Modern society has a basic understanding of plagiarism as the act of copying someone else’s words or ideas. In reality, this is literary theft, in which the work of another person is stolen and credit is taken for it. Furthermore, plagiarism is considered an act of fraud since original ideas are intellectual property and protected by copyright laws. It is not enough to paraphrase someone else’s ideas and words; to avoid plagiarism, writers should properly cite and make references to the sources used.
Penalties for Plagiarism
Most schools encourage and promote academic honesty among their disciples. Plagiarism is a crime that will not be tolerated, and its consequences and penalties vary from institution to institution. The Wharton County Junior College plagiarism policy states that their students are expected to submit their original work, and plagiarism is prohibited. Some of the consequences of such dishonesty that the students may face include failing the exam or the course and even being suspended. Bowdoin College urges its students to value academic honesty and the reputation of the College. Sanctions can be imposed, such as failure of an assignment, grade reduction as well as expulsion. The Boston University considers plagiarism a violation of the Academic Conduct Code, and possible penalties may include reprimand, disciplinary actions up to revocation of degree.
Essay Mills and Detection Services
Nowadays, various online companies or individuals offer students paid academic assignments. Those services claim that they assist students in dealing with their academic tasks that seem too difficult or time-consuming. Essay Mills is an online company with professional essay writers who offer their services in a variety of academic fields, such as arts, accounting, business, finance, and management. They assure their works are plagiarism-free since everything is research-based and written from scratch. They also offer reasonable prices and helpful customer support.
EssayShark is another online enterprise that has been offering academic assistance for over a decade. They are highly sophisticated and up-to-date, accept payments via Apple Pay, and provide instant communication in a chat. These paper mills are accessible to students with a simple internet search or promoted by word of mouth on campus. Honesty and academic integrity are highly valued in schools, and submitting someone else’s work as their own is contract cheating and plagiarism.
Teachers use many strategies to detect plagiarized academic work; being aware of the specific student’s writing style, their academic capabilities, and the level of knowledge of the given topic may be enough. However, basic online plagiarism detection services will not expose an original essay bought by a student. Turnitin is an internet-based plagiarism detection tool that, in addition to detecting plagiarism, also recognizes contract cheating through their similarity reports. The service checks the students’ work against their database and reports any similarities found. Although there are many tips and tricks out there on the internet for cheating the system, Turnitin assures those tactics are taken into consideration and combated by their ever-evolving suite of products.
My Opinions
Academic institutions face a serious problem of combating the recurring culture of plagiarism among their students. Laziness and ignorance come into play in the spread of this academic fraud. In addition to trying to detect plagiarism, instructors should explain to students what plagiarism is and how to prevent it. Plagiarism is a violation of scholastic principles, but above all, students are cheating themselves. They manage to plagiarize with the assistance of essay mills, but getting a desired grade or degree does not bring real accomplishment. First of all, students should reflect on why they are in that particular academic environment. The awareness that knowledge and education are one of life’s most important achievements is a strong force in eliminating plagiarism within the academic spectrum.
According to Fayetteville State University, plagiarism entails presentation of thoughts, words, or research of another person work as one’s work. This is considered to be a serious academic offense (Fayetteville State University 3). This essay evaluates the different ways through which students can use to avoid plagiarism. Some of the concepts considered include use of quotation marks, paraphrasing, citing the source of information and effective time management.
How students can avoid plagiarism
Paraphrasing is defined as using another person’s ideas when composing an essay or other academic materials such as reports. Despite using your own words, the source of information should always be given credit (Hendrickson 32)
To avoid plagiarism, students should learn how to paraphrase. This is achieved by using one’s own words to restate the author’s ideas and concepts. In the process of paraphrasing, care should be taken to ensure that the meaning is retained.
When paraphrasing, one should avoid making minor changes such as the use of synonyms such as “less” for “fewer” and reversing the order of a sentence. To avoid plagiarism when paraphrasing, the student should understand the material and keep it away when composing the essay. The materials should be used when verifying whether the facts have been well understood.
Appropriate use of quotation marks should be ensured when using the exact words of the authors. Words which are not a part of the author’s work and are to be included in the essay should be put in square brackets. If some words are omitted in the process of writing the quotations, dotted lines should be used to signify the omission. For example, “………..” At the end of the quotation, credit to the source should be given either in the form of in-text citation or in a footnote.
