the output and submit it to their professor. (Wasko, 2011). Thus, can this be also considered as plagiarism?

Although both situations are considered as acts of plagiarism, in general, there are still inconsistencies and confusion. Most people would think that plagiarism only applies to the field of writing when in fact, it is present in any field. The people are to be educated about it in order for the implementations against plagiarism to be effective. Furthermore, people should understand the value behind that is protected against plagiarism. Hence, that is by not being dependent to other people’s ideas but rather using them as a tool in making our own.

Such as the case of Fareed Zakaria, a wellâ€"respected Time columnist, Washington Post writer and a CNN host who was briefly suspended when he plagiarized Ms. Jill Lepore’s article, “The Case for Gun Control.” Accordingly, Zakaria confused his notes he took from Ms. Lepore’s article and accidentally plagiarized her work. Yet, the damage was done and created controversies that jeopardized his career and reputation (Coscarelli, 2012). This shows how plagiarism should not be taken lightly for even if the act was done accidentally. Better yet, if caught, it would be hard to defend oneself on the consequences that will follow.

The main point here is that one has to give proper attribution to the source their information and not just use different sources but also incorporate these sources fitted to your own understanding, perspective and aim. Moreover, one of the main purpose of this paper is to try to show to the readers on how important the presence of laws and regulations in fighting against plagiarism.

If plagiarism is not avoided, people can just copy from another without having the need to give credit and authorization in using the works of other people. It is not that using information from other people’s work is bad but rather, one has to keep in mind that those works are merely tools in molding the final output made thoroughly by their own. (“Avoiding plagiarism”, 2012).

1.1 Definition of Plagiarism

“Plagiarism is the act of taking and passing off as one’s own the thoughts and writing of someone else” (Shaw, 1973, p. 337). In general, it is a vague concept with various aspects which must be considered in distinguishing plagiarized works. Since plagiarism is a widespread and increasing issue, especially in the academic institutions across the world. Mostly, it is considered as an unethical act because it steals another person’s credibility for one’s sake (Dunlap, 1991).

1.2 Brief History of Plagiarism

At the present, there are many cases of plagiarism occurring and continue to increase its number incidents. In 80 AD, a Roman poet named Martial became infamous because of his works. However, he found out that someone’s copied and proclaimed it as one’s own and without prior attribution to him. This incident caused him to write a poem against to the unknown copyist criticizing their mischievous acts. In his poems, he used the Latin word “plagiarus,” which formerly meant “kidnap”. Furthermore, using such term, regards his works as his slaves which was stolen by an unidentified thief (Bailey, 2011). Nowadays, plagiarizing is widely used by people to refer to the act of copying another person’s ideas and works to assert it as their own.

2.0 Types of Plagiarism

2.1.1 Deliberate Plagiarism

“Deliberate plagiarism is when you knowingly use another person's work without acknowledgement” (Study & Learning Centre, 2005). In this type of plagiarism, the person is fully aware that they are using the works of others and using them for their own sake. It means that they intentionally copied, even if it is only a small portion of the article or work. The person has little or no contribution in making the work and for most of the time relies on someone to finish it. Furthermore, these acts are considered as deliberate plagiarism or commonly known as intentional plagiarism is the following: hand in an assignment written by someone else, copy a part of another student’s paper or use their ideas and pass it as one’s own, directly utilize sources without recognizing where it came from (Study & Learning Centre, 2005).

2.1.2 Accidental Plagiarism

In this type of plagiarism, the person might have not intended to use another person’s work. However it is more focused on the inconsistency and carelessness on making citations. For instance, specifically, the student misspelled the name of the author, the title of the article, date of publication and what not. In some cases, lack of restating the author’s ideas or words, forgetting to cite necessary information and even disregarding the use of quotation marks when directly quoting a statement. Nonetheless, the person might have not intended to plagiarize however failure to provide the necessary details in citation can already be regarded as plagiarism.

2.2.1 Full Plagiarism

In this kind of plagiarism, the person copies the content, word-for-word, and presenting it as one’s own. The arrangement of the ideas that are presented or citations are not changed as well, and the comparison between the two contents are almost entirely the same. Many academicians believe that people who commit this type of plagiarism are those who are incompetent in the field or just outright lazy in making their own (Rajeev, 2012)

2.2.2 Partial Plagiarism

Unlike full plagiarism which totally copied from one source, partial plagiarism pertains to copying data from two or more sources and combine them resulting to one article. The person presents the same ideas but tries to manipulate it by using synonymous words in order for the work to look like their own. Other instances considered as partial plagiarism are the failure to present any references to the source or incorrect citations (Siribaddana, 2010).

