Plagiarism

Today I had a discussion with my master student. It is interesting to note that he was very concerned about plagiarism and he actually did some readings on plagiarism. He even mentioned that students should know what is plagiarism and how to avoid plagiarism. He also share with me an open source software (Viper) which can be used to detect whether your writing contain any plagiarism (Type I only).

In academic, plagiarism is a very serious offence. Base on Academic Policy, students maybe expelled if they are found to submit a plagiarized work as their own. Academics also need to write and publish our research work. There may not be a written rules on publication guidelines but as academics we should have an academic integrity.

According to Dr Barnbaum, there are five types of plagiarism:

Type I: Copy & Paste

Type II: Word Switch

Type III: Style

Type IV: Metaphor

Type V: Idea

Most of us are more familiar with Type I: Copy n Paste and are not aware of the other types. For more detail description and examples, refer to Dr Barnbaum page.

The following list some references on the different type of plagiarism:

Dr. C. Barnbaum, Plagiarism, A Student's Guide to Recognizing It and Avoiding It, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Valdosta State University.

Sue Ann Brainard, Plagiarism Workshop, Milne Library, SUNY Geneseo

Academic Integrity Tutorial, New York University