Should Students Be Published if Plagiarize - Research Paper Example

SHOULD BE PUBLISHED WHEN THEY PLAGIARIZE I. Introduction Plagiarism is the act of using someone else’s ideas, language, and thoughts without crediting their work. The law is against plagiarism because when one’s work is plagiarized the loss the morale of creating new ideas. The law recognizes the works of different people as intellectual property. That is the intangible property. Thus, as the law protects the tangible property, it also protects the intangible works to promote creativity. There are three main types of intellectual property rights, which include trade secrets, copyrights, and patents (Bloch, 2012). In learning institutions, students should be encouraged to come up with their pieces of work. For the world to progress there is a need for more innovations and creative ideas. Through plagiarism, students will not realize their potential. From my own understanding of plagiarism, I consider it as an offense since a student who is involved in plagiarism does not understand the dangers. Further still, I believe that a student with the act of copying other people’s ideas does not allow the learning process to take place. As such, the transfer of knowledge is limited since whatever they present for assessment is not their work. It thus becomes hard for the examiner to gauge the student’s capability. In view of this, the essay critically discusses the statement “should students be punished when they plagiarize” through analyzing the opposing and supporting side. II. Opposing side and rebuttal to it to support your supporting side Students should identify the gap that exists in the academic field. With the development of technology, copy and pasting an author’s work has been made easy for students. Some of the students end up copy pasting even an entire work of authorship even without giving credit to the authors. To curb plagiarism, students should be made to understand that, they attend colleges and universities so that they make the world a better place. Coming up with your work as a student, encourages creativity and innovation. Students must identify the gaps that exist in the academic field and come up with ways of filling them. Through plagiarism, a student concludes that they cannot come up with their ideas to increase knowledge in the academic field. In learning institutions, students are expected to give original work to their teachers or lecturers. There is a need for integrity, and most of the learning institutions promote academic honesty (Roig, 2010). Assignments enable a teacher to know whether a student understood a certain concept. Apart from Copy and pasting, there are other forms of plagiarism. There are other forms of plagiarism which most of the times they are overlooked. Submitting an assignment that one has not done is a form of plagiarism. The ideas in the assignment do not belong to that individual but written by someone else. Assignments are given to fulfill a certain course; they enable the teacher to know whether a student has understood a certain concept. Through sourcing work from the internet or from a friend, the teacher will not tell whether the student has understood a certain concept. Improper citation is also a form of plagiarism (Gopalakrishnan, 2011). Students should read more books and use them in their assignment so that they may gain more knowledge. Knowledge is acquired through reading books and other forms of authorship. Learning is a continuous process, and students should be ready to take up the task. The key factor of intellectual property rights is to promote innovation. The main objective of the intellectual property rights and the law is to promote innovation and progress in a nation. When authors are assured that their work is protected, they will always be ready to share and disclose their ideas to the general public. Intellectual property rights give absolute protection to the authors and make them be encouraged to reason better and come up with new ideas to build the nation. Authors also need to benefit financially from their intellectual property (Weber-Wulff, 2014). Intellectual rights act as an incentive to encourage them to continue working and coming up with more advanced ideas. Thus, students who plagiarize work should be punished according to the law. III. First supporting: students should be punished Students should be punished so that they may know how to prioritize their activities. Notably, there are reasons that make students plagiarize their work. In learning institutions, students do not prioritize their activities. There are various activities that take place in learning institutions that may override their academic work. Students will prefer to involve themselves in recreational activities and forsake their academic work. Some of them are not interested in the courses they pursue to them college is a place to pass time and make friends. Thus, learning institutions should come up with remedies to punish students who plagiarize their assignment so that they may know how to prioritize their activities (Eisner, 2008). Through punishment, they will come up with a proper plan so that they can achieve in all the areas of their lives in college. Punishment encourages creativity leading to more innovations. Punishment also opens up the students minds, and they understand the main reason as to why they are in certain learning institutions. Crediting author’s work shows that the student is conversant with the authors work and appreciates it (Merges, 2012). Reading and analyzing author’s work opens up a student mind and makes him fill the gap that exists in a given work of authorship. Students should learn how to develop their reasoning structure so that the ideas in their workflow logically. Integrating the ideas of other people in one’s text is important but should be done in an original manner (Roig, 2010). Punishing students who plagiarize other people’s way is a key factor that will encourage them to think beyond their boundaries. Punishment will ensure that students learn how to present their ideas logically. Punishment is a crucial factor to ensure that students learn how to present their ideas in a logical manner. However, punishment should be done in a process. First, students have to learn the meaning of plagiarism and the reasons as to why they should avoid it (Barrett, 2008). Learning institutions should impose penalties to control plagiarism and encourage their students to come up with original work. Some of the penalties that learning institutions impose is a failure of the course. Through this, students come up with their work so that