This one i had put on Mouthshut

This review , I had put up on MOUTHSHUT.COM
and got some good and funny comments .
I thought this could be a hot and burning topic to put as a review on MS as we see this concerned topic of review, in our day - to - day on MS.
Yep, bulls eye reader, u got it right, and this one is on what is one of the greatest arts Humans have ever achieved.

The dictionary meaning of Plagiarism is "the act of passing off as one's own; the ideas or writings of another."
"Work" includes "original ideas, strategies, and research," art, graphics, computer programs, music, and other creative expression.
The work may consist of writing, charts, pictures, graphs, diagrams, data, websites, or other communication or recording media, and may include "sentences, phrases, and innovative terminology," formatting, or other representations.

If you plagiarize, you are cheating yourself. You don't learn to write out your thoughts in your own words, and you don't get specific feedback geared to
your individual needs and skills. Plagiarizing a paper is like sending a friend to practice tennis for you - you'll never score an ace yourself!

But contrary to this, I do have an opinion that,
Nothing in this world is original, and everything is a copy. Original is nothing, but a misrepresentation of copy :)).

But most of the world the world says "plagiarism" isn’t a good thing, even the MS website have stated this thing on the webpage “tips for writing reviews”.

Some even say that if you plagiarize, you are cheating yourself. You don't learn to write out your thoughts in your own words, and you don't get specific feedback
geared to your individual needs and skills. Plagiarizing a paper is like sending a friend to practice tennis for you - you'll never score an ace yourself!
Plagiarism is dishonest because it misrepresents the work of another as your own.

Hey, well, but most of the things if done perfectly by people is also sometimes termed as an art /skill. That’s why; I think Plagiarism should also be called as an art
, and kudos to the Plagiarists definitely are artists (Kudos to them).

And i do agree with these artists to some extent. If Michael Jordan can hit a fade away jump shot better than you can and Miles Davis could play a better blues than you do on the trumpet than why not learn from them and take their ideas, which are far better than ours.

And recognising, a work as a work of plagiarism, is also a challenging job, i appreciate the MS team for this that put the members on flag, who are plagiarists.

Let me give my readers, some tips on how to identify a plagiarist's review:-

"
Here’s an UNACCEPTABLE paraphrase that is plagiarism:

The increase of industry, the growth of cities, and the explosion of the population were three large factors of nineteenth century America.
As steam-driven companies became more visible in the eastern part of the country, they changed farm hands into factory workers and provided jobs
for the large wave of immigrants. With industry came the growth of large cities like Fall River where the Bordens lived which turned into centres of commerce
and trade as well as production.

What makes this passage plagiarism?

The preceding passage is considered plagiarism for two reasons:

the writer has only changed around a few words and phrases, or changed the order of the original’s sentences.
the writer has failed to cite a source for any of the ideas or facts.

Here’s an ACCEPTABLE paraphrase:

Fall River, where the Borden family lived, was typical of north-eastern industrial cities of the nineteenth century. Steam-powered production had shifted labour from agriculture to manufacturing, and as immigrants arrived in the US, they found work in these new factories. As a result, populations grew, and large urban areas arose. Fall River was one of these manufacturing and commercial centres (Williams 1).

Why is this passage acceptable?

This is acceptable paraphrasing because the writer:

Accurately relays the information in the original
Uses her own words.
Lets her reader know the source of her information.
"

I hope my readers of this review might get some help at least on identifying if any review they read is a work of plagiarism, and report it to MS, as soon as possible.

But, one to last, plagiarism is a chimera. There are no original ideas left anyway, and all we are doing is manipulating sets of symbols.
Such philosophical positions notwithstanding, plagiarism is a reality if you don't cite the sources and as far as it is accepted by the world as an "original". It's that simple. ;)