2.2.3 Minimalistic Plagiarism

This is almost the same to partial plagiarism where in it uses synonymous words. Minimalistic plagiarism differs from partial plagiarism because it changes the structure and flow of the work presented in the original content. Moreover, the person reproduces the same ideas and words of the author in his words but in a more different form. However, this type is not usually considered as an act of plagiarism because it is very difficult to detect due to its originally-made structure and content (Rajeev, 2012).

2.2.4 Mosaic Plagiarism

This is almost the same as the minimalistic plagiarism wherein it changes the structure and flow of the content. However, it still the same words and ideas of the original context. In addition to that, the person borrows phrases from the author without using quotation marks and lack of proper attribution to the original source (Type 3: mosaic plagiarism, n.d.).

2.2.5 Source Citation Plagiarism

In this kind of plagiarism, it involves around the inconsistencies in providing the sources. The author might have provided the citation however information that is needed about the source is not accessible or not provided. Also, it involves false representation of reference wherein the information are incorrectly done (Friedman, 2007).

2.2.6 Self Plagiarism

It is using the work you’ve already done or finished and submitting it again in a different form of media or instances. Opinions about this can vary especially in academic institutions. Nonetheless, many still consider as plagiarism since you would be getting the credit “twice” and it usually degrades the moral ethics that academic institutions should try to implement on the people. That is, to continue the fluidity of the arts and enhancing one’s creativity through analysis and independence (iParadigms, 2013).

3.0 Causes of Plagiarism

3.1.1 Writing Anxiety

For most of us, there are times in our lives when we experience writing anxiety. What is meant by writing anxiety is when there is excessive worrying over a particular situation. These can vary from answering an assignment to hectically trying to finish an output in an approaching deadline. When it comes to writing, causes of anxiety comes from many different sources. External causes of writing anxiety can come from adapting a new writing style for your writing course that you are not used to, such as familiarizing yourself with citations that is completely new to you, other causes are tight deadlines and writing for a very critical audience, in the case of writing a research paper (Wynne, 2010). These can be very stressful since not only those people would expect highly from you but also, you expect yourself to be able to give the best output as possible.

This is where internal causes come in, overly thinking about people’s expectations and fear of criticisms that you might incur. When a person thinks this way, it takes so much of their time and energy since they not only spend their time worrying but also they try to make the paper as perfect as possible, having a very captivating introduction, well-organized and sequenced thoughts and ideas throughout the paper in their aim to catch the glorified praises of the critics. Although, there is nothing wrong with being very detailed with one’s work however there are certain disadvantages if one is overly doing it. Most likely, the person would be very focused with a particular part of their paper in their aim to make it perfect. However, one should also take note that it is not all of the time that everyone is given unlimited time in finishing a particular paper or work. One has to give much time to every part of the paper and to never be afraid to commit mistakes since it after the work is done, one can give time to revising the paper and edit it. Nevertheless, even if the praises of the critics are not received, one has to take note that one’s dignity is not in-line with it, as long as one’s best is done with substantial effort and perseverance, it is still worthy of praise.

In this case, we all know that somehow, writing anxiety is unavoidable however, there are tips in order to avoid this or at least, lessen the tension you feel when writing your paper. According to Cone (n.d.), from UR Writing Fellow, the first step would be brainstorming your ideas on a paper. In this part, you write all of the ideas that come in to your mind regardless if it even connects to your topic at the moment. You have to give for yourself in doing this in order to harness those ideas that you might find difficult to tap into or explain. Also, you have to do this seriously as possible and try to distance from your environment, if applicable, in order for you to concentrate. After doing this, try to look back in your paper and try to find the connections within those ideas. Although, it depends on you on how you will brainstorm your ideas and the techniques vary from the different personalities of a person. One can brainstorm ideas with himself/herself or you can do this with your partner. Regardless of the techniques used, the aim here is to use those ideas in making the output and in order to establish a universal understanding that will pave the way to finishing your output.

