It is obvious that taking someone else’s work and saying that it is yours is not correct. Plagiarism and copyright violation both deal with this issue. Although some of us might think that these two offences are the same, in fact they are not. However, since most of the people think that these two offences are both on the same wavelength, some might still fall for the threat of plagiarism.
Therefore, one has to keep in mind that plagiarism takes place when a person uses someone else’s ideas, or words without referencing or giving any credit to that person. This also takes place if the work used is paraphrased or summarized without any acknowledgement.
On the other hand, copyright violation refers to more than just referencing someone else’s work. In fact it is about using someone else’s original work, being it of any type of material, without any consent or reimbursement.
In fact, copyright violation is a more serious offense as it is also put into effect by the courts, while plagiarism is more insisted on by schools and universities. Apart from that, even if the user acknowledges the original creator of a particular piece of work, it is still illegal to take large parts of it. Alternatively, copying small parts of someone’s original work does not mean violating copyright laws as long as you acknowledge the author or creator.
Therefore, one has to pay attention when using these two terms in order not to use them interchangeably. Also it is better to keep in mind that when using information for assignments, dissertations or even for e-learning material, instead of paraphrasing one would better use quotes, footnotes, references as well as keeping quotations short enough in order not to violate copyright.
References:
1:Plagiarism and Copyright violation: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p04.htm
2: Copyright and Plagiarism: http://www.pddoc.com/copyright/plagiarism.htm
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