Literary Discourse: Plagiarism in Academic Writing

Introduction

Academic writing is scholarly sharing of ideas, information, facts, figures, and concepts. It gives a scholar an opportunity to learn from other scholars and produce his or her own scholarly work. However, the principle of sharing in Academic Writing is grounded on the foundation of honesty.

This is to maintain the source of originality and ownership of intellectual property in the Academic Community. Borrowing ideas from experts is a major means of sharing in Academic Writing.

However, borrowing becomes thievery when the borrowed ideas are presented as if they are original ideas of the writer. Such a practice is known as plagiarism. It is a serious ethical and moral misconduct in Academia and related professions such as Media and Creative Arts. As students of Academic Writing, we need to understand plagiarism and how to avoid it.

Learning Outcomes After working through this discussion, colleague learners/readers should be able to enhance their understanding of: Plagiarism Factors of Plagiarism Types of Plagiarism Dangers of Plagiarism

Definition Plagiarism is of different meanings to different scholars in different academic settings, though the common semantic element of it is STEALING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Also, different countries have different legal definitions for plagiarism, its scope and sanctions.

In Etymology (origins of words), plagiarism, according to Oxford Dictionary, is traced to early 17th century: from Latin PLAGIARIUS ‘kidnapper.’ This is also derived from PLAGIUM ‘a kidnapping’, then from Greek PLAGION. After being anglicized (made an English word), it arguably underwent a series of lexical surgery before the morpheme ISM was added to it, and what started as PLAGIUM centuries ago has become PLAGIARISM today.

Morphologically, plagiarism is related to the following derivatives: plagiarize (verb), plagiarist (noun as the actor), plagiaristic (adjective), plagiaristically (adverb), plagiary (noun as the act), plagiarization (noun as the process of acting). In addition, the Third Edition of Oxford Dictionary of English edited by Angus Steven and published in 2010 lists PLAGIARIZER as another noun. Although not widely used in Ghana, PLAGIARIZER and PLAGIARIST are synonymous.

In Grammar, the verb PLAGIARIZE is both transitive (attracting an object) and intransitive (not attracting an object.) Examples in usage are: (i) Samed plagiarized the long essay. In this construction, THE LONG ESSAY is the direct object of the verb plagiarized. (ii) Samed plagiarized from the long essay. Here, THE LONG ESSAY is not a direct object. Together with the preposition FROM, it rather constitutes a phrase acting as adverb of place for the verb plagiarized. Indeed, the phrase tells us where the plagiarism has been done and not what has been plagiarized.

To understand plagiarism very well, we need to examine some authoritative definitions of the related verb – PLAGIARIZE: The concise Oxford dictionary (6th edition) (1976) Plagiarise - Take and use another person's (thoughts, writings, inventions) as one's own. The Cambridge international dictionary of English (1995) Plagiarise - To use (another person's idea or part of their work) and pretend that it is your own. The Oxford advanced learner's dictionary (5th edition) (1995) Plagiarise - To take somebody else's ideas or words, and use them as if they were one's own. The Oxford advanced learner's dictionary (6th edition) (2000) Plagiarise - To copy another person's words or work and pretend that they are your own.

Funk and Wagnalls' new standard dictionary (1921) Plagiarism is the act of appropriating the ideas, writings, or inventions of another without due acknowledgement; specifically, the stealing of passages either for word or in substance, from the writings of another and publishing them as one's own. Collin's pocket English dictionary (1987)

Plagiarism is the taking of ideas, writings, etc. from another and passing them off as one's own. MLA handbook for writers of research papers (1995)

To use another person's ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarise. Now let us listen to what experts have said about Plagiarism. Though serious statements, some of them are very humorous. Hahahahhaaa! Plagiarism is copying the words of other writers; research is recycling their ideas.

