Hi Steemians, I am @ononiwujoel a member of the steemit platform and today I'll be writing on a topic that have been a case study for a long time now especially in the blogging and writing community. This subject matter is Plagiarism. Read on and I hope you find this article interesting.

What is Plagiarism?

In simple words, plagiarism is the act of copying the words, expressions, ideas or writings of someone else and then using them as yours without making proper reference to the original owner or crediting the source from where it was copied.

source

This act have become a pressing issue especially in among bloggers and writers because in most cases there are little or no effective mechanisms to prevent this and sometimes plagiarised contents pays the plagiarists (plagiarists are people guilty of plagiarism) even more the original owner of the content and this is leads to a very discouraging situation because if this continues unchecked then genuine content creators will be at the loosing end finally.

And moreover plagiarism to my own opinion is more like stealing and can therefore be called an act of theft because using someone else's work as your own is same as stealing from the person for your own gains.

Having described what the word Plagiarism is all about I'll be showing some forms of plagiarism.

Now there are several forms of plagiarism but I will be writing about six of them which are; Direct plagiarism, Source-based plagiarism, Self plagiarism, Paraphrasing plagiarism, Mosaic plagiarism and Accidental plagiarism.

Now I'll be writing on this forms of plagiarism.

Direct Plagiarism

Direct plagiarism is when content creator or writer directly copies the work of another person verbatim and uses it in his work without any form of authorisation, permission or reference.

This form of plagiarism is common online and in the academic world and is one of the worst forms of plagiarism known so far and can be a tagged a crime in academics.

Source-based Plagiarism

This form of plagiarism occurs when a content creator or writer makes reference to a source that is wrong or do not exist at all. It also occur when a content creator or writer uses information from a secondary source but only makes reference to the primary source of the information.

This form of plagiarism is also very bad because it gives wrong directions to people going through the contents and also create wrong impression about the sources used in the content.

Self Plagiarism

This form of plagiarism happens when a content creator or writer mixes together some sections of previous works or puts forward the previous without authorization from all the authorities involved.

For example, incorporating part of the article you wrote in a steemit community sometime ago into a new article you're writing to post probably in a different steemit community without making reference to show that it's a repost

Although this form of plagiarism is still under debate as to whether it is allowed or not generally but here in Steemit it is not allowed and should be avoided.

Paraphrasing Plagiarism

This form of plagiarism happens when you edit someone else's work by changing the words used in it although the idea remains same as that of the original work and then incorporate it into your own work as your idea.

This particular form of plagiarism is very common among bloggers even here in Steemit and many people do not even know this is also an act of plagiarism but it is one and ut should be avoided as well.

Mosaic Plagiarism

This type of plagiarism happens when you borrow phrases from a source without making use of quotation marks or look for synonyms for the language of the author, even as you are maintaining the same general meaning and structure of the original.

It is at times refers to as patch writing. Mosaic plagiarism is a kind of writing and academic dishonesty, whether it is deliberate or not.

Accidental Plagiarism

This type of plagiarism happens when you ignores or fails to cite your sources or you misquotes your sources or paraphrases a source accidentally by using the same group of words, the same words or sentence formation without giving credit to the original owner of the work.

It called Accidental because it normally happens unintentionally, maybe out of neglect or mere carelessness but this should be avoided because it won't stop you from undergoing the consequences of plagiarism.

Ways to avoid plagiarism

Useful tips to make sure you are never found guilty of plagiarism includes;

• Always make proper reference to the source from which you got the information you added to your work.

• Proofread your work before posting to make sure there are no duplication of former phrases and there are proper quotation marks and references.

• When copying someone else's ideas, make sure you credit the original owner in your work

• Finally take time to study the sources from which you are borrowing ideas because some of them maybe plagiarised contents also and if you use them you can also be guilty of plagiarism.

Conclusion

Plagiarism is a subject matter that is still under debate as to the best ways of ending it. And the steemit platform is not an exemption because it is also a hot topic here on steemit so it is not advisable for anyone to be involved in such as it is also one of the factors making blogging difficult and discouraging for people interested in it.

But with the steps being taken on this matter there is also a noticeable reduction of plagiarism both in the steemit platform and general blogging which is a good development.

I believe in the nearest future we are likely to have very rare cases of plagiarism because people are now learning what it is and how to avoid it.

Thanks for reading through and do have a great day ahead

Cc: @bright-obias
Cc: @cryptokannon

By @ononiwujoel

I have read and understood the Steemit Etiquette on Steemit Community and will do my best to embrace them

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