PLAGIARISM – an
Intellectual Theft!
PLAGIARISM kills sense of imaginative reasoning, leads to lost of
intellectual
credibility and destabilizes creative minds. It has indeed
strangled to death the holy curiosity of enquires of the old-what an
intellectual looting! What is this enemy of intellectualism termed
plagiarism?
The word “plagiarism” is derived from the Latin word plagiare,
which means to kidnap or abduct. The word began to be used in the
English language sometime during the 1600s. According to Longman Dictionary of contemporary English, plagiarism is the act of using
someone else’s words or work and pretending they are your own. The
sixth edition of Oxford Advances Learner’s Dictionary of current
English has it that, to plagiarize” is to copy another person’s ideas,
words or work and pretend that they are your own,. In addition, “OSBORN
OSBORN” writes in his text book on public speaking that presenting the
ideas and words of others as though they are your own without
acknowledging their contribution is called plagiarism.
Why do people plagiarize? Does it mean that our generation can no
longer sit down, produce and transmit something of their own to others
without looting someone’s cherished intellectual property? First, the
chief reason behind plagiarism is just for cheap popularity and
propping of one’s ego at the detriment of people’s brainchild.
Secondly, laziness is another factor; only a few undergraduates have
the innate desire to think up something and put it down on paper for
the intellectual uplift of their fellow man through creativity.
Thirdly, ignorance, roughly about 75 percent of people who indulge in
plagiarism do not see it as a serious offence. What is plagiarism was
asked by a lecturer in a class full of capacity, none of the students
in that lecture hall was able to give an answer to this question. This
event inspired me to write this piece.
It might interest us to know that, there are three (3) types of
plagiarism, namely (1) patch-work plagiarism-copying different people’s
words or work and presenting them as your own. (2) Global plagiarism –
taking or copying a whole piece of a particular work of another person.
(3) Incremental plagiarism – involves quoting or paraphrasing one’s
statement without awarding credit to the originator: it has to do with
quotation or paraphrase.
An author’s worst dream, says writer Paul Gray, is to be accused of
plagiarism, stealing ideas, and language from someone else and parading
them as original”. This act not only discloses the perpetrator’s
dubious mind but also his overt display of incompetence. Our written or
spoken words create a great deal of meaning that can spread beyond time
and place in which we made them. We can always be remembered if a
remarkable attention is given to acknowledge our effort.
Decades and generations have come and gone but inspiring words of
people like William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther Jnr.,
Mahatma Gandhi, George Washington, et cetera; have one way or the other
motivated us to move on in spite of all odds. The only way we can make
them proud and show a deep sense of appreciation is through giving
credits to their words. Plagiarism is a substantial attack on human
intelligence; let us unanimously say no to this ugly trend!