This article was authored by a guest writer, Divya Ghatrazu. You can read more of her thoughts at http://divyatypes.wordpress.com/. You can also follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/toomuchofDivya.
If it is not an output of your brain work, do not showcase it.
Ideas, materials, themes, schemes, pictures, actual documentation and anything imitating these even.
For the purpose of this article, we are going to discuss plagiarism on a broader definition.
Think of it on an expansive level that goes beyond words or “literary theft”
En route to becoming a successful creative professional there are many ethical hurdles. Making someone else's work one's own is a big issue. If you’re in a time crunch and need to get some things in order before a deadline, taking something that was not originally yours and taking credit for it seems like it is a simple solution. The material is available and you have limited amount of time. Simple solution right? Not necessarily.
What counts as plagiarism?
Everyone has been taught not to plagiarize when it comes to writing. The act and its consequences have been introduced to us at a very young age. Plagiarism doesn’t only imply cheating on a few papers or "borrowing" sentences. It means the theft of ideas. Not crediting the right sources for "inspiration" also counts as theft of ideas. The above articles provide a good, detailed list of what counts as plagiarism.
What’s the worst that could happen?
Cheating on school paper or an assignment is exponentially less serious than plagiarizing on a project or a document at the workplace. That’s because when you are stealing ideas at work, it's not just your reputation on the line. The company that hired you has its big rear end on the line as well. If you get caught, they get caught. Not only is the company a target to media and public scorn but other clients will reproach from ever working with a defamed company.
What happens to the person doing the plagiarizing?
The consequences are determined on the intent and the amount of copying. However, it is safe to say that most corporations will not excuse that kind of behavior.
Professional plagiarism comes with consequences. Ever heard of copyright infringement ?
The plagiarizer gets fired and is most likely not rehired to do the same kind of job again.
What about the person you stole from? Well other than being deeply hurt and angry, they feel like they are being taken advantage of. It is their work and they did do a lot of work to get something right. Take a look at this rant if you're still in doubt.
We all know that cheating is bad, but great ideas are not jut born out of nowhere. Every great work is influenced by something or someone else’s work. And even if we do “borrow” little things, we are smart enough to tweak it to look like our own so there shouldn’t be any trouble. Wrong, that still counts as plagiarism.
Here is a tip: it is okay to be inspired by someone else’s work but make sure you credit them.
Placing the right credit where it is needed is very important and is very helpful too.
You might need some references or ideas to build your own. However if you incorporate others’ ideas into your work be sure to cite the sources, or credit the right artist or writer.
If you didn’t work on it, do not claim it as your own.
I cited my sources. So should you.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize
http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html
http://www.ehow.com/about_5371475_penalty-plagiarism.html.
http://webdesign.about.com/od/copyright/a/aa081700a.htm
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/07/great-designers-steal/
http://www.emerson.edu/academic_affairs/policies/Plagiarism-Policy.cfm
No comments:
Post a Comment