—Robert Half. If you steal from one author it's plagiarism; if you steal from many it's research. —Wilson Mizner (American sportsman and wit). About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment. —Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818-1885) What is originality? Undetected plagiarism. —Dean William R. Inge Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation. —Benjkamin Disraeli (1804-1881) The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: The bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does. —William Blake (1757-1827) Goethe said there would be little left of him if he were to discard what he owed to others. —Charlotte Cushman Remember that God made your eyes—so don't shade your eyes—plagiarize. —Tom Lehrer Taking something from one man and making it worse is plagiarism. —George Moore (On the other hand, making it better is originality.)-Laurence J. Peter

Source: English Word Information wordinfo.info/unit/3424/ip:8/il:P NOTE: We have intentionally selected the authorities above from relatively ancient and current literature to justify our claim that plagiarism has a common meaning to all writers: INTELLECTUAL THEFT.

Factors of Plagiarism Many factors are responsible for plagiarism in the Academic Community, especially among students of universities in Ghana. These include lack of time and energy for students to study and do independent work, notion by students that lecturers/professors will not notice the plagiaristic conduct, and deliberate failure by some of the lecturers/professors to check and guide students against plagiarism. The most obnoxious factor that undermines faculty integrity and quality is traceable to handouts being prepared by some lecturers/professors for students.

In fact, some of the handouts cannot stand the test of plagiaristic scrutiny, logical reasoning, and linguistic accuracy. These handouts are nothing more than “Appendages of Google Contents” devoid of any proper citation. Because students witness how lecturers/professors steal intellectual property with alacrity, they too reproduce the stolen property for the lecturers/professors with impunity. This the students do in assignments, quizzes, term papers, and long essays.

Certainly, creativity among the students is jeopardized, and dishonesty encouraged. In efforts at rectifying this anomaly, some universities and colleges in Ghana have banned selling of handouts and encouraged lecturers/professors to research and write books that are worthy of academic merit and public consumption.

Types of Plagiarism Different writers have propounded many types of plagiarism. Among them are the following:

Direct Plagiarism Direct plagiarism is the word-for-word copying of a section of someone else’s work without acknowledgement. Below is an example: Plagiarized Piece "Long ago, when there was no written history, these islands were the home of millions of happy birds; the resort of a hundred times more millions of fishes, sea lions, and other creatures. Here lived innumerable creatures predestined from the creation of the world to lay up a store of wealth for the British farmer, and a store of quite another sort for an immaculate Republican government." Original Material "In ages which have no record these islands were the home of millions of happy birds, the resort of a hundred times more millions of fishes, of sea lions, and other creatures whose names are not so common; the marine residence, in fact, of innumerable creatures predestined from the creation of the world to lay up a store of wealth for the British farmer, and a store of quite another sort for an immaculate Republican government." - A. J. Duffield

Self-Plagiarism Self-plagiarism is the use of one’s own material in a different academic exercise without proper citation. Among students, self-plagiarism can occur when a student uses part or a whole work done previously as an answer to a new but similar assignment without acknowledgement. It is significant to state that some scholars are opposed to this type of plagiarism with the contention that it does not make sense for one to steal the property of oneself. So, it is advisable for students to find out the positions of their institutions on self-plagiarism.

Mosaic Plagiarism Mosaic Plagiarism is the cleverest (or most clever) type of plagiarism. Here, logic and structure are maintained. Words and phrases are borrowed without using quotation marks, and sometimes synonyms of words in the source are used to maintain the original meaning. Mosaic Plagiarism is also called “patch writing.” Below is an example:

Plagiarized material "Only two years later, all these friendly Sioux were suddenly plunged into new conditions, including starvation, martial law on all their reservations, and constant urging by their friends and relations to join in warfare against the treacherous government that had kept faith with neither friend nor foe."

