Chapter 7

     Plagiarism is the main topic of Chapter 7 in The Bedford Researcher. The textbook gives the definition of plagiarism, "A form of intellectual dishonesty."(121) It can be used in two ways by the writer by the most common which is unintentional or intentional (121). The main discourse with plagiarism is not just the obvious disciplinary outcome, but it will result in the total failure of gaining your readers' trust in your paper. Unintentional may be common, because it includes errors in the way one may document sources within their paper. By not annotating the quotation correctly from your source or paraphrasing the wrong structure of information can be enough to establish a paper as being plagiarized(121). Intentional plagiarism can be caused by knowingly using wrong citations, closely paraphrasing other authors' work without citing the source, or the brash way of simply copying and pasting a paper without giving where credit is due (122). One of the more challenging aspects is to know whether to cite something based off of common knowledge. The way the book gives guidance on this topic is to use a "knowledge inventory" by asking three questions: What information do I have on my subject? What I don't know? What information to I want to gain?(128). This technique can help guide you into what is information I use should be cited and what things do I need to cite in order to avoid plagiarism. It all comes down as making sure everything you write down without citation is wholeheartedly coming from your mind or common knowledge that is apparent throughout your field of work.

     This chapter is an important lesson for our own research papers. Plagiarism is a serious topic and by practicing it with or without your knowledge is not morally sound as a professional or scholar. Readers will seek out knowledge in your paper and if you failed to correctly cite your sources or steal other people's work than it cause a severe penalty to your integrity as a writer. Reading this chapter further increases the awareness of going through my paper and making sure to include the appropriate cited references and in text citation to protect my writing.



Reference:

Palmquist, Mike . "Avoiding Plagiarism." Bedford Researcher 4th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martins, 2011. 121-134. Print.