The document discusses plagiarism, defining it as taking credit for another person's ideas, words, or work without giving proper attribution. It notes that plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and discusses legal aspects, providing examples of plagiarism on the internet. A recent case of alleged plagiarism by an IIT academic is described, and possible reasons for increasing plagiarism in India are explored, such as a lack of proper academic culture that values original research.

1. Aanuj Mallick
LEMC Assignment
BMS Sem -1
Roll – 01
IEAD Kolkata

2. What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism means “the appropriation of
another person’s ideas, processes, results,
or words without giving appropriate credit”

3. Plagiarism is the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing
and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts,
ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as
one's own original. The idea remains problematic with
unclear definitions and unclear rules. The modern concept
of plagiarism as immoral and originally as an ideal emerged
in Europe only in the 18th century, particularly with the
Romantic Movement.
Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and a
breach of journalistic ethics. It is subject to sanctions like
penalties, suspension, and even expulsion.
Plagiarism is not a crime per se but in academia and
industry, it is a serious ethical offense, and cases of
plagiarism can constitute copyright infringement.

4. Understanding the
Definition
 Plagiarizers use or take
intellectual property
 Other thieves use or take
physical property such as
money, computers, things,
etc.
The terms ideas, processes, results, or
words refer to another person’s intellectual
property

5. Understanding the
Definition
 Words … copying more than 4-6
consecutive words, rearranging phrases,
or paraphrasing extensively
 Ideas … using original information learned
from conference presentations,
confidential reviews, etc.
Plagiarism means taking or using any of the
following intellectual property without
permission or giving credit:

6. Understanding the
Definition
Continued from previous slide:
 Processes … adopting or using research
methods described by another
investigator, especially when the research
method is not common knowledge
 Results … using or reporting data, figures,
or tables that represent another
investigator’s research results

7. Understanding the
Definition
 Giving appropriate credit refers to:
 Providing the name of the original
author, artist, researcher, or scholar
 Providing sufficient publication data that
another person can find the original
source.
 Using quotation
symbols to indicate
direct quotes

8. Legal Aspects
 Although plagiarism in some contexts is considered theft or stealing, the concept
does not exist in a legal sense. "Plagiarism" is not mentioned in any current statute,
either criminal or civil. Some cases may be treated as unfair competition or a
violation of the doctrine of moral rights. The increased availability of intellectual
property due to a rise in technology has furthered the debate as to whether copyright
offences are criminal. In short, people are asked to use the guideline, "...if you did
not write it yourself, you must give credit.”
 Plagiarism is not the same as copyright infringement. While both terms may apply to
a particular act, they are different concepts, and false claims of authorship may
constitute plagiarism regardless of whether the material is protected by copyright.
 Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of a copyright holder, when material
whose use is restricted by copyright is used without consent. Plagiarism, in contrast,
is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarizing author's reputation that
is achieved through false claims of authorship. Thus, plagiarism is considered a
moral offense against the plagiarist's audience (for example, a reader, listener, or
teacher).
 Plagiarism is also considered a moral offense against anyone who has provided the
plagiarist with a benefit in exchange for what is specifically supposed to be original
content (for example, the plagiarist's publisher, employer, or teacher). In such cases,
acts of plagiarism may sometimes also form part of a claim for breach of the
plagiarist's contract, or, if done knowingly, for a civil wrong.

9. Plagiarism on the Internet
 Content scraping is copying and
pasting from websites and blogs.
 Free online tools are becoming
available to help identify plagi
-arism, and there are a range of approaches that
attempt to limit online copying, such as disabling
right clicking and placing warning banners
regarding copyrights on web pages. Instances of
plagiarism that involve copyright violation may be
addressed by the rightful content owners sending
a DMCA removal notice to the offending site-
owner, or to the ISP that is hosting the offending
site.

