Finally he found the exact country, city and place being the main source of plagiarism on the Earth. He cautiously brought in a bomb and set it off… Few seconds later a huge explosion was heard all around. From now on, everybody’s become aware of complete disappearance of plagiarism domination. It was just another perfect mission completed by… Bond… James Bond…
Sounds quite fantastic, doesn’t it? This is the scenario for a happy-end-detective story to be shot. Nonetheless life is different… Everybody knows how hard it is to get rid of wild grass, especially if it’s plagiarism. To think of probable ways out, a brief investigation should be conducted.
When Did It All Happen?
There are many arguments about it. Some even claim that the first instances of plagiarism date back to AD times, e.g.:
“The roman poet Martial lived from 40 AD to somewhere between 102 and 104 AD… However, Martial, like many poets in the era, found that his work was being copied and recited wholesale by other poets without attribution. This was a very common act during the time as poets, generally, were more expected to be able to recite and relay earlier works than create original ones.” [1]
As for the date when the term “plagiarism” was born, there is little agreement as well. However, most of those interested in the matter frequently name late 15th – early 17th centuries. Much happened since then, but things seem to get even more complex.
Now you are likely to understand why fighting against plagiarism is not a piece-of-cake job. Its roots are too long and branchy to be pulled out once and for all.
Who Covers Up For Plagiarism?
The answer is obvious. Generally it’s people. Not all of them of course, but, so to say, the biggest tempted part.
Why? Why do most of us commit plagiarism crimes so often? Another simple answer is just because to steal is a lot easier than to create, especially when something already made not by you gained high recognition and started to bring in huge incomes.
Obviously, the problem survives all these centuries because of the lack of efficient tools or techniques enabling everyone to trace plagiarists’ muddy footsteps. Quite often, the search of them is complicated by absence of a global strategy to fight against the problem together in all the spheres of humans’ activity. In addition, plagiarists become more and more ingenious.
Moreover, the situation is worsened immensely by constantly increasing number of plagiarism contributors. Among them are online plagiarism checkers with no security systems forbidding to reuse already uploaded and checked works, online education programs not having necessary precautions to avoid plagiarism, social media with no accountability, i.e.:
“In general, when content is stolen in social media, there is little accountability. There are no heavy duty features that check for plagiarism or for whether text has been cited properly.” [2]
As a matter of fact, any innovation has both pluses and minuses, like two sides of the same coin. Thus, our main mission is to do everything possible to get rid of the drawbacks favoring plagiarism.
Guess Who’s The Next Victim?
Hmm, actually victims are numerous, very numerous indeed. To prove it’s true, just think of the areas being highly exposed to negative plagiarism influence. Here is just a part of the victims’ list:
- IT;
- media;
- marketing;
- education;
- politics;
- science;
- arts;
Isn’t it impressive? Not yet? Then just think of how much you’d be forced to pay, if once you were found guilty of image copyright infringement? Here is an example clearly outlining the issue, e.g.:
“Web copywriting company Webcopyplus confirmed it recently paid approximately $4,000 US to settle an image copyright infringement claim, and warns web designers, developers, business owners and other marketers they may also be exposed to such claims, with statutory damages of up to $150,000 per image.” [3]
Well, well, well to plagiarize turns to be not so profitable as it might seem at first. Yep!
Happy End Is Not A Mere Myth!
Phew… Congrats! You’ve just read the most pessimistic part of the story. Now, it’s high time to wipe off your tears and stop sobbing. There must be some effective solutions to make the mission complete, besides many of them exist and are actively applied.
In fact, in many countries there are official authorities responsible for tackling copyright issues at the local level, for example, The US Copyright Office, The Intellectual Property Office in the UK, The Copyright House in Australia, etc. Moreover, much has already been done to fight plagiarism globally too. Thus, all countries that agreed to join global copyright bodyguards (like UNESCO, WIPO, IFRRO) are automatically protected against copyright infringement in compliance with international treaties, conventions, agreements, etc.
Still there is much to be done:
- Maintaining overall awareness of the matter by means of different methods of communication, i.e. special seminars/lectures, webinars, courses, etc;
- Spreading information about plagiarism as well as the punishments it entails;
- Providing strict control over plagiarism instances by creating local committees, boards, applying plagiarism checkers, etc;
- Taking necessary precautions long before somebody decides to plagiarize your work;
- Encouraging everybody to work on one’s own, so that plagiarism will be completely demotivated;
Well, actually you are free to continue the list! The main point is to keep on improving yourself and not falling for easy pickings. Being hard-working and creative prove to be rewarding.
P.S.: Please, share your ideas regarding the way plagiarism may be defeated in comments below.
Many thanks!
Source:
- when term plagiarism appeared: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/10/04/the-world’s-first-plagiarism-case/
- with regard to social media plagiarism: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/is-social-media-creating-a-plagiarism-problem-infographic/?utm_source=rss
- with regard to copyright infringement case: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011-02-copywriter/copyright-infringement/prweb5061854.htm