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On Plagiarism
With a wide array of information easily and instantly accessible on the internet, originality seems to be fast becoming a lost virtue of authorship. Originality in the expression of one’s ideas and thoughts has become expendable as potential authors and writers are fi nding cheap and quicker means of passing off someone else’s work of intellect as their own. Plagiarism, an antithesis of originality, is infesting our society, especially the academia and the media, the two most important institutions of knowledge generation and dissemination.
With a wide array of information easily and instantly accessible on the internet, originality seems to be fast becoming a lost virtue of authorship. Originality in the expression of one’s ideas and thoughts has become expendable as potential authors and writers are fi nding cheap and quicker means of passing off someone else’s work of intellect as their own. Plagiarism, an antithesis of originality, is infesting our society, especially the academia and the media, the two most important institutions of knowledge generation and dissemination.
As reported in the American Journal of Philology (Winter 2009), the earliest usage of the word “plagiarism” was by the Roman poet Martial whilst complaining about a rival poet “kidnapping” or reading out his verses and passing them off as his own. Plagiarism simply means stealing someone else’s work, either entirely or partially, and stating it to be your own.
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