Different Types of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is derived from two Latin words; plagiarius which means an abductor, and plagiare which means to steal. According to Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, plagiarism is defined as "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." It is also considered as violation of scholarly ethics and intellectual property by many academicians.

Different Types of Plagiarism

Academic and journalistic plagiarism is an age old practice. However, Internet plagiarism is now rampant with the advent of the Internet, and plagiarism has taken many new forms. Now it is just about cut, copy, and paste, or a little rephrasing. But copy it is!

Full Plagiarism: Content that has been presented as own, without any changes made to the language, thoughts, flow, and even punctuation is known as full plagiarism. Many academicians believe that is generally the work of people who are incompetent in the particular subject, or are just plain lazy to make an effort.

Partial Plagiarism: When the presented content is a combination of two to three different sources, where the use of rephrasing and synonyms is rampant, then it is known as partial plagiarism. Here, the author uses some originality, but inadequacy of knowledge on the particular subject is a common reason for the occurrences of partial plagiarism.

Minimalistic Plagiarism: Here, the plagiarist authors someone else concept, ideas, thought, or opinions in their own words and in a different flow. Although many do not regard this as plagiarism (probably the one's who do it!), it is considered as stealing someones study or thoughts. Minimalistic plagiarism involves a lot of paraphrasing.

Source Citation: When complete source information with quotes is provided, it does not amount to plagiarism. However, the definition of a complete source citation varies vastly. Some writers quote the source's name, but give no other accessible information. While some conveniently give false references, some just merge their information with an original piece of writing. A ghost writer is a perfect example of a plagiarist. Here the writer feels free to source information and reproduce it as their own.

Self-plagiarism: This form of plagiarism is perhaps most contested as "it is " and "is not". Using one's own work, fully or partially, or even the same thought and re-writing it, is known as self-plagiarism by many. Publishing the same material through different mediums without referencing it correctly is a very common habit among many writers. The content on many websites are perfect examples of self-plagiarism.

According to professor Paul Brian's opinion posted on the Internet Humanist Forum, "self-plagiarism, or the recycling of an old work in a new guise is also a theft since the author leads the book-buyer to think that there is a new book of his on the market. The author is misleading his/her readers." "Self-plagiarism is fraud if not outright theft".

Plagiarism is a personal ethical issue. Knowing what it is, and learning ways to not only detect and prevent plagiarized content, but also how self-plagiarism happens will a go a long way in promoting and preserving authenticity and originality.