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Other issues
Information from the Internet:
A common mistake is thinking that, because Internet information is free and
often appears to have no owner, it can be used without giving credit.
However, our definition of plagiarism
... using others ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source
of that information
(Writing Tutorial Services, 2004) makes no mention
that those ideas and words must be in a published source or a professional
source or a well-known source or a valuable source. In fact, the source
makes no difference what-so-ever. The important point is that when you use
ideas or words that are not your own, no matter what the source, you must
give credit.
Informal and non-fixed sources:
A similar issue is using ideas and words from
informal and non-fixed sources. As casual as much of the information on the
Internet is, at least it exists in a fixed media that allows other people to
find and read the same piece of information that you used. Information from
a conversation or a telephone call, unless you should happen to record it,
can never be revisited by another person. Letters and email are another
source of information that, while fixed, are generally not available to
other people. Other transient sources might be information heard on the
radio, television or at a lecture or seen in a museum or art gallery. In all
these cases, you are required to give attribution for ideas and words you
take from those sources. Even if it is not
possible for someone to find, hear, or observe the original source, you are still
responsible for providing credit.
Relationship of plagiarism with copyright:
People sometimes confuse plagiarism with
copyright. Copyright is concerned with whether you have the right to access
and use a work. Plagiarism is about whether credit has been given for ideas or words
taken from that work. For instance, it may be perfectly fine, as far as
copyright goes, to copy a few paragraphs from a book but, if you put these
words in your paper without crediting the source, you will have committed
plagiarism. The bottom-line is that plagiarism has nothing to do with
copyright. You are obligated to acknowledge your sources whether or not
their work is copyrighted.
Self plagiarism
Self plagiarism refers to the use of your own
work, or a substantial portion of it, in another course than the one for
which it was originally written. While you are not stealing an idea from
someone else, it is still considered dishonest unless you have obtained
permission from your instructor to reuse the material.
No author
Sometimes people assume credit only needs to be given when there is someone,
an identifiable author, to credit. However, giving credit simply
acknowledging that the source of the ideas, words, etc. that you used came
from somewhere outside your own thoughts. It is the source of the
idea, words, etc. that receives the credit, not an individual. You need to cite even if the
source doesn't have an author you can identify.
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