The Abhorrent Act of Plagiarism in Higher Education

  • Aditya Kumar Tomar
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  • Aditya Kumar Tomar

    Assistant Professor at the ICFAI Law School, The ICFAI University Dehradun, India.

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Abstract

Plagiarism can be seen as a growing menace which today has become a punishable offence. Plagiarism is a process of borrowing somebody else’s hard work or idea and publishing it without giving the original owner any credit. The developing technology and internet has made it very easy to plagiarize the works as vast information is available on internet. Today we just have developed the habit of borrowing information from internet without giving a heed to the original source of information. There are various types of plagiarism. Paraphrasing is becoming a serious kind of plagiarism. Paraphrasing means borrowing the original idea of the owner and rewriting his work in different words. The most important question which we face is whether the practice of plagiarism is unlawful? Plagiarism in itself is not unlawful or illegal. It is just an unethical practice. But as soon as plagiarism violates the copyright law it becomes illegal and a punishable offence. Plagiarism no doubt is an intellectual property theft. There is an endless confusion that whether, copyright violation and plagiarism is one and the same thing. Although they may sound similar but they are quite different from each other. In India there are no separate laws to deal with plagiarism. There are no provisions under any law which clearly defines plagiarism and provides for the punishment. Plagiarism is dealt under Indian Copyright Act, 1957 as an offence of violation of copyright. To eradicate the plague of plagiarism from the field of academics, UGC has laid down certain guidelines to check and control plagiarism. UGC has also fixed penalties for the students as well as researchers for the commission of plagiarism. It is very important to create awareness and educate students about the perils of plagiarism. Only then this growing menace of plagiarism can be curbed.

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Research Paper

Information

International Journal of Law Management and Humanities, Volume 5, Issue 4, Page 1045 - 1053

DOI: https://doij.org/10.10000/IJLMH.113442

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