What is Plagiarism

Every person or organization will like to be given credit for his original work which he did not copy from someone else. But while someone is arranging a work (write-up), he may like to add a portion of another person’s work in his own in order to beautify his own work or to assist in establishing an argument (or point); it is not abnormal to do so, but he must give credit to the person he used part of his work; failure to do is not good. The act of using someone’s work, either as a whole or in part, without giving the necessary credit to the original owner is an offense called plagiarism.

According to University of Oxford, “Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition. Plagiarism may be intentional or reckless, or unintentional”. [https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism]

To avoid plagiarism, when it becomes very necessary to use part of someone’s work, it is good to give credit to the source by using citation. According to Wikipedia, “A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of acknowledging the relevance of the works of others to the topic of discussion at the spot where the citation appears”. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation]

[Source of image: https://learncybers.com/what-is-internet-plagiarism-checker-free/]

The two definitions above, one on plagiarism and the other on citation is not my own work, so I have to give credit to the source of the definitions, likewise the image above ; if I had failed to do so, I would have committed the offense of plagiarism. To avoid plagiarism, it is good for one to try his best to make sure that what he is writing is from his brain. Original work is highly valued in steemit, but if it becomes necessary to add another person’s work, please use citation to reference the source of the material you used.

I have read and understood the Steemit Etiquette on Steemit Community and will do my best to embrace them.

I am grateful to @cryptokannon and @steem.history for their posts that really helped me with useful information.