Obviously, buying a term paper or essay written by someone else and attempting to use it as your own is considered plagiarism. Directly copying sentences, paragraphs, or pages of another writer’s work without crediting your source is also a concrete example of plagiarism. However, many people are unaware that plagiarism can include lesser crimes such as paraphrasing materials without correctly attributing the source text. Self-plagiarism is an issue when writers try to use similar language in more than one published work.
Penalties for plagiarism can be quite severe. Most colleges and universities have academic integrity policies that allow for a plagiarizing student to either fail the course or be expelled. For professional writers, plagiarism can mean the end of a career. Young novelist Kaavya Viswanathan found this out the hard way when sections of her debut novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life were found to have borrowed language from similar works by other chick-lit writers. Her book was recalled and Little Brown cancelled plans to publish a sequel.
Those interested in avoiding plagiarism are advised to cite sources and references whenever possible, unless the facts in question are assumed to be common knowledge. For example, you would not need to provide attribution for a statement saying you must consume fewer calories than you expend each day to lose weight. However, you would need to cite your source if you are claiming that eating nothing but carrots is the best way to drop unwanted pounds.
To learn more about the definition of plagiarism and how to avoid problems in your own writing, yourDictionary recommends visiting the following helpful resources:
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