Plagiarism is define as using someone else work, ideas and text, and presenting it as your own especially doing it without owners permission. The term plagiarism is come from the latin word plagiarius which means KIDNAPPER. It also has another root word is greek, plagios which means crooked(Readers Digest Great encyclopedic Dictionary, 1031). If a person uses another person uses another person work without giving credit it may be unreliable, even if it is an honest mistake.
Plagiarism is a crime against the academy. It deceives readers, harms the authors of plagiarism and rewards the unavailable benefits of plagiarism. However, while these arguments show that copying others’ intellectual contributions is wrong, they do not copy words. Copying sentences with no original idea (for example, in the introduction) is very important compared to stealing the ideas of others. They should be clearly distinguished, and the label “plagiarism” should not be used for activities that are very different in nature and meaning.
Since antiquity, writers and artists have borrowed words, images, and ideas from predecessors without attribution. The acceptability of borrowing has varied throughout history and across cultures, but academics in the West have generally taken a strict attitude toward plagiarism. In the academy today, plagiarism is wrong because it is the misrepresentation of the ideas and words of someone else as one’s own. By omitting citations, the plagiarist impedes scholarship by preventing readers from tracing backward to identify the sources of an idea.
Among academics, plagiarism is not “the sincerest form of flattery”—it is a sin. In response to widely publicized cases of scientific fraud, over the last ten years, many universities have developed policies and procedures to handle allegations of research misconduct, although faculty often do not know about them. These policies attempt to ensure that the allegation is handled promptly, confidentially, and effectively, with attention to rights of the initiator of the allegation and the respondent.
Due process requires that the respondent be given an opportunity to respond within a reasonable amount of time. If an investigation reveals that the facts do not support an allegation, then the reputation of the respondent must be preserved; those who had heard the allegation must be informed that it was dismissed. Further, the respondent should be protected from malicious charges, while the initiator should not suffer retaliation for bringing an allegation in good faith. Finally, differences in judgment and honest mistakes do not constitute research misconduct.
At most universities the procedure for handling allegations of research misconduct has two stages, inquiry and investigation. The inquiry is intended to be quick and informal, to determine whether there are sufficient grounds to proceed with a formal investigation, which can result in a finding of misconduct. Usually the procedure states whether the “preponderance of the evidence” or the more stringent “clear and convincing” standard for evidence should be used in making decisions. The procedure specifies which administrator makes which decisions, and the procedure specifies a time limit for each stage.
In handling an allegation of research misconduct, the university has an interest in ensuring that its students, faculty, and staff are treated fairly and that its own reputation be upheld. As Rhoades6 noted, a university is not an investigative agency, and a university may have inherent conflicts of interest, but on balance, the university should bear the primary institutional responsibility for handling an allegation of research misconduct that involves its students, faculty, and staff. Further, a university may be able to take appropriate action if the allegation is sustained.
Some academic plagiarism cases—for example, the case of psychologist Carolyn Phinney —have been mishandled and have attracted attention by the national media. These notorious cases obscure the normal day-to-day cases that university administrators handle successfully. An allegation of research misconduct is normally directed to a university administrator who serves as the research integrity officer. From 1998 to 2000, I served as the research integrity officer for my campus, in addition to my regular duties as associate dean of the Graduate College.
The most common allegation of research misconduct that I received was plagiarism: I handled eight cases from all parts of the campus. In this paper I recount these cases briefly, with names and other identifiers omitted to protect the innocent and the guilty. I hope that the lessons drawn from these cases will be helpful to other research integrity officers. (Science and Engineering Ethics, Volume 8, Issue 4, 2002).Coping a paper from a source text without proper acknowledgement. With this form, the student simply opens an encyclopedia, book, or journal article, put his or her name on the essay, then turn it in.
Preventing plagiarism is also a critical part of the academic integrity that is expected, or even required. there are also limitations that how much of some one else work can u use as part of your assignment. Exclusively, excessively, or inappropriately using other author’s work by coping, paraphrasing and summarizing, or directly quoting is plagiarizing. It is important to use your own words and ideas in a paper. One suggested rule of thumb for the acceptable amount of outside source content to use in an assignment is no more then 12 percent provided it is properly cited (zaharoff).