Plagiarism in scientific writing Omar M Shaaban, MD Assiut University

Scientific writing in the era of evidence based medicine is increasingly become a real difficulty. Availability of the articles over the internet led to increase accessibility of the scientific material Increasing litigations against authors by different types of academic dishonesty.

Categories & Definitions Fraud: Turning in someone else's writing as your own; inventing statistics or sources that do not exist; falsifying evidence

: Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the theft of other people’s words and ideas. Plagiarism happens when you claim (or appear to claim) that an idea, or the expression of it, is your own when in fact it is someone else’s. This either Intentional (deliberate) or unintentional (accidental)

The word plagiarize actually comes from the Latin plagi a re—to kidnap (Oxford English Dictionary). When you plagiarize, you’re taking (or kidnapping) someone else’s work. Basic Definition of Plagiarism

بالغة العربية : ألسطو الاكاديمي Basic Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism Deliberate Plagiarism: usually takes the form of either getting someone else to write your essay for you and saying it’s yours or copying chunks of text out of a book with the deliberate intent of deceiving the reader into thinking they are in your own words.

Plagiarism Accidental plagiarism, When a writer attempts or intends to write in his/her own words but—out of ignorance, sloppiness, or carelessness—fails to distinguish quote from paraphrase or fails to cite and document properly. Legally, there is no distinction between intentional and unintentional plagiarism; both carry legal or financial penalties and can ruin a writer's reputation.

Examples of Plagiarism… Copying and pasting text from online encyclopedias Copying and pasting text from any web site Using photographs, video or audio without permission or acknowledgement Using another author’s or your parents’ work and claiming it as your own even with permission Using your own work without properly citing it!

More Examples of Plagiarism… Quoting a source without using quotation marks-even if you do cite it Citing sources you didn’t use Getting a research paper, story, poem, or article off the Internet Can you think of more?

Most common causes of plagiarism: 1.Poor time management: most authors who deliberately plagiarize do so because they panic at the last minute before the paper is due. 2.Ignorance of the difference between quoting directly and paraphrasing. 3.Sloppy note-taking during the research process: it is very easy to mistake hand-written or copied- and-pasted segments of someone else's writing as your own.

Common plagiarism problems, mistakes, and misconceptions 1—"I didn't know I had to cite that, too!" Some authors think that only direct quotes and statistics from other sources need to be cited; this is wrong. Original ideas, unique phrasing, and summaries of books and articles also need to be fully cited.

Common plagiarism problems, mistakes, and misconceptions 2--"But I included a bibliography..."—a bibliography is not enough! The most important part of documenting your sources is at the level of the sentence—this is where you distinguish your ideas and words from someone else's.

Common plagiarism problems, mistakes, and misconceptions 3- Copy-cat paraphrasing: This is when scientific writer attempts to summarize or paraphrase an idea or some research made by someone else, but adheres too closely to the other writer's phrasing and sentence structure. Even if there is a footnote or citation attached to the copy-cat sentence, it is still plagiarism if another writer's words are not enclosed in quotation marks.

common plagiarism problems, mistakes, and misconceptions 4--"I copied and pasted from all these different websites, and after I wrote the paper I forgot which parts were mine and which parts were from other people";

How could I be Caught? People can search the Web! All they need is to find a unique phrase that is in a paper to be able to find the original source online. People can read, and may recognize what you wrote as someone else’s work. Other clues, such as a real difference in writing styles “ Too good to be believed”. Plagiarism detection programs.

Plagiarism Plagiarism detection software

How to Avoid Plagiarism… Begin the writing process by stating your ideas; then go back to the author's original work. Use quotation marks and credit the source (author) when you copy exact wording. Use your own words (paraphrase) instead of copying directly when possible. Even when you paraphrase another author's writings, you must give credit to that author. If the form of citation and reference are not correct, the attribution to the original author is likely to be incomplete.

The take home message It is not allowed by any mean to copy parts of the text from any source and put it in your work even if you cite it You need to express your self and rewrite what the author had said in your own wards,then cite it Not only the results of his study is his own property but also the way he expressed himself

References: Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference, 4th ed. (Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999)

Thank you Questions ???????