The second part is to build one’s confidence. Of course, if this is absent in making the paper, the process in finishing the paper would be difficult to finish. In this step, one has to avoid thinking negative thoughts about himself/herself, criticisms received from other people and the pressure felt when one expects highly from you. Think of all the good things about you, your strengths and ability to finish the paper and incorporate this confidence all the way in finishing the paper.

Third would be making a thorough research about your topic. It is important for a researcher to understand the gist of their topic in order and incorporate ideas from other authors and researchers in to their paper. However, one should take note to acknowledge their sources, cite them correctly and paraphrase properly in order to avoid accusations of plagiarism.

Lastly, one has to manage their time properly in order to avoid procrastination or cramming on the approaching deadline. It doesn’t mean that one has to finish their paper in one day nor should they even finish it on the day of the deadline. Rather, they can do it step-by-step or one at a time so that it won’t be too heavy for the researcher. It is also important to set goals that one needs to accomplish in order for it to serve as a guide for them in their paper.

Once again, there are various techniques that can be done in order to avoid or lessen writing anxiety and it usually varies with the different personalities of the person. Furthermore, the aim here is to use other techniques that are suitable and incorporate them in order to finish the paper. Nevertheless, the aim here is to have focus on the goal, have confidence on one’s self and be able proper time management in order to avoid wasted time and over-all, writing anxiety.

3.1.2 Demanding Schedule

Another constituent to which why a student commits plagiarism, demanding schedules can compel students to anxiety and for most of them, they can’t concentrate when in themselves they know that the deadline is fast approaching. For instance, in writing a research paper, their mind lapses on the mass information they get from different sources and for most of the time, carelessly take ideas into their paper thus, forgetting to acknowledge the source of their information. For others, the pressure becomes too much and they might reside in making others do the work for them. Although, demanding schedules can be handled with proper time management and perseverance, it is still very difficult to tackle. It is also important for the teachers to consider the time frame they give to students in finishing their output and to consider other factors (e.g. tight schedules of students) so as not to put too much pressure on students.

3.1.3 Poor Time Management

“Time management problems often stem from poor work habits; therefore, you need to analyze how you spend your time” (Williams, n.d.). For most of the time, the root cause of cramming and writing anxiety is poor time management over one’s work. It is true, though that as a college student, there are many tasks that you are responsible of finishing, however if one can’t manage their time properly, it would be difficult to finish your given work. So in time management one has to establish goals that need to be accomplished and prioritize what needs to be done. This is important in order to avoid wasting the time and to use one’s given time efficiently in order to effectively finish one’s work.

3.1.4 Peer Complicity

Petress (as cited in Peloso, 2003) defines, “Cheating is a mindset; it grows like cancer. When one student “succeeds” at cheating, word of that success is bound to surface among peers”

(p. 53).

Cheating (e.g. plagiarism) among students, whether individually or in groups, is a huge concern in the academic field. Thus it is important for the faculty to take action in trying to resolve these problems. One way to resolve the problem is strengthen the honor codes and encourage peer reporting in campuses. Melendez (as cited in Butterfield, Trevino & McCabe, 2001) illustrates that honor codes include at least 1) a written pledge in which students affirm that they have honestly done their work; 2) students compromise the majority of the judiciary in cases of alleged academic dishonesty; 3) unproctored examinations and 4) responsibility of students to report incidents of cheating.

However, among all of the elements of honor codes presented by Melendez, it is the fourth element that is far by, the hardest responsibility that students should fulfill. It was readily termed as ‘peer reporting’, in which group member discloses behaviors of academic misconduct done by a group and report them to the school’s higher authorities. Although, it needs not to be exclusively done by a group member, it can be done by a student outside a group who has come to observe or witness academic wrongdoing done by a person or group. In a study done by Butterfield, McCabe and Trevino (2006), demonstrates that honor codes are a good way in reducing cheating and maintaining standards in honesty and integrity. Unfortunately, most students are reluctant in peer reporting especially when their friends are included in the act. Most of them expressed certain fears, such as fear of being seen as the enemy and the possibility that they accusations against a student might be wrong or the student is just seemingly innocent.

