Written by Andrelyn Izquierdo.
An educational resource to defend yourself against plagiarism as you embark on a journey through my personal experiences.
Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay.
It is not anything new when hearing about another student sneakily moving their head to the side on exam day taking a peek at their neighbor’s answers then putting the same one on their paper and taking credit for a correct answer that they didn’t put forth effort on their own to earn. This is worse than taking a guess and putting down something you think would be correct. This is a version of plagiarism.
There are many ways plagiarism can be done. Dictionary.com defines it as, "An act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author. The other definition states, "A piece of writing or other work reflecting such unauthorized use or imitation." View the screenshot below for confirmation.
Screenshot Captured from Dictionary.com
This kind of behavior is considered illegal and CheckForPlagiarism warns, "Plagiarism is a very serious crime." Since it is part of the copyright laws, it is an infringement on one's intellectual rights in the United States. This has been occurring to me a lot over the years that I've been trying to figure out for myself how to successfully report it. Through trial and error, I have discovered some ways that others can do as well. Starting out with an awareness of an attempt of paid or hired plagiarism and looking it up in articles, I came across this one from 2021 that was posted on my AndrelynWriting Facebook Page.
Screenshot Captured at AndrelynWriting from Facebook.
Plagiarism is a version of intellectual theft that is considered fraudulent as well. There is so much fraud happening around the world nowadays that it seems like it's hard to keep up with each day. At least, that is what it is in my case as I'm so bombarded with fraud, identity theft, sexual violence, and much more that I feel like I'm recording incident details all day long. It's exhausting, but it has to be done.
If it is an individual, to report it officially, file a police report online. I have tried calling it in through the 911 non-emergency line beforehand and wasn't successful as those phone calls do not always go as planned for the caller and highly depend on the knowledge or training of the person on the line taking the call. This can also be a time waster. Might as well take the shortcut and write your report thoroughly online. Unfortunately, this is not an option everywhere so do your due diligence and research your local precinct website for report availability.
For example, I've noticed electronic documents on my computer that were removed or modified from one of my online accounts and then placed elsewhere on the internet without my name attached to them. In the police report, I had to choose the following in this sequence:
Fraud Types
Choose Hacking/Computer Invasion.
Screenshot Captured from SouthSound911.org
Under Property Information
Property Category: Documents
Property Item: Other Miscellaneous Document
Item Description: This area is a fill-in on my end, so it is recommended to just write in a brief description of the name and location of the item.
Quantity: Write down how many whole documents, sections, or pages have been stolen.
Replacement Cost: This depends on what kind of intellectual content was taken from you. Take your best guess if there isn't a readily quantifiable price for the data available.
Item Manufacturer: This category can be tricky, but can be worked around. It is now considered optional in my local city so I no longer have to fill this in. But when reporting, it's smart to put in as much detail as possible to help find the stolen document. Good thing, there is Google, Apple, and Microsoft as an option.
If it is a business, then go to the Better Business Bureau at the following URL:
Screenshot Captured from Better Business Bureau by Andrelyn Izquierdo.
As you have gone through some of this legal jargon and step-by-step tutorial on reporting plagiarism, be sure to keep track of important documents as well as journal entries whether they are electronic, printed, or handwritten. Write down the date, time, titles, and descriptions in order to keep a secondary log for yourself in case your intellectual property gets stolen. Also, don't forget to cite your sources whenever you are researching as doing this is helping you abide by the law too.
Bibliography:
CheckForPlagiarism. Plagiarism Law: https://www.checkforplagiarism.net/plagiarism-law 8/10/23.
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Thank you for reading.
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This article is written by:
Andrelyn Izquierdo
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