Citation is another way through which students can avoid plagiarism. Citation involves giving credit to the source of all the ideas used in writing the essay. A citation can be done in various forms, which include footnotes, endnotes, and in-text citation. Footnotes are mostly used in longer papers.
Use of footnotes involves the inclusion of superscripts within the body of the paper denoting acknowledgment of the respective author. This is followed by a corresponding entry of the source at the bottom of the page. About in-text citation, the surname of the author and the specific page number from where the idea was obtained are illustrated (Crews & VanSant 407).
In addition to the above methods, effective time management can also enable students to avoid plagiarism. Students should ensure that they manage their time well. This will enable them to have ample time to do research and complete their work on time. Time mismanagement is one of the main reasons why many students plagiarize either knowingly and unknowingly. This arises from the fact that they have a lot of work to complete within a short duration. As a result, they do not have time to compose their ideas.
Conclusion
Plagiarism is a criminal offense in academic work. Therefore, it is should be completely avoided. Some of the ways through which this can be attained include acknowledging the source of information. Alternatively, appropriate use of direct quotes where exact words of the author have been used should be considered.
About paraphrasing, the writer should ensure that he or she maintains the original meaning. Also, to quotation marks, all the sources should be well cited. Effective time management can also enable students to avoid plagiarism by having ample time to research, thus eliminating panic.
Works Cited
Crews, Frederick and VanSant, Ann. The Random House Handbook. New York: Random House, 1984. Print.
Fayetteville State University. Case analysis evaluation criteria. 2010. Web.
Hendrickson, Raymond. The Research Paper. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1957. Print.
Plagiarism denotes the situation in which an author fails to correctly acknowledge someone else’s information. In such instances, the writer either fails to indicate the author of the information, paraphrases the material wrongly, or directly copies from the source without citing it (Smedley et al., 2020). The purpose of this paper is to describe the avoidance of plagiarism as an act that promotes academic integrity and as a practice that students should take seriously.
How to Avoid Plagiarism
When students write academic papers, they base their arguments on the work of other people and employ different sources of information and evidence. To avoid plagiarism, there is a need to integrate the utilized sources properly into the text (Smedley et al., 2020). Several steps should be undertaken to ensure that one’s work is free from plagiarism. They include maintaining track of the different sources used, quoting or paraphrasing others’ works, adding own thoughts, crediting authors in in-text citations and on the list of references, and whenever possible, using a plagiarism checker to examine the completed task before submission.
Paraphrasing and Synthesizing Strengthen Future Nurse Practice
Paraphrasing and synthesizing credible literature reinforce future nurse students-practitioner practice by helping them to understand arguments from the source of information. They also help future nurses to match the source to the intention for which information is collected (Smedley et al., 2020). Additionally, paraphrasing and synthesizing strengthen future nursing practice by helping scholars to differentiate between main and minor details when necessitated to go through a lot of information in a short time.
Conclusion
Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s work and failure to acknowledge the original author correctly. Avoidance of plagiarism necessitates the incorporation and citation of used sources correctly into the text. Paraphrasing and synthesizing support future nursing practice because they enable students to understand arguments in each source while matching information to the purpose of its application.
Plagiarism involves the use of someone else’s passages, ideas, or even creative work without citations i.e. when students fail to acknowledge their sources. When we refer to other people’s work we should acknowledge that we have borrowed ideas from other people to give them credit. Any writing that has borrowed ideas from other sources and is not acknowledged is plagiarized.
How to recognize plagiarism
One can recognize plagiarism if for instance a writer has only paraphrased a few words in the original passage or has simply re-ordered the words in the original sentence without acknowledging his/her source. For example, the passage written by the student has been plagiarized. This is because the student has only left out some words from the original passage and has used the same words that were in the source. The two sentences with clear evidence of plagiarism are: “… the information can nevertheless be warped-by ending a study because the results are disappointing; changing rules mid-study, not trying to publish negative results; publicizing preliminary results even with and less positive results in hand; skimming over or even not acknowledging drawbacks; and, especially, casting the results in the light or, as scientists say, buffing them.” This sentence has been plagiarized because the student has only paraphrased a few words and re-ordered others. The same case applies to this sentence, “Although biomedical research incorporates rigorous scientific rules and is often critically scrutinized by peers, the information…” The student has only paraphrased a few words from the original sentence.