However, as the study progresses, peer reporting can be further encouraged in campuses when there is counterpressures given by the institution to both faculty and students. Peer reporting can be practiced among campuses when there is action given when the situation arises, the faculty tries to implore to the students to avoid cheating and implore to the students what should be rightfully done when academic misconduct is observed or witnesses among t ates. Also, honor codes would still end futile when it is not fully exercised, when peer reporting is rewarded or failure to do so will be punished. Thus, peer reporting among campuses will be most achievable when the institution implores responsibility among each and everyone involved to do what is right even in the presence of collateral damage. Petress (as cited in Peloso, 2003) elucidates, “If a student is apprehended, reported, and severely admonished on his or her initial cheating attempt, there seems to be a chance that this behavior will be curtailed” (p.53).

3.1.5 Laziness

One of the most likely root cause of plagiarism besides ignorance or writing anxiety, laziness can also be another factor on to why a person commits plagiarism. In this case, the person is very much reluctant or doesn’t want to do anything at all in doing their work. Thus, they ask another person to do the work for them or they can just simply browse the Internet and deliberately copy online works and submit it as their final output. Whether they have any knowledge of citations, reference-citations or plagiarism, they just simply ignore the possible consequences of their wrongdoings and continue doing so. In the belief that they can submit another person’s work and as long as they claim it the work, it is rightfully theirs. Without even considering the grave consequences when a student is caught plagiarizing.

3.2.1 Incorrect Citations

Most of the students have the poor practice when it comes in citing their sources. Students can be hasty in writing down their sources wherein researchers copied the wrong information and incorrect names of the author, place and date of publication. These can result to accidental plagiarism. To avoid such, students should be keen observers in reviewing their source information in order to ensure the exact information about their sources (University of Alberta, 2012).

Furthermore, incorrect citation of sources can be caused by typographical errors on the researchers’ part. Misspelled words can jeopardize the whole statement leading to inconsistently citing their sources of information.

3.2.2 Careless Note-taking

During initial research, most of the student gets overwhelmed when they got information from a certain source and they tend to copy exactly the same statement to utilize in their work. Apparently, as they merge and summarize the ideas taken from other sources they got confused and unable to distinguish their own work from others. This will cause to the difficulty to locate their source again. Thus, these can result to plagiarism.

In order to avoid this incident, we should carefully quote or place the statement in a quotation mark and afterwards include the credit to the author in which they got them. Moreover, they can also paraphrase the original context and restate it using their own understanding. However, they should bear in mind to maintain the gist of the context and always give proper acknowledgement to the author (University of Alberta Libraries, 2012).

3.2.3 Ignorance

“Ignorance of the law excuses no one,” a legal principle that explains people are not excuse if they do not know how to use English grammar or proper sentence construction. People could not pass a certain subject and move on to the next learning level if they do not know the Basic English grammar. Others may believe that borrowing other’s idea and works are acceptable as long as they cite their sources and give credits to the original author.

4.0 Impacts of Plagiarism

According to Krever (2007-08), plagiarism greatly affects the students in terms of their learning, the development of their academic skills, theft of intellectual property and the degrading of academic standards in academic institutions. First, students committing plagiarism hinders them to use their creativity in constructing their own works such as essays, articles, poems and what not. In this case, the student is dependent on other persons to do the work for them or copy works from others and submit the work, as if it was their own. Second, it can degrade the academic development of the students because dishonesty is rooted empathetically among the students themselves who continue doing so because of the complacency of not being caught or the idea that “it’s not a big deal” to cheat.

Third, plagiarism is theft of intellectual property since although an author’s rights over their work are intangible; it is still their right to have exclusive control over their work. Thus, plagiarizing another person’s work is considered a theft since they crossed the line in stealing the work of another person. Lastly, it degrades academic standards, degree and institutions since one of the goals of the school is to nurture an environment where students can learn and it is not limited to knowing about the world around them but also, to exercise their talents and skills. So when plagiarism is tolerated, the students do not learn to use their skills in writing and it makes the school not stay true to its goals (Krever, 2007-08).

Most people would view plagiarism as something not to be taken seriously or an academic crime whose degree of severity was invariably exaggerated. However, one needs to take note on the value behind that is protected against plagiarism and that is learning. Of course, it is inevitable not to use information or ideas from other people throughout the progress of human learning, however it is equally important to acknowledge our source of information and respect the exclusive rights of the author over their work.

