The Issue of Plagiarism in Communication

 

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Plagiarism is one of the great academic sins. It has the power to destroy a scholar or writer and turn a lifetime’s work to dust—Miranda Devine (Briany Qoute, n.d.). Plagiarism is a well-known term that refers to the act of taking someone else's work and presenting it as one's own, even though it is not their information (University of Oxford, n.d.), university students are familiar with the term "plagiarism" because they know if they plagiarize someone else's work and pass it off as their own, this can put them in great trouble, such as being expelled from the university, so it is very imperative that one does not plagiarize either in school or even in communicating.

Why is plagiarism unethical?

The three primary reasons why plagiarism is unethical and one should not engage in this act because it is a form of theft because one is using the work of others claiming it as their own ie one is stealing the intellectual property of someone’s work, second the plagiarizer is benefiting from the information they stole, third one did not earn the academic qualifications of the information they presented as their own they took the findings of an individual’s work who worked assiduously to obtain their information. University students often engage in plagiarism without knowing because they want to submit their assignment on time to meet a deadline without having adequate time to research and to avoid plagiarism (UNSW Sydney, n.d.).

How is plagiarism related to communication?

Communication, as stated in the previous blog, is the process by which information is transmitted or shared from the sender to the receiver through a medium, but in communication there are guidelines that must be followed when putting out information to the public that is ethical, also communication can be verbal and non-verbal. Based on the ethical theory Deontological Theory: This theory focuses on duty, which means that it is one's responsibility to ensure that what one does is ethical and that everyone is treated equally, as the bible verse Luke 6:13 states, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." So, in relation to plagiarism, one has a duty to ensure that they should not plagiarize because this is wrong with plagiarizing someone’s work is not treating that person ethically or equally because they are stealing someone’s academic property and based on the deontological theory individuals must treat others equally and with plagiarizing this is not treating one equally.

Cases of Plagiarism in Communication

In this section of the blog, there will be two significant cases of plagiarism that occurred.

Melania Trump

Mrs. Melania Trump was the first lady of the United States, the wife of Donald Trump, the former president of the United States. In her 2016 speech at the Republican National Convention, she copied and said the same speech that Mrs. Michelle Obama had said at the Democratic National Convention in 2008 (Your Dictionary Staff, n.d.). Isn’t this surprising? How can Mrs. Trump commit such an unethical act?

Video from: ABC News- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V26H9gDZRss&t=32s

Is there evidence of plagiarism based on this clip?

Joseph Biden

Mr. Biden has had many instances of plagiarizing many individuals works for many years now. According to the New York Times, Mr. Biden plagiarized a paper in college by reusing the exact information from a law review article without any form of citation or credit to the author who wrote the review. Later, in 1988, he was told to withdraw from the presidential campaign against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher due to plagiarism because his speeches were taken from previous speeches made by Hubert Humphrey and Britain's Neil Kinnock. Now based on this example, it is evident that plagiarism is a great offense that can cause individuals great loss. For instance, Mr. Biden had to withdraw his candidacy from the election  because of plagiarism (Your Dictionary Staff, n.d.), thus it is very imperative that when communicating, one should not plagiarize because plagiarism does not pay; it costs big time.

Video from- Washington Post- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmuAB5MqP0Y&t=87s

Steps to Avoid Engaging in Plagiarism in Communication.

To conclude this blog post, these are a few steps that readers should take into consideration to avoid plagiarism.

1. Paraphrase, quote from the sources that were used to formulate your paper as well as add your own ideas (George, 2022).
2. Absolutely no Cutting and Pasting
3. Giving the author credit for their work, such as adding intext citations to the paper and a reference list (George, 2022).
4. Lastly, and most importantly, do not do last-minute work. Take adequate time to compile the assignment properly.

References

BrianyQoute. (n.d.). Miranda Devine Quotes. BrainyQuote.com. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/miranda_devine_1208979

George, T. (2022, August 5). How to Avoid Plagiarism | Tips on Citing Sources. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/how-to-avoid-plagiarism/

University of Oxford. (n.d.). Plagiarism | University of Oxford. ox.c.uk. https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism

UNSW Sydney. (n.d.). What is Plagiarism? UNSW Current Students. https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/what-plagiarism

Your Dictionary Staff. (n.d.). Famous Examples of Plagiarism Cases. yourdictionary.com. https://examples.yourdictionary.com/what-are-famous-examples-of-plagiarism.html