RUNNING HEAD: PLAGIARISM: ITS NOT JUST ACADEMIC 1

Plagiarism: Its Not Just Academic

Clayton Auzenne Jr
ENGL103-1304B-10: Composition: Writing and Research
Colorado Technical University
Professor Berardi
November 25, 2013

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Plagiarism: Its Not Just Academic
According to Merriam-Webster, to plagiarize is defined
as to use the words or ideas of another person as if they
were your own words or ideas. (Merriam Webster) We are
taught from a very young age that it is important to give
credit in all of our writing when we are using ideas,
concepts and wording from another source and we learn how
to include citations. The issues and repercussions of
plagiarism do not stop with our academic career. It is
important to maintain the care that you take in school into
your working career, no matter the career you choose.
Plagiarism can get you fired!
In 1999, Steve Hall, an Indianapolis Star TV Critic
was fired after 13 years when several of his writings were
deemed too similar to other writers works. (Cadou, 2000)
Bettie Cadou with Indianapolis Monthly detailed his fall in
her article in 2000 after the discovery of his dishonesty.
Even though, according to Cadou, Steve stated that he did
not intend to copy other writers work, Cadou discusses
whether or not Steve deserved the complete destruction of
his journalistic career. (Cadou, 2000)
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When writing is your lifes work, journalistic
integrity is the most important thing to uphold. Your
readers and employers expect all of your work to be your
own and there are several examples, similar to Halls story
where plagiarism in media writers is handled very severely.
But is plagiarism an important issue in other careers?
Yes, it is.
Always strive for honesty
In school, you start learning what it is to be an
adult with integrity, and much of that starts with writing.
Whether fictional or research-based, your early written
work is your first exposure to expressing your ideas to
your peers. When you graduate and get your first job, good
interpersonal skills are highly prized in employees and
that does not change through different career paths. These
skills include honesty and integrity, which cannot be
gained by taking credit for others work.
Just as Steve Hall argued, is it possible to
unknowingly use anothers ideas? Well, Cadou explains in
her article that there were many examples where Halls work
so closely resembled other writings that they even
appeared in the same order as other articles on the same
topic. (Cadou, 2000) It is possible to have ideas similar
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to anothers, but it is very rare that the idea will be
expressed in the exact same way. We have to be very
careful in all of our work to give proper credit when we
gather an idea from another author. Many may not feel it
is dishonest if you only gather a single thought from
another article, even as they expound on that idea in their
work. This may be unwitting, but it is still dishonest.
Even a small idea should be cited, as the idea did come
from someone else.
Preventing Plagiarism
When we first learn about what plagiarism means, it
can be confusing. It is important to not only have a full
understanding of plagiarism, but to learn how to properly
summarize sources and how to quote sources in your written
work. The OWL at Purdue has many great resources to help
with these exact issues and prevent plagiarism throughout a
students academic career as well as after. (Preventing
Plagiarism)
Part of our jobs when writing is to ensure that credit
for every idea is included in a citation and a reference
section, even if it is an online article or blog post.
When researching a paper or article, keep track of every
thing that you read and make notes of what you gathered
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from each work. Keeping this information makes it easy to
remember where your ideas came from and what references
need to be included.
In conclusion, we are responsible for our work and our
word. It is important to maintain integrity to advance in
our careers and that includes maintaining integrity in all
of our written work, from documentation on a software
feature to an article for the New York Times. Every career
path will include writing, to an extent, and it is not only
important to maintain honesty, but to include references
for your readers to provide credibility to your arguments
and statements.

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References
Cadou, B. (2000, January). Words Fail Me. Indianapolis
Monthly , 23 (6), p. 78.
Merriam Webster. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 24, 2013, from
Definition of Plagiarize: http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize
Preventing Plagiarism. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2013,
from OWL - Purdue Online Writing Lab:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/3/33/