5.0 Sanctions of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offense committed by most of the students. To eliminate such, people in the higher authority should not tolerate these acts and must be given an attention. Thus, they must make actions called sanctions. These sanctions are implemented to discipline students from their wrong doings. Furthermore, these sanctions are imposed depending on the degree of offense done by a student.

5.1 Academic Discipline

Every academic institution has their own rules and regulation to manage the behavior of their students. All students are expected to abide their rules and regulations to ensure the university’s good quality and standards. Hence, the impositions of such rules purely rely on the higher authority.

5.1.1 Zero Grade

According to Penalties of Plagiarism (2010), when a student is caught in the act of plagiarism an immediate action to this is by giving a student a failing mark on their output and even in their final grade on the subject to which they plagiarize their works.

5.1.2 Dismissal

Referring once again to the student handbook of Ateneo de Zamboanga University, committing plagiarism is considered a serious offense under 4.0 SERIOUS OFFENSES PUNISHABLE BY DISMISSAL. According to 4.1.2, “Plagiarism which is defined as using or attempting to use another person’s work without acknowledgement” (ADZU College Handbook, n.d., p.93).

Moreover, this section tries to describe as clearly as possible what certain acts are to be considered as plagiarism. Such as, paraphrasing, directly copying, summarizing and using experimental results obtained from another person. This acts can fall under cheating in which the student uses the work of another person without prior acknowledgement to the source, (e.g. copying assignments). Other additional descriptions are: false representation of an individual’s contribution of a group where contributions are to be identified and students who intentionally lets other students use their work without prior acknowledgement.

Furthermore, there are certain sections under 4.0 SERIOUS OFFENSES PUNISHABLE BY DISMISSAL that when omitted can be considered as plagiarism. Such as: “4.1.6 Theft or stealing or any attempt thereof. This may include but is not limited to stealing or attempting to

steal another person’s data, written work and/or assessment items” (ADZU College Handbook, n.d., p. 93).

Also, “4.1.7 Actual or intentional interference with or destruction of another person’s data, written work and/or assessment items tantamount to sabotage” (ADZU College Handbook, n.d., p.94).

These acts can be considered as plagiarism even if plagiarism is not stated there it is because it also falls under the scope of the definition of plagiarism. The general definition of plagiarism is the act of representing or stealing another person’s work and making it as your own without prior acknowledgement to the source. As for 4.1.6, it is the act of stealing or the attempt to steal another person’s data. In this case, authorization from the original author might not have been present and the purpose of stealing could have been most likely for their own personal benefits.

Lastly, 4.1.7, this can be considered as plagiarism since first of all, the author of the work exercises exclusive rights over their work. Thus, they have the right of their work not to be deliberately given alterations, or parts of their work to be given with different meaning, not unless if there is permission given by the author themselves or any other circumstances favorable to the situation. So when you commit plagiarism, you not only ‘steal’ the author’s work but also, disrespect their rights over their work.

Furthermore, when you look through 4.0, there are sections that can also fall under plagiarism such as, “4.1.23 Misuse and/or abuse of Information Technology (IT) resources: accessing a university computer server, workstation, associated peripheral and/or network without proper authorization” (ADZU College Handbook, n.d., p.95). This involves tampering or disrespecting the rights of the author or owner (the university itself), in to which the person tries to access information in which he/she is not given the permission to do so. Over-all, what this section tries to imply is that there are many interpretations to the law and that we have to be careful of the certain acts we do, since we might never know where it might fall under.

5.1.3 Expulsion

When an individual is punished with expulsion, they are banned from enrolling in any private or public schools. In here, acts that fall under the scope of plagiarism that are under 5.0 VERY SERIOUS OFFENSES PUNISHABLE BY EXPULSION can be 5.1.10.

“5.1.10 Forging or tampering official university records or transfer forms, or knowingly presenting and using such altered forms, securing, using transfer credentials under false pretenses” (ADZU College Handbook, n.d., p.97). For instance, a student has successfully accessed confidential university records such as the grades of students in AdZU Portal, so he changes his failing grades to 4.0 or any of his choice so when he is caught, he is thus punishable by expulsion. But how does this fall under plagiarism? Remember that the owner or author (the university) does not give permission to students to access and change confidential data not unless if they were given the permission to do so. Additionally, the student not only disrespects the author’s rights1 but also, involves false representation and alteration of the original data.

