PLAGIARISM: THE INTELLECTUAL THEFT.

PLAGIARISM: THE INTELLECTUAL THEFT.

Plagiarism is the copying of another person’s ideas, text or other creative work, and presenting it as one’s own especially without permission. It can also be said to be the illegal usage of someone else idea or work without due acknowledge of the original author or owner of the idea or work. Also, plagiarism is the representing another person’s intellectual work as someone’s own in any academic assignment without providing proper citation. It includes

There has been rampant report of intellectual theft in the education sector and several people who are guilty of the crime have been sacked from their place of works, demoted or faced the wrath of the law. The Nigeria Copy Right Acts duly protect the intellectual properties of Nigerians upon being patented by the government.    

There is nothing new under the Earth. What one may consider as a new and pristine idea or thought, if one undergoes a historical voyage of discovery, one will be shocked to find out that similar idea or thought had once been in existence. Sometimes the author or pathfinder of the idea or thought may be known or unknown. One’s horizon of knowledge get broadens the more one reads and study. Our idea and thought are as a result of what we read and study over time. 

Here is an excerpt from a book entitled, “HOW TO BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE” to show that one’s horizon of knowledge get broadens the more one reads and studies. 

“It is commonly supposed that Lincoln originated the immortal phrase which closed this address; but did he? Hemdon, his law partner, had given Lincoln, several years previously, a copy of Theodore Parker's addresses. Lincoln read and under-scored in this book the words: 'Democracy is direct self-government, over all the people, by all the people, and for all the people." Theodore Parker may have borrowed his phraseology from Webster, who had said, four years earlier, in his famous reply to Hayne 'The people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people." 

Webster may have borrowed his phraseology from President James Monroe, who had given voice to the same idea a third of a century earlier. And to whom was James Monroe indebted? Five hundred years before Monroe was born, Wyclif had said, in the preface to the translation of the Scriptures,  that "this Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people". 

And long before Wyclif lived, more 400 years before the birth of Christ, Cleon, in an address to the men of Athens, spoke of a rule "of the people, by the people, and for the people". And from what ancient source Cleon drew his inspiration is a matter lost in the fog and night of antiquity.”

The burning question from the above extract is, does any of the speaker quote anyone or make reference to anyone to have given the definition of democracy in that way?

However, it is a trite law that referencing shows the richness of one’s research and boost one’s credibility. Also it is true that one cannot reference all idea and thought because some pathfinders or pioneers of those idea and thought may have been lost to antiquity.

In summation, good referencing shows the extents of one’s scholarship and boosts the credibility of a research work. Due acknowledgment is the hallmark of a credible work. Truth be told not all idea and thought can be referenced to anyone.    

 

Posted in: