Issue of plagiarism in academic work - Azizi Ahmad, MLK, Barack Obama, Claudine Gay

JANUARY 5 — Plagiarism happens for a number of reasons, one is 
because some students decide consciously to gain credit for the 
work of others. However, most incidents of plagiarism are the 
product not of deliberate cheating, but of underdeveloped 
academic skills.

The term plagiarism, derived from the Latin word “plagiarius” 
meaning “kidnapper” or “plunderer.” It has has been defined as 
the practice of using other’s ideas and texts and claiming them 
as one’s own original authorship without acknowledging the 
source.

Plagiarism may take various forms. The most serious form of 
plagiarisms “to obtain and submit as your own paper written by 
someone else.”

Other forms of plagiarism include doing the copy-and-paste of 
texts without acknowledging the original authorship, 
paraphrasing the original ideas of others without referencing 
them or attributing the citation of a text to a false authorship.

Students plagiarise other’s works and present them as their own 
because of the said cultural background of the students. Its 
most obvious reasons are the language and content problems faced 
by the students. In addition, these problems are compounded with 
other problems like lack of motivation, desire for a better 
product, aspiration for higher grades, etc.

Most plagiarised work goes undetected. The invention of modern 
technology like internet has made plagiarism easier than ever 
before.

Martin Luther King, Jr, leading figure of Black Rights Movement 
in the USA, was also charged with plagiarism in his Ph D 
dissertation, and still today there is a piece of information 
tagged at this research informing its readers that his 
dissertation consists of plagiarised work.

Identifying plagiarism in academic papers is a very difficult 
task. Even technology-equipped software as the like of Copycatch 
or Turnitin is not feasible in all contexts, particularly in 
developing countries where the problems of accessibility of 
computers and internet facilities that are coupled with a large 
number of students.

Students must bear in mind that their teachers are the experts 
in the field and know the sources more than their students do. 
Punishing the students of their plagiarised work sometimes can 
be counter-productive in the academic field.

Teachers must teach plagiarism to their students not from a 
punitive approach, but rather by drawing their attention to good 
writing, and referencing and citation skills. They must bear in 
mind that there must lie a difference between an original work 
and a plagiarised work that is rejected in the student’s 
achievement.

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/issue-
of-plagiarism-in-academic-work-azizi-ahmad
                 