To sum it up, one might come too notice that from 5.1.2 Dismissal down to 5.1.3 Expulsion, there seems to be a close correlation between plagiarism and author’s rights. It is careful to take note that what is meant by author’s rights falls under copyright. In which in copyright, the author, even with their works made available still exercises exclusive rights over their work in which any form of alterations or others claiming their work will be punishable by law regarding to the situation. While for plagiarism, the student, even if they have access to this materials must give due respect to the creator of the work and give prior acknowledgement and credit when using these sources.

5.2 Constitutional Punishment

In the Philippine setting, there is a law that protects the right of authors from people who might copy their works and consider it as their own. This act is described in the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, otherwise known as Republic Act No. 8293 under the Copyright Law which became effective on January 1998. This serves as an armor for the primary source of information from plagiarist. The works that frequently used as a source material includes books, pamphlets, periodicals, public speeches, letters, audiovisual and cinematographic works and the like (Patent & Trademark Lawyers, 2006-2010). These published works serves as a channel of information in expanding one’s knowledge that might be helpful. However, these are also the channels where in a certain person would commit the act of plagiarism when they failed to give proper credit to the ones who primary and intellectually created the work.

5.2.1 Loss of Degree

When a student is caught in copying works of others without giving prior attribution to the primary source, they can be reprimanded for their actions. Many of the graduating students are mostly likely prone in this situation. They are on the edge of academic year whereby they need to comply with their requirements to pass and have their degree. But then, in the process of compiling their requirements, they do things haphazardly and they tend to forget about some of the details such as the basics of citing their sources. On the latter part, when they are caught by their professors and dean, this could lead to jeopardize their chance of getting the degree they long wanted to be.

5.2.2 & 5.2.3 Money Repercussion and Imprisonment

Anyone caught violating the rule of Copyright law shall be guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment and/or penalty to the large sum amount of money. According to Republic Act No. 8293 under Chapter XVII. Infringement, Section 217. Criminal Penalties, “Any person infringing any right secured by provision of Part IV of this Act or aiding or betting such infringement shall be guilty of a crime punishable by: (a) Imprisonment of one (1) year to three (3) years plus a fine ranging from Fifty thousand pesos (₱50, 000) to One hundred fifty thousand pesos (₱150, 000) for the first offense. (b) Imprisonment of three (3) years and one (1) day to six (6) years plus a fine ranging from One hundred fifty thousand pesos (₱150, 000) to Five hundred thousand pesos (₱500, 000) for the second offense. (c) Imprisonment of six (6) years and one (1) day to nine (9) years plus a fine ranging from five hundred thousand pesos (₱500, 000) to One million five hundred thousand pesos (₱1, 500, 000) for the third and subsequent offenses. (d) In all cases, subsidiary imprisonment in cases of insolvency.”

6.0 Preventive Measures on Plagiarism

With today’s availability of mass information from the Internet down to books available in our campus, it can be at times very tempting to just copy a whole paragraph from a certain book or not to cite some given information. Anyway, it would take much of our time and might incur additional stress. However, we should always remember that plagiarism is a very serious offense thus; we have to do the necessary precautions in order to avoid committing plagiarism or being accused of doing so. Also, please take careful note that most of our ideas under this section came from our English teacher, Randy Magdaluyo in order for the readers of this paper to be guided and to understand what we, the authors, are trying to explain.

6.1 Give Proper Attribution

According to Randy Magdaluyo, it is very important to cite the sources of your information. Thus, the ideas involved in this section mostly come from him. When it comes to giving proper attribution, it involves in-text citations and reference-list. In in-text citation, this involves citing the source of your information, the author, year of publication of the given material and page number / paragraph number if applicable. There are three types of in-text citations: researcher-focus, chronology-focus and subject-focus (which are most applicable when using direct quotations).

Researcher-focus is used when one wants to emphasize a certain researcher due to that their contributions are significant to the field. Their surnames are to be used, followed by date and lastly, page number (if it is a direct quotation). This is an example of a researcher-focus citation:

Conway, Hard & Moran (2006) explains “that people tend to maintain behavior consistent with peer descriptive norms, and that overestimating the frequency that one’s peers engage in a behavior can lead to increases in that behavior” (p.1059).