How to avoid plagiarism
Throughout school, we get information from other people and always use it when making notes or use this information to do our assignments. How then can we avoid plagiarism?
We should always use quotation marks when we are writing directly from a book/text. This shows that we have acknowledged that we have borrowed those particular sentences from someone else i.e. we have used the information word for word.
Always paraphrase but do not just re-order the words or change just a few words from the original documents. We should always use our own words.
Always counter-check the paraphrases to make sure that they are not the same as the original text and to ensure that the information is correct.
Acknowledge the source of your information by indicating where you got your information from.
References
John, Santrock. (2006). Your Guide to College Success: Strategies for achieving your goals. New York: Thomson Wadsworth.
Plagiarism has always been one of the most serious issues in the educational paradigm because it disrupts both ethical and academic aspects of obtaining a degree. Along with other disciplines, nursing educators face plagiarism cases on a regular basis. When dealing with the following problem in the context of nursing, there are various types of plagiarism the students are not even aware of, meaning they sometimes plagiarize the thoughts and ideas of other people unintentionally. The examples of plagiarism include:
Explicit plagiarism, which is detected when nursing students intentionally present the ideas and scholarly works of other people as their own.
Implicit plagiarism, which is identified when students tend to translate a piece of information without indicating the primary source, as they believe that such option will provide them with a copyright on the work.
Implicit plagiarism, which takes place when students fail to cite the information source.
Despite their initial reason, the aforementioned examples significantly undermine the integrity of the students’ baccalaureate degree due to the fact that their dedication to the future occupation becomes questionable. It especially concerns the field of nursing, since the profession itself is related to the question of honesty and ethics more than any other occupation (Carter et al., 2019). Thus, the evidence-based practice as a major educational process may be violated because students fail to meet the requirements regarding the patterns of mentioning empirical sources. Therefore, in order to ensure the academic integrity of my academic work, I will adhere to the following strategies:
Proper paraphrase of the reference material and citing every evidence used in the process of academic studies.
Following the plagiarism-free policy set by the educators by conducting plagiarism checks and making sure to provide credit for all the sources used while collecting the necessary data.
Every human being has an inherent element of creativity within, and this enables that person to produce works of art. Those who recognize such traits and nourish them become good in particular arts or crafts. Writing is perhaps the most significant of art forms because everybody has to indulge in this activity as part of his or her routine. This may be the reason why developing adequate writing skills is considered as a crucial part of a person’s academic life. Plagiarism is an act of copying someone’s writing or any other form of creative output and using it as if it were the user’s own creation. In other words, it is a kind of ‘intellectual plunder’, which means a person is stealing something conceived and created by another individual and pretending that it is his or her own work. This, obviously, is an act to be condemned because it nullifies the values of originality, creativity, integrity morality and ethics.
Plagiarism is basically wrong because it is an act of stealing another person’s work and using it for a specific purpose. The values and principles imbibed in human beings teach them that ‘stealing’ is a wrong thing ethically besides being a criminal offence. Laws in all counties across this universe recognize ‘stealing’ as a criminal offence which needs to be tried in a court of law. Thus the civilized society wants every citizen to abstain from this activity. In the same context, stealing the creative work of another person and using it for one’s purpose, must be seen as a heinous offence and suitably dealt with. The morals, values and principles that humans have been taught to follow, are against stealing of any kind and, therefore, plagiarism which is an act of intellectual theft, should be avoided.
As stated in the introduction all humans are born with an element of creativity. Individuals who nourish this trait can hone up their talents and become good artists. Writing is a daily activity that every person has to indulge in, and this is especially significant in the case of students who pursue academic degrees. Students therefore, need to acknowledge the fact that they also possess a talent element of creativity and only by grooming it to full maturity they can tap their potential. Thus they need to nourish their writing from the very beginning itself and appropriately improve their skills at every level of their academic career graph, to become effective writers. When a student commits plagiarism it mars the creativity in that person and he or she, instead of learning the art of writing will end up copying and learn nothing on his or her own. This defeats the very purpose of education. Therefore, students should desist from activities like plagiarising to become real learners.