they can move to the next level. Punishment shows that the institution recognizes the efforts of the hardworking students. Punishing students encourages the hardworking students to continue working hard. They are assured that their efforts are recognized and respected. Plagiarism encourages laziness among students, and they are not in a position to think logically and come up with something substantial. They rely on works done by other people to complete their assignment. Later in the job market, they may not give the quality service that a company needs. Thus, creative thinking should be encouraged from the grassroots by coming up with different forms of punishment for students who plagiarize (Pecorari, 2008). IV. Second supporting: should not be punished Students should not be punished because they lack knowledge on dangers of plagiarism. Most of the students do not understand the need to do their assignment and make sure that it is original. In some of the learning institution, it is a trend and to them it is natural practice. Some of them find their fellow students plagiarizing work, and they follow suite. Thus, teachers should not punish students for plagiarism. They should take time and understand the reason as to why a student plagiarized. Learning institutions is a place where a student should grow. At this stage, creativity is highly encouraged. Teachers can also give their students verbal warning and discuss with them the need for coming up with original work (Eisner, 2008). Punishing students will only demoralize them and they may not get good grades. Teachers should identify the main reasons for plagiarism before punishing them. Students should not be punished but advised on the measures they should take to avoid plagiarism. Some of them plagiarize because they feel that their writing ability is inadequate. Teachers should act as student’s role models and assure them that they can give their best anytime. Encouraging them that their input is required in the world, and it is of great importance. Fear of getting bad grades also is a main cause for plagiarism. Understanding the needs of the students should be a key factor in punishing them (Gopalakrishnan, 2011). Punishment is not the only remedy that can make students be encouraged to come up with their original work. Students should learn that getting good grades it is not an assurance that one will be placed in a better place in the society. Creativity and innovation are the only key factors that can take students to greater heights. V. Conclusion The bottom line is that plagiarism is a crime, and it is punishable by law. Thus, learning institutions should punish students who commit the crime. If plagiarism is encouraged in the main hubs of knowledge, innovation will come to an end making the world a boring place to inhabit (Roig, 2010). Innovations make life easier and encourage the development of the nation making it a better place to inhabit. Through punishment, the hardworking students will feel encouraged to continue with their hard work and soar to greater heights. The intellectual property should be protected even at grassroots levels. Teachers are supposed to educate the students about plagiarism and show them the need to come up with an original piece of work. Works of other others should be respected and given credit. Infringement of intellectual property will only be avoided through punishment. References Barrett, M. (2008). Intellectual property. New York : Aspen Publishers. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=FetCwyUjdFwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Barrett,+M.+%282008%29.+Intellectual+property&hl=en&sa=X&ei=76o4VfGfHdD5aufugCA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Bloch, J. (2012). Plagiarism, intellectual property and the teaching of L2 writing. Bristol, UK: Buffalo : Multilingual Matters. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=kp9_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA61&dq=Bloch,+J.+%282012%29.+Plagiarism,+intellectual+property+and+the+teaching+of+L2+writing&hl=en&sa=X&ei=H6s4VaueDo2LaMq8gPgK&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Bloch%2C%20J.%20%282012%29.%20Plagiarism%2C%20intellectual%20property%20and%20the%20teaching%20of%20L2%20writing&f=false Eisner, C. (2008). Originality, imitation, and plagiarism : teaching writing in the digital age. Chicago : University of Michigan Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=llt6IixBpmkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Originality,+imitation,+and+plagiarism+:+teaching+writing+in+the+digital+age.&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QKs4VYGvH47KaKS1gNAO&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Originality%2C%20imitation%2C%20and%20plagiarism%20%3A%20teaching%20writing%20in%20the%20digital%20age.&f=false Gopalakrishnan, J. (2011). What Is Self Plagiarism and How to Avoid It.Rretrieved on April 23, 2015 from, http://www.ithenticate.com/plagiarism-detection-blog/bid/65061/What-Is-Self-Plagiarism-and-How-to-Avoid-It#.VTitNPBkXIU Merges, R. P. (2012). Justifying intellectual property. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=nmKCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=Merges,+R.+P.+%282012%29.+Justifying+intellectual+property&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cKs4VfGGDcPoaOu5gKAI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Merges%2C%20R.%20P.%20%282012%29.%20Justifying%20intellectual%20property&f=false Pecorari, D. (2008). Academic writing and plagiarism : a linguistic analysis. London : Continuum. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=GYj4389W8jMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Academic+writing+and+plagiarism+:+a+linguistic+analysis&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mqs4VYn6DNbmavXzgJAN&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Academic%20writing%20and%20plagiarism%20%3A%20a%20linguistic%20analysis&f=false Roig, M. (2010). Plagiarism and self-plagiarism: What every author should know. Biochemia Medica, Vol. 20, Iss. 3:295-300. http://www.biochemia-medica.com/content/plagiarism-and-self-plagiarism-what-every-author-should-know Weber-Wulff, D. (2014). False feathers : a perspective on academic plagiarism. Berlin: Springer. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=ZlPFBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=False+feathers+:+a+perspective+on+academic+plagiarism&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xqs4VfbpJoPsar_1gIAD&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=False%20feathers%20%3A%20a%20perspective%20on%20academic%20plagiarism&f=false Read More