Next would be chronology â€"focus citation which is most applicable when the researcher is not very well-known or your source is published years ago, for instance, 1971 and can be followed by a page number if it is a direct quotation. This is an example, of a chronology-focus citation: In 2001, Campbell shows how music can heal and calm a person regardless of their difference in personalities.

Lastly would be subject-focus or idea-focus citation which is mostly prominent when using direct quotations. For this citation, after the idea is enclosed within the quotation marks, enclosed in open and close parentheses is the surname of the author, date of publication of the material and the page number / paragraph number. For example, “Optimists are able to mobilize themselves in the face of tough problems because they usually overcome any tendency toward perfectionism” (McGinnis, 1990, p.26).

(Of course, one should take note that this in-text citations can be interchangeably regardless if the researcher uses paraphrase, summary or direct quotation). When it comes to reference-list citations it is the solid evidence of the source of the information you have used. As for this case, the references or sources of information you used throughout the paper. This sources of information will vary and is not limited to written materials, it can even include audio, images, and whatnot. The gist here is to show to the readers that the researcher has actually acknowledged the information he/she has got from other sources and that they have given credits to these authors in the making of their final output. The following are examples of reference-list citations which differ from each other depending on their source.

6.2 Paraphrase Properly

Even if the researcher has indicated the list of their references or sources, it is also important not to be dependent on other’s ideas in making one’s own work. Thus, own ideas, observations, interpretations and arguments are to be given as well. What is important here is that in making a research paper, it is not limited to the inclusion of one’s own words but also, the researcher’s own perspectives about the subject and his expression of it in his own words.

So when given a substantial amount of information, the researcher can choose in either of the three ways in order for him to express his own understanding about that particular information: direct quotation, paraphrase and summary. In direct quotation, you get a certain sentence(s) that appeals the most and after the quotation is your explanation that is also connected to your topic.

For instance: “Intellectual property refers to the creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce” (Odagiri, Goto, Sunami & Nelson, 2010, p.6). Recent debates about whether highly-developed countries should assist developing countries through means of technological flow in which these developing countries will ‘absorb’ and use this given technologies in their countries is of a large issue nowadays…

Next would be paraphrase in which in a given text you only choose certain sentence(s) and ‘rephrase’ it by using you own words but still, both sentences has the same idea.

For example: “Cheating is a mindset; it grows like cancer. When one student “succeeds” at cheating, word of that success is bound to surface among peers. Such behavior is contagious; others will be inevitable follow and spread like a disease unless eradicated.”

Paraphrase: Cheating is very transmittable among students, therefore it should be discouraged in order for other students not to engage in it.

Lastly, would be summary in which you try to sum-up a given text to another form which is ¼ of the original length but still highlights the important details of the text.

Here is a given example: “There is a large theoretical and empirical literature indicating that expectations and beliefs about peer’s behavior (i.e., peer descriptive norms) influence individual behavioral choices. Social norms theory says that people tend to maintain behavior consistent with peer descriptive norms, and that overestimating the frequency that one’s peers engage in a behavior can lead to increases in that behavior (e.g., over-estimating peer alcohol use can increase student’s drinking. Berkowitz, 2003; Perkins, 2002.) According to Berkowitz (2003) and Perkins (2002), college students often overestimate peer descriptive norms for alcohol use, and interventions intended to correct these mistaken beliefs have shown evidence of success in reducing drinking (though Smith, 2004, has challenged the supportive evidence)” (Conway, Hard & Moran, 2006, pp. 1059-1060).

Summary: Peer behavior can influence an individual’s behavior even in the face of mistaken beliefs, thus interventions to correct inappropriate behavior has proven to be successful in most cases.

So these are the ways in order to twist, redefine or explain certain pieces of information and weaving it into your won. It is very important for students to familiarize themselves in proper paraphrasing, summarizing and use of direct quotations in order for them to creatively use other sources of information in order to make their paper more credible and interactive.

6.3 Time Management

In order to avoid committing plagiarism, one has to give enough time in paraphrasing, checking sources of information and revising the work in order to ensure that the work also contains contribution of one’s own ideas and perspectives. In time management, a work is done progressively in which sets his goals depending on the given time frame and works on it step-by-step, from beginning to end until his work is finished. Most of the time, for those who manage their time effectively, they give themselves a day or two before the date of the deadline before they submit their work. The important gist when it comes to time management is to prioritize what is most important and give much time for it.