Personal and academic integrity are qualities that are very important for students. At no stage in their academic life should they allow these traits to be eroded by activities that are considered as unethical or immoral. Students should also include in them respect for values and principles. From the above discussions, it emerges that plagiarism, besides being unethical and immoral, is an act of criminal offence at par with stealing. Moreover, it destroys rather than enhances the creativity in students who are pursuing academic goals. Thus it can be stated that plagiarism is a wrong thing to do and all students should avoid it all together.
The effects of plagiarism are detrimental for both students and research institutions. Plagiarism is a widespread issue that affects the papers of nearly all students (Ewing et al., 2017). For example, it can be a direct copy of someone’s material, a paraphrase without a proper citation, a combination of one’s idea and student’s text, and similar types of inappropriate academic behavior (Streefkerk, 2020). It is essential to uphold the standards of academic integrity for several reasons.
Nursing is a profession where ethical conduct is a crucial concept. Students who tend to cheat in their studies may have issues with being bound by strict professional codes in the future (Ewing et al., 2017). An alarming trend suggests that there is an increased percentage of students who do not perceive plagiarism on a smaller scale as improper behavior (Ewing et al., 2017). It is vital to ensure that evidence presented by an author is not plagiarized since if the material was misused, it would be impossible for others to trace the source of the issue.
Not only does plagiarism hurt students’ accomplishments, but it also decreases the quality of their works in the future. Authors are expected to publish their papers with no plagiarism whatsoever. Yet, if an article is discredited due to the usage of copied or paraphrased content, an author can not expect to be taken seriously afterward. This damage can further prevent students from publishing their academic papers in the future due to inadvertent plagiarism that might stem from inappropriate quotations and the lack of knowledge on referencing (Smedley et al., 2019). To ensure that my text will remain free of plagiarism, I use plagiarism checkers and keep track of all citations I add to the paper.
References
Ewing, H., Mathieson, K., Anast, A., & Roehling, T. (2017). Student and faculty perceptions of plagiarism in health sciences education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 1-10. Web.
Smedley, A., Crawford, T., & Cloete, L. (2019). An evaluation of an extended intervention to reduce plagiarism in bachelor of nursing students. Nursing Education Perspectives, 41(2), 106-108. Web.
Streefkerk, R. (2020). 6 types of plagiarism and how to avoid them (With examples). Scribbr. Web.
Plagiarism or the act of borrowing other’s words is a phenomenon that many had practiced and is still being practiced, though in niche corners of the world. The very presence of unethical and immoral practice in the academic sphere is misconduct, and most educational institutions strictly prohibit it. Plagiarism is branded as unethical and immoral and is often shoved off to the dungeons. To academicians, it is a sin. This paper elucidates the arguments for and against the question of plagiarism.
Against Plagiarism
Plagiarism leads one to answer questions regarding the originality and the ownership of the text. According to Western philosophy, the beginning of the great monotheistic religion was of celestial origin, and the religious text was a creation of the divine intervention . All the texts created in the classical era by authors like Plato or Aristotle were mimetic . However, with Enlightenment, the imagination shifted towards a modern time wherein the focus from the divine shifted to the humanist subjects.
Nevertheless, once we enter the modernist sphere, the concern over the legal sanction of the text became important, and textual borrowing had to be curbed . Therefore, the postmodern and the poststructuralist arguments arose against the rise of textual borrowings, which were based primarily on philosophical grounds. Many believe that plagiarism is a crime against the academic sphere and therein, it deceives not only the readers but also hurts the interests of the original author of the text .
Granitz and Loewy suggest that students today mainly provide ample reasoning to support their acts of stealing other’s texts from situational ethics. However, it can be pointed out that plagiarism indicates a lack of integrity among academicians and a barrier to intellectual growth.
Gotterbarn, Miller, and Impagliazzo provide an ethical analysis against the act of plagiarism. Plagiarism can be a violation of the commercial, intellectual property, or a copyright violation. They point out that “plagiarism of the most serious kind is a conscious effort” of the author with an explicit intent to misinform . From the utilitarian perspective, as the stakeholders are adversely affected by the act of plagiarism, it is unethical.
However, from the point of consequentiality analysis, a distinction between detected and undetected plagiarism must be addressed. If the act of plagiarism goes undetected, the perpetrator is not maligned with the stigma of theft and the other stakeholders, in their ignorance, remain complacent. Therefore, the argument against plagiarism is based on the loss of the perpetrator in terms of the shame of the act and the loss of the original author. Both provide the biggest reasons why acts of plagiarism should be stopped .