Original Material

"Contrast the condition into which all these friendly Indians are suddenly plunged now, with their condition only two years previous: martial law now in force on all their reservations; themselves in danger of starvation, and constantly exposed to the influence of emissaries from their friends and relations, urging them to join in fighting this treacherous government that had kept faith with nobody--neither with friend nor with foe." Helen Hunt Jackson

Accidental Plagiarism Accidental plagiarism is using another person’s intellectual property with wrong or no acknowledgment at all. This occurs unintentionally either out of ignorance or negligence. Organized Plagiarism This is a humble observation and coinage of ours as a type of plagiarism in contemporary university education in Ghana. Almost an acceptable culture in the country’s tertiary scholarship, it is linked to the production of handouts by some lecturers without proper citation as previously mentioned in this discussion. The lecturers in question impose these handouts on innocent students for relatively exorbitant prices.

In some cases, buying the handouts is the only criterion of passing an examination. In other situations, the architects of Organized Plagiarism would not accept independent thoughts of students in class discussions or in examinations. They expect the students to speak and write within the confines of the so-called handouts. This way, the academic interests of the students succumb to the financial interests of the lecturers.

It is important to make a clarification here; not that handouts are bad but that some of them are worst. They violate the academic norms of creativity and originality and intellectual ethics of honesty and humility. We are not oblivious of the acceptable academic convention to use the material of a colleague to teach students. Traditionally, the lecturer lectures with or without the guidance of lecture notes and then refers students to the relevant material. But a lecturer transcends this convention and commits plagiarism if he or she reproduces the material as if it is his or her own and sells it to students. That is a serious breach of academic integrity and honesty. That is inimical to critical thinking among students. That is counter-productive to academic quality among the faculty. We use this opportunity to appeal to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) and other relevant institutions to consider Organized Plagiarism as a critical issue in their monitoring and evaluation of quality assurance by universities and other institutions of higher learning.

Dangers of Plagiarism From the above analysis, it has become obvious that plagiarism is dangerous. In all cultures and from all angles, plagiarism amounts to misconduct of multiple dimensions – from dishonesty to laziness, from mendacity to thievery, from illegality to deception, from mediocrity to non-creativity. Sanctions for plagiarism range from dismissal of students from universities and colleges to withdrawal of credentials and recognition from lecturers and other scholars. It must, therefore, be avoided at all times.

No one has copyright to words of English Language, but people may have copyright to manner of construction and line of ideation. This implies that you do not need to acknowledge everything in your work in the name of avoiding plagiarism. Common knowledge in a particular discipline is conventionally not cited or acknowledged.

For example democracy as a liberal form of governance is common knowledge in politics and governance. But the definition of democracy as “the government of the people by the people, for the people” is certainly the intellectual property of Abraham Lincoln. Also, it is common knowledge in English Grammar that a loose sentence is a complex sentence in which a main clause is followed by a series of subordinate clauses.

However, likening a loose sentence to a “snake whose power is in its head – the remaining parts only a fleshy thread” is that of Sekyi-Baidoo (2003: 496).Therefore, if you use these words of these authorities in an essay, you must acknowledge them to avoid plagiarism.

Conclusion In the light of the above discussion, plagiarism seems to be a monstrous challenge in Academic Writing. We, therefore, conclude with some experiential observations and pieces of advice to reduce or eliminate the fear of the challenge posed by plagiarism. First, borrowing and acknowledgment are not enough in Academic Writing; they must be necessitated by points made or to be made. After all, the aim of Academic Writing is not to reproduce the views of scholars but to expand the frontiers of knowledge out of those views. Second, efforts to avoid plagiarism may result in a conflict between critical thinking and respect for originality.

So, it is always advisable to strike a reasonable balance between originality and creativity. In maintaining this balance, you need to consider two critical elements of Academic Writing: line of ideation out of the original material and manner of presentation of created viewpoints. Dear colleague, do not be terrified by the challenge of Plagiarism. Not at all! One of the surest ways to overcome this challenge is proper citation, which constitutes the next topic of our discussion.

To God belong all kinds of knowledge, and to Him is glory.

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By Abubakar Mohammed Marzuq Azindoo, Lecturer/Coordinator, Weekend School, Islamic University College – Ghana Email: azindoo200@gmail.com