6.4 Use Own Words and Ideas

This might sound easy, however it is easier said than done. In this part, one has to understand their topic in order for ideas to flow smoothly without the interruption of confusions or misunderstanding. Even if, the researcher already knows what their topic, they still need to gather information from different sources in order for them to incorporate those ideas and perspectives into their work. For those who don’t have substantial knowledge or still having confusion about their topic, it is best to list down questions the topic and read materials (books, journals, magazines, etc.) that will help you understand your topic. It requires a lot of patience and perseverance in doing this part; however the outcome would also prove to be beneficial. Since after a lot of hard work of researching, coming across new ideas and information will be certainly of great help as your paper progresses.

6.5 Be Aware of Common Knowledge

Most of the time, when searching for information, people would come across Wikipedia and deliberately copy the definitions without bothering to cite the source, thinking that “it’s no big deal, everyone gets information from Wikipedia”. Of course, we all know that Wikipedia an educational site that is open to everyone, however it is important to note that one needs to take note that one needs acknowledge the source of their information in order to avoid accusations of plagiarism.

7.0 Conclusion

Plagiarism hinders the creativity and capacity for higher level of thinking of a student which is a great concern to the academic field. Moreover, preventive measures and strategies are given in order to avoid committing plagiarism. Thus, it is the responsibility of the academic institution to strictly impose sanctions and policies that will further eliminate tendencies of committing plagiarism. Although this paper tries to show to the students the nature and forms of plagiarism as clearly as possible, however there will always be inconsistencies in viewing and understanding plagiarism. It should be taken note of that those interpretations of plagiarism changes form in different circumstances which makes a person question to what plagiarism is all about.

Basically defined, “Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s literary, artistic, or musical work as one's own" (Dunlap, 1991, p. 513). It is very evident here that plagiarism is an act of ‘stealing’ another person’s work and making them as your own. However, for the case of accidental plagiarism, the person does not intend to ‘steal’ the work but was accused of plagiarism due to typographical error, incorrect citation, etc. This becomes a problem and one has to redefine and reunderstand the whole concept of plagiarism. So over-all, plagiarism is the act of ‘stealing’ the work of another person and failure of proper acknowledgement to the source.

Yet, there are still people who commit plagiarism even with their knowledge about the matter, for instance, the utilization of common knowledge such as those found in Wikipedia. Most of the time, people would just get the information that they need without bothering to acknowledge the source, one of their most basic reasons would be that what is presented in Wikipedia is open and free for use, so why bother to cite the source? Although, parts of the statement might be true but it is still important to acknowledge the source. What might be common knowledge for a particular group might be unknown to the other, and of course, to avoid accusations or possibilities of committing plagiarism (Randy Magdaluyo, personal communication, 2013).

Since, when a person commits plagiarism they already committed the act of ‘stealing’ the work of the author(s) regardless of whether they did it intentionally or not. Although, offenses of plagiarism towards the author might seem intangible, however ‘stealing’ the work of another person is not different from stealing tangible things (Ms. Sarah Mae R. Ismael, personal communication, Februrary 9, 2013). Thus, sanctions given to those who committed plagiarism is rather relative to the offense. However, the punishment that will be received by the student will depend upon the degree of the offense.

Lastly, in order to address the concerns regarding to the scope of plagiarism, it is best to provide the readers with the information that they need in order to avoid plagiarism. Preventive measures such as giving proper attribution, proper paraphrasing, time management, using own words and ideas and being aware of common knowledge are the best ways in order to avoid plagiarism. We all know that it is easier said than done however, it is never too late to start taking the steps to avoiding plagiarism. Moreover, it doesn’t mean that when one tries to avoid plagiarism, they stop themselves from using information from other sources.

One should take note that there is nothing wrong with using information from other sources in the creation of their own work. However, one should be careful of taking too much information from a source which results to our dependency on it. In the process of doing our own research, it is important to have our own understanding, perspectives and ideas about the subject. Information from other sources are simply guides and inspirations in the creation of our own ideas. The most important thing here is amidst all of the vast information available, the expression of one’s own insights and ideas are still evident. Avoiding plagiarism proves to be beneficial in the end, since a person exercises their creativity and attains a higher level of thinking which is very import ant for one’s own personal and mental growth.