For Plagiarism
On the other hand of the debate is the argument that strict imposition of rules against plagiarism is a constraint to learning. Such an argument has been put forth by Brian Martin . He points out that one should not try to utilize strict measures to curb the borrowing of ideas from other authors as ideas breed ideas.
With the collaboration of knowledge, proper development of a stream of education is possible. This leads to the development of the knowledge that one mind in seclusion can never create. Therefore, by curbing plagiarism with the aid of strictest tools will only compartmentalize learning preventing its free growth.
Conclusion
The argument put forth by Martin is compelling; however, is overshadowed by the strong arguments of ethicality against plagiarism. Plagiarism is unethical conduct. Many believe that students and academicians need to be trained in the art of borrowing without stealing while creating their text. However, without proper referencing and acknowledgment of the original text, the act of textual borrowing becomes a blatant act of academic theft.
References
Bouville, M. (2008). Plagiarism: Words and Ideas. Science and Engineering Ethics 14(3), 311-322.
Cabral-Cardoso, C. (2004). Ethical Misconduct In The Business School: A Case Of Plagiarism That Turned Bitter. Journal of Business Ethics 49(1), 75-89.
Gotterbarn, D., Miller, K., & Impagliazzo, J. (2006). Plagiarism and scholarly publications: An ethical analysis. Frontiers in Education Conference, 36th Annual. (pp. 22-27). San Diego, CA: IEEE.
Granitz, N., & Loewy, D. (2007). Applying Ethical Theories: Interpreting and Responding to Student Plagiarism. Journal of Business Ethics 72(3), 293-306.
Martin, B. (1994). Plagiarism: a misplaced emphasis. Journal of Information Ethics 3(2), 36-47.
Pennycook, A. (1996). Borrowing Others’ Words: Text, Ownership, Memory, and Plagiarism. TESOL Quarterly, 30(2), 201-230.
The concept of plagiarism arises in the professional, creative and academic world. Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own (GCFLearnFree.org 00:00:10-00:00:15). Plagiarism may not be intentional, it often happens by accident, if the author forgets to quote a source, or misquote someone’ words (GCFLearnFree.org 00:00:55). Even if plagiarism appears in the work by accident, it can have serious consequences. In educational settings, finding plagiarism in papers can result in failed assignments or serious disciplinary punishments (GCFLearnFree.org 00:00:35-00:00:40). In the professional area, finding plagiarism can seriously damage an employee’s reputation (GCFLearnFree.org 00:00:45-00:00:50). Plagiarism seems like an easy way to get the job done; however, the consequences of stealing someone else’s words can be serious. Avoiding plagiarism helps make any work new, original and valuable.
There are several strategies for avoiding plagiarism, among them competent citation of sources with the mention of the author’s name and words in quotation marks and paraphrasing the source’s content are. Paraphrasing is summarizing content or ideas from a source in one’s own words (UTRGV Writing Center 00:00:40-00:01:00). Paraphrasing helps explain complex ideas from academic sources and make them more accessible to the audience. Proper paraphrasing includes understanding the content of the source, naming the source, finding one’s own voice, not changing the author’s original message, and quoting the source properly (UTRGV Writing Center 00:02:00-00:05:45). Paraphrasing should match the level of the audience; the author should choose the complexity of the content and the right words. It is also important to ensure the citation meets the established standards. Rethinking and paraphrasing ideas and content from multiple sources can be a challenge; however, it is essential to create original work enhanced by the use of scholarly literature.
In contemporary times, the advent of the Internet has made it easy to share various artworks. For example, sites such as Github and CodePen make it very easy to share graphic design works. The sites act as sources of inspiration for graphic designers; however, the challenge is the transitioning of the source of inspiration to the aid for plagiarism. About Saudi Arabia, there is no succinct data that shows the extent of graphic design plagiarism.
Nevertheless, there is a common cultural orientation of sharing in the community. The digitization of the graphic design contents has led to increased cases of plagiarism, not only in Saudi Arabia but across the globe. The main point in the paper is that reusing another person’s graphic design work is not regarded as a violation in Saudi Arabia; instead, it is viewed as a means of sharing essential information and hence the need to address the issue.