10. Conclusion
 Plagiarism many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work,
or borrowing someone else's original ideas. But terms like "copying" and
"borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the offense:
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize"
means
To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
To use (another's production) without crediting the source
To commit literary theft
To present a new and original idea or product derived from an existing
source.
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing
someone else's work and lying about it afterward. Plagiarism is
important to me as a university student because I would not want to be
accused of stealing someone else work or giving in an assignment
where I did not acknowledge my sources. I think that it is important that
primary school children should be taught what plagiarism is about and
how you can prevent it. Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided,
however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material
has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information
necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism

11. Recent Example
 A TOI report says, shares a recent Plagiarism incident, where in a plagiarism
charge has been made against an IIT academic. According to TOI, courtesy
the data from the Society for Scientific Values (a volunteer ‘watchdog’, which
investigates on an average around 200 new complaints of plagiarism and
corruption against scientists every month), in this latest one, a well-known
Indian scientist is accused of lifting entire paragraphs from a plant biology
paper by a scientist at the University of Heidelberg.
 The Society for Scientific Values says that one can find plagiarism cases from
all IITs — IIT Kanpur, IIT Chennai, etc. And understandably, most of the times,
the copied paragraphs, texts, research is from the research papers of the
acclaimed scientists. To cut the revelation short, while the complaints against
academics at little known universities and other organizations are a common
thing; the ‘prestigious’ institutions too are not far behind in plagiarism.
 What the Society for Scientific Values has observed about Plagiarism in
India:
 Founded in 1987, the Society for Scientific Values, is currently headed by KL
Chopra, former director of IIT Kharagpur. The society which has come a long
way since its foundation has now has more than 500 members. This is what
the Society has observed about Plagiarism in India:

12.  1) When a case of Plagiarism is brought to the notice of the
Institution, the usual practice of the Institution is to ignore it and not
respond to it. Even IITs try to sweep the thing under the carpet. In
the absence of legal powers to take an action, the society can go
ahead only if the the university acknowledges the society or the
scientist accepts misconduct.
 2) Institutions normally don’t take action against the
Academic/Faculty accused of plagiarism.
 3) Academics/Scientists/Faculties see a Research paper from the
career growth point of view. That’s how a research paper helps
them in getting a promotion to the next higher seat (promotions are
linked to the number of papers they publish). This pushes them to
publish as many papers as possible in a short time.
 4) Still, the society feels powerless in its crusade for values. “We
don’t have legal powers. Our cases move forward only if the
university acknowledges them or the scientist accepts misconduct.
 5) Proving Plagiarism is a slow and complicated process,
sometimes taking years to take the case to its right end.
 6) Even the Top Universities globally can’t nail a plagiarist, as their
are no tools available out there.
 7) Plagiarism is bound to become more rampant in coming years.

13.  Why Even IIT Academics Practice Plagiarism?
 The reasons can be many. One of which is stated by the Plagiarism in India
Watchdog. Others we can discuss here.
 One reason for increasing plagiarism in India, may be linked to the use of
Web or internet. Web has made accessible to a user every information,
right from basic to advanced. This has resulted in a situation, where a user
is accessing any information he/she likes, without giving much thought to
the copyright. For instance, online encyclopedia Wikipedia, an open Source
project, is used by millions of Indians daily, but most are unaware of the
nature of the copyright the Wikipedia offers. In short, there’s more moral
dilemma plagiarizing paragraphs, texts from a book made up of paper,
compared to some online publication.
 Another reason can be what, noted writer Pawan Verma, shared in his
book “Being Indian”. In the book, the author says that Indians by
very nature are Social Hierarchy climbers. That’s they want to move up in
society and enhance their reputations. And Academics are no exceptions to
this rule. According to him, the moment an academic enters the university,
he/she starts making right contacts to climb that social hierarchy. Top
professors using their contacts to get some University Chancellor post,
some deputation job at some Government ministry are a common sight.

14.  I think there’s another factor as well. The factor is the Lack of
Academic Culture in Indian Higher Education. With Academic
Culture, I mean a culture where the only place to find an
academic, apart from his/her tutoring duties, is his/her Study. India
doesn’t seem to have that kind of Academic culture.
 And there are reasons why we don’t have one. First is, Indians
habitually give more weightage to money than talent. This is
evident from the observation that “Whenever someone demands
more monetary incentive for talent, in the form of increased
salaries for Academics, Scientists, Teachers” no one actually
supports them. This results in Academics, who mostly reflect
talent, lagging behind.
 As in India, social status compensates for the lack of Money.
Hence, unless an Academic reaches the top of social hierarchy,
he/she continues to lag behind. Since, climbing social hierarchy
requires time, that automatically means an Academic getting less
time to devote to his/her core area, research.

15. Sources
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism
 plagiarism-
rnr.wikispaces.com/Conclusion+on+plag
iarism
 http://www.imperiallibrarylab.co.uk/word
presslearning/plagiarism-awareness-
conclusion/
 http://www.dehradunpost.com/even-iit-
academics-practice-plagiarism-in-india/