Transcript Plagiat

Plagiarism
Plagiarism Plagiarism
Plagiarism Plagiarism
What's it all about?
This newspaper article is a story warning students about
the danger of losing their unversity degree
http://prawo.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/402161,za_plagiat_student_moze_stracic_tytu
l_magistra.html
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This newspaper article is a story of a court ruling in the
case of two NCU students
http://torun.gazeta.pl/torun/1,48723,6973155,3_tys__zl_za_pla
giat___studentki_UMK_skazane.html
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But why punish people?
A plagiarist is a person who has committed
plagiarism (illegally promoting oneself ,
using someone else's work or idea
under his own name )
(http://www.sjp.pl/plagiator )
In other words, he is a...
thief ...
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But there are worse
offences !
Sure, but in Latin plagiarius also means kidnapper
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism).
• Someone has devoted effort, time and money to
study materials, analyse a problem / coin a term
/created a theory / describe something very aptly /
illustrate and intricately construct a text ..
..and now someone else takes it aways from him by
"copy " and " paste . „
It's not fair
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But is this piracy? The author does
not lose money here !
It's not about money, and if the argument of honesty is
not convincing here, how about this:
The whole point of studies is taking the trouble to
s-t-u-d-y something. Intellectual effort, like physical
effort, leads to growth and development. A lazy
person does harm to himself: the incompetence of a
graduate who cuts corners by plagiarising will sooner
or later be exposed in the workplace.
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But then couldn’t this someone
just develop on-the-job and
become very professional?
• Plagiarism can be revealed years later, when someone has
secured himself a professional position.
• And then the disclosure of his dishonesty is only going to
hurt even more and may haunt him forever .
Some examples, perhaps?
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An NCU doctor lost his degree and was banned from
university teaching for 10 years
http://www.rmf24.pl/fakty/polska/news-torunski-naukowiec-ukarany-za-plagiat,nId,135599
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A German politician and minister of education and
science ... - left in disgrace .
http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,1356,title,Annette-Schavan-nie-ustapi-mimo-utraty-tytulu-doktoraze-stanowiska,wid,15312759,wiadomosc.html
And another story of a disgraced German politician
http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/swiat/niemcy-kolejny-polityk-oskarzony-oplagiat,1,4240019,wiadomosc.html
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Now you got me scared; I always copied
things at school for my presentations
• It’s partly schools’ fault: they should warn
students about plagiarism from the beginning.
• At NCU one needs to unlearn copying, hence
this presentation
• Moreover, let people who want to copy be
afraid.
Honest people simply have to demonstrate
due knowledge and diligence
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But a dishonest person will do it so
that no one would ever figure it
out ...
Wrong
1. a student’s text that appears on his teacher ‘s
desk out of the blue (without the process of
negotiation of its structure and early versions )
will always be suspect,
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…teachers have a way to know…
2. a teacher simply enters a
characteristic phrase into a search
engine and, voilà,
its source gets revealed
• 3. Besides, an experienced teacher
can easily tell a student’s academic
style from someone else’s .
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Would I be punished?
• Yes , but those who simply have
documented something wrongly, as a
result of ignorance or carelessness,
without fraudulent intent , will be treated
more gently (but will hear something
from their teachers). Real punishment is
for those who have bought the work of
others or have knowingly been dishonest
(rewrote, copied things, pretending they
never did)
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What would happen
then?
If no fraudulent intent is suspected, the matter is
between the student and his teacher. It is
mandatory that a teacher should report to the dean
any plagiarised end-of-term paper. Then, in
consultation with the teacher, the dean may decide
on a written reprimand (for the student’s file),
which is the softest approach, or the Disciplinary
Board may be involved which, in turn, may refer the
matter further to the Prosecutor's Office. (You’d
better not find this out for yourself)
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So when am I committing
plagiarism ?
When you do not give the source of other
people's thoughts or words, whether given
literally, paraphrased, or summarized (some
try to disguise plagiarism by making a mixture
of their language and someone else’s) .
This includes graphics (charts), data collected
by someone else, or examples and facts cited
by another author.
(Trimmer, J. F. 1992. Writing with a Purpose. Houghton Mifflin.
p. 416)
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But I am just a student ; I'm no expert yet; I
have to rely on others. What am I to do?
That's obvious. "The work of science is not created in isolation
from the achievements of their predecessors.”
(http://www.uw.edu.pl/ogloszenia/plagiat2.html)
You have to prepare for writing by making careful notes on what
you have found and where. If you rewrite a sentence, you
need to carefully mark where your words end and somebody
else’s words begin.
Then you can quote, paraphrase and summarize the
sentences, words and thoughts of others, BUT ALWAYS GIVE
THEIR TRUE AUTHOR AND THE ACCURATE SOURCE. This
restriction does not apply to well-known facts.
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What are "well-known facts„ that do
not require a citation? How do I
recognize them ?
http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/guide/guide.asp?ID=58
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I would be willing to cite and quote
honestly but then some 90% of my
chapter would consist of quotations!
Help!
A summary or paraphrase is a default way of refering to a source with, of course, a mention
of the original.
And when to quote verbatim?
1 ) When you want to draw one’s attention to the language itself (when it is unusual,
distinctive, controversial or so concise that you could not convey the thoughts better )
2) When the acknowledgment will be of crucial importance for the work (for example, we
want to emphasize the authority of the source or we want to refer to someone else's
definition or analyze a section) .
3 ) When we want to distance ourselves from the content (we do not agree with a point
of view; we are going to argue with it) .
If we confine ourselves to those cases, quotes will not be dominant . Besides, repetition is a
normal phenomenon in theoretical chapters .
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When is something sufficiently
paraphrased ?
If it works in your text, if it is not copied word-for-word, and if it
has clear indication of which wording is yours and which is
not. Definitely do not try to hide the original text by replacing
words here or there or changing their order.
However well you paraphrase, always add the original source
of your knowledge.
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And if…
Your remaining questions you’ll have to discuss
with your teacher..
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Original pictures by
Olga Markiewicz (our
department graduate)
Text prepared by
A team of English Department teachers
PS Oh, by the way: if you use this presentation or a part of it without referring to
this source, you’ll be plagiarizing too.
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