Based on this perspective, plagiarism in graphic design in Saudi Arabia is a complex issue that needs a concerted effort to solve. There is a need to explore the various dimensions in which plagiarism takes place. Thus, the paper presents an exhaustive analysis of plagiarism in graphic design and the implications of technology in enhancing the problem; also, the paper provides a direction for solving the issue.
Graphic Design and Plagiarism in Saudi Arabia
Across the globe, plagiarism has become a big problem for authors and artists. The literal meaning of plagiarism is theft, taking materials that are produced by other people and presenting them as your own. It entails illegal appropriation of work done by other people or sharing the work of other persons or organizations like your own without attribution of the use to the author (Music 210). Plagiarism is unethical publishing and it is unacceptable both in academic and professional works. Presently, uptake of technology such digitization has resulted in widespread copy-paste plagiarism in different disciplines.
Plagiarism takes place in different ways. For example, it may include the use of other people’s ideas, texts, collusions, and self-plagiarism. Concerning graphic design, plagiarism can take place in two forms. It can be unintentional (accidental) or intentional (deliberate). Unintentional plagiarism happens due to the lack of knowledge about the limit of using other people’s ideas to create your design and failing to attribute the borrowed ideas to the owner (Music 210). This type of plagiarism is common among students and new graphic designers. On the other hand, deliberate plagiarism entails taking other people’s work knowingly and presenting the work to make the audience believe that the plagiarist is the originator.
The issue of plagiarism has been in existence for many years. It affects many disciplines such as academic and professional research. Also, it affects disciplines related to creative art; for instance, some of the masterpieces of Mozart were copied by Sallier. In poetry, a good example is the plagiarism of Shakespeare’s poems. In the field of graphic design, plagiarism has been common in the logo designs. It is worth noting that the problem is perpetuated by professionals, students, and even companies.
Logos usually undergo modifications so that elements from original work are hidden. Nevertheless, most of the copied logos have a clear resemblance to the original. For example, the logo for the 2020 Paralympics Games in Tokyo Japan has been subject to plagiarism claims. The design is claimed to have been stolen from a Belgian designer who had designed it for a stadium. Figure 1 below is the previously proposed logo for the Paralympics Games 2020 and the original work of the Belgian designer.
Figure 1: Plagiarized Logo for Paralympics Games 2020.
Graphic design is a visual language that can be understood across the globe by diverse audiences. It transcends language barriers and can be shared and understood by people of different cultures. This aspect is normally because graphic designers share styles, ideas, and design elements. For a long time, the point of differentiation of designs has normally been the cultural aspect (Al-Yamani and Abdul 4).
However, with digitization and the consequent easy sharing of the artwork, the cultural aspect has blurred. This is attributed to the close sharing of ideas and dishonesty in which originality that formed the foundation of graphic design as the true measure of culture has been flaunted by plagiarizing; hence, creating complex designs. Across the globe, universal contemporary culture in the field of graphic design has been created due to globalization and the current digitization of various kinds of information.
Therefore, it is not surprising that graphic designers from different cultures are emerging into a single culture in which designs are produced targeting the citizens of the world unlike in the past where specific designs were to be consumed in particular cultures (Economou 16). The universal contemporary culture points to the progression of a discipline which is less than 100 years since the time it was recognized as a profession. Nevertheless, the threat has been the increasing plagiarism and infringement of copyrights that seem to slow down the originality that is associated with different disciplines of art.
As noted, plagiarism entails the unauthorized use or imitation of someone’s artwork and presenting it as an original copy. It also includes acts of appropriation where a graphic designer directly takes over another artist’s work and uses it as his or her original copy. In Saudi Arabia, plagiarism has been common in logos and advertisements. For example, a Saudi artist claimed that his work had been used by Swatch Company to advertise Omega’s Seamaster Aqua Terra watch.
Figure 2: Hajj-Inspired Picture used by Swatch for Advertisement.
Karabag and Berggren stated that the publications are original works of producers; thus, when published they become sources of reference in which ‘citability’ is key to the promotion of the originators (173). Besides, just like researchers and academicians, graphic designers should adhere to ethical codes based on the principles of integrity and honesty and authorization for use of any published work. Also, graphic plagiarism can be found in cover books, magazines and front pages of magazines and newsletters. Figure 3 shows similarities between two front pages of different publications signifying possible cases of plagiarism.
Figure 3: Front Page Similarities.
