ACADEMIC WRITING AND ISSUES OF PLAGIARISM: A CRITICAL STUDY
Abstract
Plagiarism is a buzz word in contemporary academia. Though the idea of plagiarism emanated from a noble intention of promoting ethical writing by acknowledging academic borrowings but unfortunately in contemporary times this word has generated more anxiety and fear than awareness and responsibility. One of the main reasons for such response is lack of awareness about what constitutes plagiarism. Everyone would agree that plagiarism is something to be avoided but they are hardly sure about what precisely constitutes plagiarism. This article emerges from our quest to understand and outline what is plagiarism so that it can be handled effectively and its impact can be mitigated.
With a natural curiosity the question arises- Is plagiarism a new phenomenon? The answer to this question is an emphatic no. As a type of academic dishonesty or fraud, plagiarism is not a new phenomenon in the academic circle. Knowingly or unknowingly it has persisted through ages. Until very recently people could hardly believe that language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions can also be stolen. By 19th century the thought that language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions can also be stolen started gaining currency. In twentieth century people accepted that yes even language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions can be stolen but they thought that they can escape. In the 21st century we see that plagiarism is no safer[1].
We witness a paradoxical situation in the 21st century; on the one hand, Information, communication and technology (ICT) has further aided in the detection of plagiarism. ICT has facilitated the digitalization of more and more literatures and made it available online. On the other hand, with the widespread availability and use of easily available internet resources the practice of plagiarism has exponentially increased and intensified. As a result the trend of copy and paste without giving due credit to the original author has increased manifold. Plagiarism is a plague sweeping across academia.
Realising the increasing menace of plagiarism institutions across the world have started taking initiative to curb this menace by making it a legal offence. In India with gazette notification of UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018, 23rd July 2018; plagiarism is no more merely an issue of ethics and morality left to the individual academicians to follow; rather with coming into force of this notification plagiarism has become a punishable offence