Plagiarism

[KingRascal]

I am sure most of you have read about the incident that was reported in the papers this week.


What is the minimum % of similarities with the original passage would a piece of work be considered plagiarism? I am not sure if there is an answer to it. Does anyone have any guidelines?

[hquek]

My understanding is that as long as you lift work off someone and do not give due credit (in main text/footnotes/whatever), it’s considered plagiarism. But only the blatant ones will probably be caught.

[keroppi]

hquek:

My understanding is that as long as you lift work off someone and do not give due credit (in main text/footnotes/whatever), it's considered plagiarism. But only the blatant ones will probably be caught.

This is my understanding too. If you quoted from some other sources, then you need to have the references listed down in your report. Otherwise, it's plagiarism.

[KingRascal]

Thanks. Guess another challenge could be that the sentenses are paraphrased and altered here and there. Look may be different but the similar meaning is adopted. Hard to draw the line in such cases.


Gotta be clear about all these as we would be guiding our children going forth. This incident is a wake-up call for us to learn and share with them.

keroppi:

hquek:

My understanding is that as long as you lift work off someone and do not give due credit (in main text/footnotes/whatever), it's considered plagiarism. But only the blatant ones will probably be caught.

This is my understanding too. If you quoted from some other sources, then you need to have the references listed down in your report. Otherwise, it's plagiarism.

[pecalis]

DD (P5) did a research by cutting and pasting from different sources, with acknowledgment. DH saw and told her she should not do that - told her to summarize, draw pics, use mind maps in her presentation. So instead of a 10 min work, she took about 1 and 1/2 hr. When she handed in, teacher gave her an A but scolded the class as almost the whole class just took chunks of work from the internet and just printed out.


She came home so happy and relieved but we reminded her that she was about to do the same as her classmates. I guess our kids are so internet savvy and yet, they do not know the seriousness of plagiarism. It’s up to the adults - parents and teachers, to drum into them that it is wrong to plagiarize

[hquek]

Well, but cutting and pasting is just taking the easy way out. if she acknowledged the source, then it’s not plagiarism. It’s only when pp hide their sources and pass off other pp’s work as their own, then it’s unethical.


Good for your girl. I’m sure she learnt something related to the topic at hand - which I guess is what the teacher wanted all along.

[schellen]

KingRascal:

Thanks. Guess another challenge could be that the sentenses are paraphrased and altered here and there. Look may be different but the similar meaning is adopted. Hard to draw the line in such cases.

If the concept/idea is a unique one, even paraphrasing is not enough. Its uniqueness will make it recognisable and thus it has to be acknowledged.