The graphic design in Saudi Arabia and the larger Middle East is a case in point. It is an industry that has blossomed, and creativity has been flourishing. However, compared to the Western world, graphic design as a profession is quite young in Saudi Arabia. Despite being relatively young, the industry has been driven by globalization which has influenced the local cultures that traditionally have been visually rich. Also, the socio-economic situations in the region have been affected by the influx of Western organizations.
This has had a direct effect on the dynamics of the industry. The results have been powerful, and many people have taken to display their creativity with excellent designs. In Saudi Arabia, there are unending streams of designs that are handmade, photographed and edited images that have been accepted by the locals. The graphic design has played a critical role in supplementing the visual culture which is regarded as a form of expression.
In Saudi Arabia and the entire region of the Middle East, graphic designs are integrated with the unique Arabic calligraphy. However, as the world ushers in the new graphic designers, Bamford and Sergio pointed out that the challenge of plagiarism is rife in Eastern cultures (18). Bamford and Sergio argued that plagiarism is not limited to the research and academic world, but it is interwoven in graphic designs where it is hard to detect (21).
Original works of leading designers are replicated and shared and even commercially sold without the consent of the originator. The duplication of the work transcends the regional boundaries; hence, any work shared over the Internet is open to infringement. This leads to the originators’ rights over the materials infringed and consequently, they lose income. In Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, this is not categorized as a crime due to cultural and social orientation.
The lack of detailed information on the extent of the graphic design plagiarism has been attributed to the cultural orientation of most Arab-dominated countries. Bamford and Sergio stated that the ownership and attitudes towards private property vary across the world (19). Therefore, some people may engage in unintentional plagiarism. For example, in countries where the tradition of private ownership is cherished, there are strict rules and regulations on intellectual property.
On the other hand, in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, there is a tradition where most of the information is passed through the word of mouth. Therefore, there is a common perception that information comes from wisdom and as a result, it is in the public domain to be used freely. Thus, plagiarism is a new word for many graphic designers in Eastern cultures. What may be considered as cheating in the Western world such as the U.S. may be termed as sharing in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia. The cultural perspective characterized by the social aspect of sharing makes it difficult to stop the problem.
In Saudi Arabia, the accomplishments of an individual are not recognized; instead, they are credited to the family or tribe which is unlike in the individualistic cultures where personal achievements are cherished. In individualistic cultures, people are not expected to share ideas, and if it happens, there must be an acknowledgment of the originator. This cultural divide presents the difference in the use of graphic design products. Many people who have been used to the culture of sharing do not find it wrong to copy or edit the graphic designs they access over the Internet as their own.
The aspect of interdependence cannot be ruled out in the increased cases of plagiarism (Sowden 227). For example, in modern Saudi Arabia, issues of academic honesty have been embraced due to the influence of the Western education principles of originality. However, in graphic design, there is still no clear demarcation between using the graphic designs shared over the Internet as sources of inspiration and when they use turns out to be plagiarism.
It is worth noting that plagiarism of either research or artwork is considered misconduct, it breaches confidentiality and intellectual property. In the modern world, there is an increased sharing of information. This includes photographs and other graphical designs. The process has been made easy by the use of the Internet and the emergence of social media. This implies that original graphical designs produced in the U.S. and fed into the Internet can be accessed across the globe. This denotes the importance of technology in disseminating information, but it turns out to be a problem when people use the contents without recognizing the authors.
Use of Technology and Creation of Awareness to address Plagiarism Issues
There is a lot of misinformation and confusion about the unacceptable and acceptable use of resources of third parties not only in Saudi Arabia but in many countries across the globe. This is exacerbated by the increasing digital content that is available for use. As a result, students and other artists continue to use online materials without attribution. Bamford and Sergio indicated that plagiarism remains to be the biggest ethical issue that faces artists across the globe (18). To analyze plagiarism in graphic design, different lenses can be used. The lenses revolve around the copyright laws, fair use and manipulation of photos and their relations to plagiarism. Plagiarism in graphic design should be approached in the context of morality and technology. In this aspect, Boylston pointed out that social awareness, culture, and moral choices influence the production and use of graphic designs across the globe (54).
