Difference between revisions of "Plagiarism"
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== Evolution == | == Evolution == | ||
| + | The first instance of ‘literary theft’ stems back to 40 AD. The Roman poet Martial used the Latin word ''plagiarus'', literally meaning ‘kidnapper,’ in one of his poems to describe someone who was stealing his work. It wasn’t until 1601, during the Age of Enlightenment, that playwright Ben Johnson introduced a derivative of the word, ''plagiary'', in English. <ref>Bailey, J. (2011). The World's First Plagiarism Case. Plagiarism Today. https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/10/04/the-world%E2%80%99s-first-plagiarism-case/</ref> During this era, original works increased in value also increasing the occurrence and acknowledgement of plagiarism. | ||
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| + | The first copyright law in existence was the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne Statute of Anne] in England in 1710, recognizing copyright as an author’s right. Author’s could register their work to be protected by the government for a limited period of time. <ref>Statute of Anne. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Statute-of-Anne</ref> The United States followed suit in 1790, passing their own copyright law modeled off the Statute of Anne, protecting maps, charts, and books for a fourteen year period. Overtime, many amendments were made to the act, broadening the range of works that were protected and for how long. <ref>Congress Passes the First Copyright Act. U.S. Copyright Office. https://www.copyright.gov/timeline/timeline_18th_century.html</ref> The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1976 Copyright Act of 1976], still employed today, provides copyright protection to all published and unpublished works so long as they are in tangible form<ref>Congress Passes the Current Copyright Act. U.S. Copyright Office. https://www.copyright.gov/timeline/timeline_1950-1997.html</ref>. These acts influenced academic and industrial institutions to build their own standards for recognizing and addressing acts of plagiarism overtime. | ||
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| + | The introduction of the World Wide Web has drastically changed the way information is received and perceived. With these changes, a large gray area has formed over the use of this information and the modes in which it is transferred. In an effort to govern online infringement, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act (DMCA)] in 1998.<ref>Wikipedia: Digital Millennium Copyright Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement</ref> This act “makes it illegal to circumvent technological measures used to prevent unauthorized access to or copying of copyrighted works, particularly books, movies, videos, video games, and computer programs.” <ref> Congress Passes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. U.S. Copyright Office. https://www.copyright.gov/timeline/timeline_1998-2012.html</ref> Despite this, plagiarism is as rampant as ever due to the volume of information and ease of access the Internet provides today. | ||
== Types of Plagiarism == | == Types of Plagiarism == | ||
Revision as of 21:18, 15 March 2019
Plagiarism is the act of representing another’s thoughts or words as one’s own [1]. The use of another’s words, images, videos, or music without appropriate citation or acknowledgment is considered plagiarism . It is not a crime to plagiarize, but it can lead to copyright infringement, a legally punishable offense. [2] Academic and industrial institutions consider plagiarism a serious ethical violation that often ends in punishment deemed appropriate by said institutions. [3]
Contents
Evolution
The first instance of ‘literary theft’ stems back to 40 AD. The Roman poet Martial used the Latin word plagiarus, literally meaning ‘kidnapper,’ in one of his poems to describe someone who was stealing his work. It wasn’t until 1601, during the Age of Enlightenment, that playwright Ben Johnson introduced a derivative of the word, plagiary, in English. [4] During this era, original works increased in value also increasing the occurrence and acknowledgement of plagiarism.
The first copyright law in existence was the Statute of Anne in England in 1710, recognizing copyright as an author’s right. Author’s could register their work to be protected by the government for a limited period of time. [5] The United States followed suit in 1790, passing their own copyright law modeled off the Statute of Anne, protecting maps, charts, and books for a fourteen year period. Overtime, many amendments were made to the act, broadening the range of works that were protected and for how long. [6] The Copyright Act of 1976, still employed today, provides copyright protection to all published and unpublished works so long as they are in tangible form[7]. These acts influenced academic and industrial institutions to build their own standards for recognizing and addressing acts of plagiarism overtime.
The introduction of the World Wide Web has drastically changed the way information is received and perceived. With these changes, a large gray area has formed over the use of this information and the modes in which it is transferred. In an effort to govern online infringement, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998.[8] This act “makes it illegal to circumvent technological measures used to prevent unauthorized access to or copying of copyrighted works, particularly books, movies, videos, video games, and computer programs.” [9] Despite this, plagiarism is as rampant as ever due to the volume of information and ease of access the Internet provides today.
Types of Plagiarism
Plagiarism can come in many forms, whether it be purposeful or accidental. It can happen at work, at school, and more commonly today, on the Internet. Legal measures for these actions are regarded in the context and intent the work was produced. It is recommended to avoid these situations entirely or make use of proper usage and citation techniques.
- Written Work: representing someone else’s work as your own, copying another’s thoughts and words without appropriate citation, forgetting to use quotation marks, giving false information about the source, using the same sentence structure but altering words.
- Music: using another’s copyrighted music in your own work, playing a cover using copyrighted music, creating music that borrows heavily from copyrighted work
- Images/Videos: using videos and images in one’s own work without proper citation, recreating images or videos in the same likeliness of another’s work, altering another’s videos or images without citation.
Ethics in Plagiarism
On the Internet
In Academic and Industrial Institutions
Sources
- ↑ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize
- ↑ Wikipedia: Copyright Infringement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement
- ↑ Imran, N. (2010). Electronic media, creativity and plagiarism. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 40(4), pp.25-44.]
- ↑ Bailey, J. (2011). The World's First Plagiarism Case. Plagiarism Today. https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/10/04/the-world%E2%80%99s-first-plagiarism-case/
- ↑ Statute of Anne. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Statute-of-Anne
- ↑ Congress Passes the First Copyright Act. U.S. Copyright Office. https://www.copyright.gov/timeline/timeline_18th_century.html
- ↑ Congress Passes the Current Copyright Act. U.S. Copyright Office. https://www.copyright.gov/timeline/timeline_1950-1997.html
- ↑ Wikipedia: Digital Millennium Copyright Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement
- ↑ Congress Passes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. U.S. Copyright Office. https://www.copyright.gov/timeline/timeline_1998-2012.html
