Plagiarism occurs when you use someone else's ideas, words, or work as your own without citing the source. Any contribution, whether free or open access, is original and may not be used without permission. Plagiarism is unethical because you try to pass off your own work as someone else's. Furthermore, it is illegal because you are infringing on the copyright of one or more works, violating their moral and patrimonial rights, and this action is punishable by law.

 

Continue reading this article to learn everything there is to know about plagiarism, including how to avoid it.

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

 

Plagiarism is the act of substantially copying another person's work and passing it off as one's own. Legally, it is an infringement of the creator's right to an artistic or intellectual work of any kind. It is incurred when one presents a third-party work as one's own or original. This is an infringement on the work's authorship.

Remember that plagiarism does not only refer to written works, but also to the copying of any kind of work. Whenever you use external information, whether it's text, images, graphics, videos, or any other type of information in any medium (printed, digital, internet...), you must credit the original source and specify who created it.

 

TYPES OF PLAGIARISM

Intentional plagiarism vs. unconscious plagiarism

                                   

Plagiarism on purpose

It is intentional plagiarism to present a work that is not one's own:

• Cut and paste

• Plagiarize the words or ideas of others without citing them in order to pass them off as your own.

• Purchasing, stealing, or borrowing another person's written work and passing it off as your own.

• Presenting another person's work as your own.

• Hire someone to write the work and then pass it off as your own.

Unintentional plagiarism

Unconscious plagiarism is typically caused by a lack of understanding of what constitutes plagiarism.

• Citations are missing or incorrectly cited.

• It paraphrases without departing from the original text; and • Thoughts or theories are developed without citing others' ideas.

Plagiarism on the internet.

 

WHAT CAN BE PLAGIARIZED?

 Plagiarism affects all forms of information, including literary, scientific, and artistic works:

• Books, brochures, forms, writings, reports, conferences, and so on.

• Magazine articles, newspaper articles, research from others, recordings, diagrams, graphs, tests, and so on.

• Lyrical or non-lyrical musical compositions

• Dramatic, musical, choreographed, and theatrical works in general.

• Cinematic and audiovisual works, multimedia works, and photographic works • Sculpture, drawing, painting, and other plastic works • Architectural and engineering works

• Drawings, signs, models, patents, trademarks, slogans, and popular phrases of industrial arts objects

• Works that are derivatives of the originals, such as translations, adaptations, revisions, compendiums, musical arrangements, and so on.

• Discussions, private communications, and ideas expressed in a variety of forums

WHY SHOULDN'T YOU PLAGIARIZE?

Revisions, compendiums, and musical arrangements, to name a few.

Because plagiarism is both unethical and illegal.

Plagiarism is unethical because it involves stealing someone else's work. It is also illegal because it violates some intellectual property regulations.

 

Remember that plagiarism is a crime that is even criminalized in the Penal Code when it is done for profit and causes harm to third parties.

 

HOW CAN YOU AVOID PLAGIARISM?

To avoid plagiarism it is important to be rigorous when using third-party content. The best tool to avoid plagiarism is to cite and reference the content.

You avoid plagiarism whenever you put quotation marks around each other's text that you have used literally and accompany it with its corresponding citation, that is, a brief reference to who created it and to the source from which you obtained it.

Another way to avoid plagiarism is to paraphrase, that is, to explain another person's ideas and concepts in our own words. To paraphrase without incurring plagiarism, you must write differently from the original and not only replace the words with synonyms. When paraphrasing, you should not put quotation marks around the text, because we have transformed the original, but you must always cite the source and authorship of the paraphrased idea or concept. If you don't, you are committing plagiarism.

If you want to make use of someone else's authorship, always do so within the legal framework. Remember that the Intellectual Property Law allows you to:

· Use those materials that are in the public domain if you acknowledge the authorship and mention the original source.

· Use the works that have been created under free licenses as long as you respect the conditions of their corresponding license and mention their authorship.

· Include in your own works small fragments of other people's works already disclosed without the need to obtain the authorization of the authors or rights holders, provided that you do so by way of citation or for analysis, comment or critical judgment, for academic purposes or research and duly acknowledge the authorship and the source.

 

What are the risks and penalties in case of plagiarism?

The loan of unreferenced citations is a deception, an infraction of academic regulations. The sanction depends mainly on the institution's policy, whether it is a deliberate action by the plagiarist, the importance of the plagiarized task, the repetitive nature of the fraud... Here are some examples of sanctions related to plagiarism:

1. Academically

- Cancellation of the test affected by plagiarism

- Warning/sanction

- Temporary or permanent expulsion from any public institution of higher education

2. at the legal level

- From 6 months to 4 years, depending on severity

- Twelve to twenty-four month fine 

3. on a psychological level

- Damage to the reputation of the institution and the student

- Climate of suspicion that accompanies the plagiarist for a long time and questions the rest of the students

- Questioning the value of the title and the quality of teaching