Music noted that plagiarism can be avoided by providing source credit whenever an idea, fact, drawing or any piece of information from another person is used (209). Due to technological development, it is very easy to identify plagiarism in the academic and research work, but it becomes very difficult to detect plagiarism in the case of an idea or drawings. In graphic design, the plagiarists may integrate patterns to present a complex image that may appear original but on closer analysis, it shows it has been a modification of the original work of another person which is achieved by changing colors and scales.
Therefore, unlike in text where various online systems can detect the proportion of the plagiarized work, it is very difficult to achieve similar results in graphic design. As noted by Music, modification of captions of an image leads to the production of a complicated copy (209).
According to Al-Dabbagh et al., graphic plagiarism normally takes place as modification and integration of figures, tables, and charts (2). Some systems have been developed to detect text plagiarism such as Turnitin. However, the systems cannot detect plagiarism in graphic design. Despite the limitations, there are emerging techniques that can be used to extract features in graphical designs to analyze plagiarism. Specifically, there are technologies for detecting plagiarism of bar chart image. These are algorithmic approaches that have been developed by the use of computer codes.
They entail the use of program codes that can detect similarities by the use of patterns. An example of such technology is the intelligent bar chart plagiarism detector which uses algorithmic codes. It can be used to determine changes in the scales of image and the integration of pattern that the plagiarist may have used in statistical bar charts. Al-Dabbagh et al. pointed out that the ability to use algorithmic codes to detect graphical plagiarism in bar charts presents technological progress which in the future can be advanced to detect plagiarism in graphic design images (9). In addition to technological progress, there is the need to create awareness among designers to make them understand the differences between using the readily available designs for inspiration and what constitutes plagiarism.
As noted in this paper, the issue of graphic design plagiarism in Saudi Arabia is not intentional, rather it is due to the socio-cultural orientation. As a result, the measures that are employed in the Western world such as the use of computerized applications to detect plagiarism may not comprehensively address the problem in the problem in Saudi Arabia. Besides, there is a lack of adequate technology to detect the proportions of plagiarism in graphic designs. Therefore, to counter the problem, the approach should entail the creation of awareness and ensure that students are taught about the importance of originality and the negative implications of plagiarizing images (Boylston 53).
For example, a proposal that has been adopted in other countries should be implemented in Saudi Arabia, i.e. “teaching towards an ethical legacy in graphic design”. This will contribute to changing the perception of the upcoming graphic designers in Saudi Arabia.
Education will be the start of transformation and hence it will create a society that respects other people’s originations. Also, morals should be impacted at the education level where the student is penalized for any work that is considered to be plagiarized. Students should be taught the importance of professional standards. This will be in line with Holland, who noted, “students with no professional experience are daunted by the professionalism and don’t understand the importance of professional standards. It needs to be brought alive for them” (9). The awareness should be based on the revolutionization of the mindset even in the communities where sharing is a norm. To realize this, the change should start at the school level where graphic design is taught. For instance, graphic design teachers should emphasize the excellence and promotion of individual work.
Conclusion
Graphic designers produce ultimate products of artists; an original graphic design is a measure of success and achievement of an artist. Thus, the artist has a right to benefit from the design commercially and through acknowledgments. This implies that any infringement hurts the original designers. Just like there have been developments in detecting and preventing plagiarism in academic and research disciplines, the field of graphic design should put in place stringent measures to reduce the cases of plagiarism. For example, there is a need for technological developments that will help to detect plagiarism in graphic design.
Also, there should be more emphasis on all graphic designers to abide by the ethical codes that guide the profession. For instance, upholding morality in which honesty and integrity are cherished to avoid issues of copyright infringements. The measures should be taken bearing in mind that many people in Saudi Arabia have embraced the graphic design. Consequently, the digitization of information has increased the cases of graphic design plagiarism in the country.
Recommendations
With the proliferation of graphic design plagiarism in Saudi Arabia, some measures can be put in place to curb its spread. The recommended solutions include the development of technology for detecting plagiarism and emphasis on morality in issues that relate to the use of other people’s work. For example, it is important to put in place international codes guided by ethical aspects of the graphic design industry.
The technological and moral aspects will help to address the general problem of plagiarism in graphic design across the globe. For people in Eastern cultures such as Saudi Arabia, the technology should be integrated with education to enlighten the people about the implications of plagiarism and the importance of originality in the profession of graphic design, i.e. using technology to detect cases of plagiarism and at the same time teaching the Saudi Arabians the importance of respecting other people’s work and originality.
Works Cited
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