Plagiarism and its Possible Solutions

Introduction

Long before the use of the internet had become common academic writing was characterized by originality. This was mainly because digging out information from voluminous books was not easy. However, with the increased use of the internet, information can be accessed quite easily. This brings about the problem of plagiarism. It can be defined as the close imitation of another writer’s ideas, thoughts and expressions and expressing them as one’s own. The writer creates an impression that his/her work is original but still uses the ideas and thoughts of other writers. This has become a common thing in the modern world due to the easy access to the internet.

There are no laws that govern the copying of other people’s ideas. Furthermore, the amount of available intellectual property has vastly increased with the improvement of technology. It could be hard to identify all the people who use other people’s work and represent them as the original. However, it is a general rule that whenever a writer uses the work of another, he/she should give credit. This shows that the writer acknowledges the fact that their work is not original with reference to that quoted part. Otherwise, this could be considered as theft by some people and shows lack of creativity as well as originality. Even though there are no rules to govern plagiarism, it is considered as unfair competition as well as a violation of the rights of the original writer. This is because the intellectual property belongs to that writer only. Any other writers should come up with their own ideas instead of copying.

In academic writing, the content of the writings is of considerable importance. However, the importance of content does not exceed that of originality. This qualifies plagiarism as a problem that needs solutions if the work in academic researches is to be effective. This should be a field where new ideas come up rather than the replication of the existing ones. For this reason, certain solutions have been suggested to deal with this problem. Some of them have even started to be put in use. Their effectiveness might not be excellent, but they still go a long way in reducing the menace. This shows the willingness and desire of scholars to deal with this menace of plagiarism.

The first on the list is the introduction of plagiarism checkers. Plagiarism came with the improvement of technology among people. The best way to deal with it is to come up with technology that can deal with it directly. Plagiarism checkers are software that can be used to check the originality of work. When the typed text is put on the plagiarism checker, it is able to highlight the parts and sections that have been developed from other people’s writings. However, some malicious writers may alter the order of words in their text as well as the vocabulary that has been used. This may render the plagiarism checker ineffective. This is because it only recognizes the writings that have been copied directly. It cannot highlight the ideas that are not original. However, it still plays a part in making sure that no direct writings are adopted from other people’s work. This is an enormous step towards dealing with plagiarism.

Apart from detection and dealing with the actual cases, preventive measures can be applied. Students should receive teachings on the dangers of plagiarism on their creativity. Teachers should take a step to ensure that they teach students proficient morals. This is because direct copying of another writer’s information and ideas are unethical. I some fields like journalism, plagiarism is punishable by suspension or expulsion. Therefore, the teachers, as well as world scholars, should teach and educate students on ethical practice in writing. This goes a long way to ensure that the attitudes of students change and reduce the cases of plagiarism. They say that prevention is better than cure. Even as, people try to come up with technologies to deal with plagiarisms, they should also consider ways of preventing them from occurring in the first place. Students should be responsible enough to make sure that their work is original. This can go a long way to increase their creativity, which is quite vital in the outside world.

Governments also have an enormous role to play in dealing with plagiarism. They should not leave this role to teachers and other writers who uphold ethics. When it comes from the direction of the government it is more influential. There should be legislation associated with plagiarism. Laws should be laid down as well as enforced on the people who engage in plagiarism. In journalism, the cases of plagiarism are not as many as those in the academic world. This is because of the rules, regulations and penalties that are associated with it. This causes the journalists to be original as well as creative From this, it is clear that issues of plagiarism can be significantly reduced if laws are laid down to it. Therefore, this issue requires the intervention of the government as well as international academic organizations.

Conclusion

It is evident that plagiarism is a problem in academic writing that is worth solving. It is a complete menace in the academic as well as the outside world. With the improvement in technology, people should come up with ways and means to curb this problem. This will reduce laziness among writers as well as enhance creativity and innovativeness in them. Therefore, there will always be new ideas, which help in the development of the world.