One of the most difficult parts of writing literature ismaking sure that it is not a copy of what someone else has created. This act iscommonly known as “plagiarism”, as the University of Southern Mississippistates, plagiarism is the “act of taking another person’s writing,conversation, song, or even idea and passing it off as your own” (What is Plagiarism?).
Plagiarism caninclude copying entire papers, pages, paragraphs, or even sentences from asource without correct citation. Plagiarism can come from a book, news article,website, and any other piece of work. Plagiarism can be as simple as misusingquotation marks or citing non-existent sources. There is also the act ofself-plagiarizing, a highly debated subject about whether you must citeyourself when using some of your own information that you wrote. However,something may not be considered plagiarism if it is common knowledge. Commonknowledge is something that is relatively widely known, such as a date, event,or commonly known phrase.
The University of Southern Mississippi states thatsomething is considered common knowledge if it “is considered awell-established fact verifiable from five or more sources” (What isPlagiarism?). Some of the most common sources that areplagiarized in the academic and educational world are sources such as Sparknotesand Cliffnotes. These are sites that are designed to explain things such asbooks, movies, stories, etc. These sites themselves pose dangers becausestudents tend to read them and try to copy and change what they say to fit theneeds of their literature piece for school.
Sites such as these appear to besafe and secure, but in reality, they are sites that are easily taken advantageof by students wanting to get their literature and writing homework donewithout giving it any effort. Plagiarismcan pose serious consequences in today’s academic world in high schools andcolleges. When a student is found that he or she has plagiarized in anassignment of some kind, the high school or college will give serious repercussions.For example, if a student plagiarizes on an essay done in a high-schoolliterature class, there will be many repercussions including an official statementbeing put on record, and a student can be expelled from the current school, aswell as a failing grade of zero on the particular assignment. A statement beingput on a school record for plagiarism can have catastrophic on the student andcan ruin their chances of going to a good college.
Teachers and professors canusually discover relatively easily if a student is plagiarizing, due to thefact that when you commit plagiarism, the writing that you submit will benotably different than that of your own writing. “When you plagiarize, you jointhat conversation on false grounds, representing yourself as someone you arenot…the act of stealing another’s words or ideas erases your voice” (YaleCenter for Teaching and Learning- What is Plagiarism?).
Being expelled fromcolleges because of reported plagiarism on assignments can also have seriouseffects on ones’ chances of getting into another good college, and even lowerchances of being able to find a profitable job such as a journalist. As well as creating many consequences in the academicworld, plagiarism found in the professional world can be extremely harmful toones’ career. The stakes are even higher in the professional world, and canhave bitter consequences. When a professional such as a journalist is found plagiarizing,their career can be ended. Plagiarism in the professional world can lead tolegal action. When someone plagiarizes someone else’s work, they are committingcopyright infringement, and are subject to things such as being sued by therightful owner. As the professional online law dictionary, thelawdictionary.orgsays, “lawsuits are highly publicized, which can causefurther damage to the plagiarist’s reputation” (What Are Some Consequences of Plagiarism).
A recent example of plagiarism in the professional world was in the fall of2017, when one of France’s most renowned physicists,Étienne Klein, was accused of plagiarizing both his friendswork, and the work of many other authors. As Science Magazine states, Dr. Kleinis “set to lose his post as president of the Institute forAdvanced Studies for Science and Technology (IHEST)” (Enserink). Whether or notDr. Klein loses his position or not, even the accusation of plagiarism hasharmed his reputation and view in the public’s eye. Plagiarism can be extremelyharmful to one reputation, and can lead to being either fired or being asked toresign one’s position. Moreover, plagiarism found in the workplace can damagemore than your own reputation, it can also damage the reputation of the companyor business that you are working at.
Plagiarism in the professional world canend with serious consequences, leading to the loss of jobs and destroyedreputations. Plagiarism isthe copying of information with proper citation, and can include many differentthings such as copying entire papers, pages, paragraphs, or even sentences. Plagiarismcan also be the copying of other materials such as music or video. Things assimple as improper citing of sources can be considered plagiarism. It can haveserious consequences in both the academic world, and the professional world,where people can be expelled from school, have an official record of it, beingfired from a job, and having a destroyed reputation.
