This presentation was used for a Malayalam video on understanding and avoiding plagiarism. The video is available at https://youtu.be/bMCiJYWWu90

1. Plagiarism in Academic
Writing
What it is and how to stay on the safe (and right) side
Dr. Chinchu C.

3. The Question to be Asked…

4. Plagiarism
•Plagiarism* is taking someone else's work and trying
to pass it off as your own, without giving credit to
them. This can apply to anything, from assignments to
films to songs, even ideas!
•Plagiarism is a violation of copyright, and a serious
academic misconduct

5. Copyright
Copyright is a bundle of rights given by the law (even if it is not
registered somewhere) to the creators of literary, dramatic,
musical and artistic works and other creative forms of content

6. Copyright Exceptions in India
The Copyright Act, 1957 (as amended by the Copyright Amendment
Act 2012)
• “The following acts shall not constitute an infringement of copyright,
namely:”
• (a) a fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic
work [not being a computer programme] for the purposes
of-
• (i) private use, including research;
• (ii) criticism or review whether of that work or of any other
work; "

7. UGC stand on Plagiarism
• Disqualification from Academic Positions if found guilty
(happens rarely)
• Plagiarism Detection Software mandatory for all
Universities.
• All M Phil/Ph D theses to be uploaded to Shodhganga after
checking for Plagiarism
• Most Universities mandate maximum allowed percentage
of Matching Content (NOT Plagiarism) in
theses/dissertations

8. Types of Plagiarism
• Copying
• Patchwork/patchwriting
• Paraphrasing
• Unintentional
• Self-Plagiarism/Salami Slicing

9. Copying
• Copy-pasting something as it is and putting your name on it.
• Can be translations too.

10. Patchwork
•In patchwork plagiarism/patchwriting, the plagiarizer
borrows the "phrases and clauses from the original
source and weaves them into their own writing"
(McConnell Library, Radford University) without
putting the phrases in quotation marks or citing the
original author.

11. Patchwork Plagiarism - Example
• Over the last half-century, the women's health movement has been a
powerful driver in health policy linking gender norms to sex
differences in health and wellbeing. Even though gender norms also
affect males, there has been little emphasis on gender in health
policies for males, especially in relation to the mental health of boys
and young men. Gender norms around masculinity commonly confer
power and status to boys and young men, which might in part explain
why norms around masculinity are difficult to shift. Paradoxically,
these dominant masculinities carry risks for poor mental health.
Globally, the rate of male suicide is two to four times that of females
Rice, S., Oliffe, J., Seidler, Z., Borschmann, R., Pirkis, J., Reavley, N., & Patton, G. (2021). Gender norms and the mental
health of boys and young men. The Lancet Public Health, 6(8), e541–e542.

12. Patchwork Plagiarism - Example
• Over the previous fifty years, the movement for women's health has
played a role in health policy related to gender norms and sex
differences in well-being and health. Though gender norms also
influence men, there has been less stress on gender in health policies
for males, especially in connection to mental health of boys and
young males. Gender norms related to masculinity usually confer
some power and status to both young men and boys, which may
describe why norms of masculinity are difficult to change.
Interestingly, these dominant masculinities bring risks for mental
health. Worldwide, the suicide rates among men is two to four times
compared to that of women

13. Paraphrasing
•Paraphrasing or summarizing another's work without
citing the source.
•When you're in love, you want to tell the world
(Sagan, 1994).
•When people are in love, they want to tell the world
(paraphrased, but no citation given)

14. Unintentional
• When we incorrectly quote a source
• Or when we incorrectly cite
Yes, unintentional plagiarism is still plagiarism.

15. Self-Plagiarism/Salami Slicing
• Self-Plagiarism/Auto-plagiarism: duplication of previously published
work by the same author(s) without disclosure or a significant
addition of new knowledge
• Salami Slicing: Cutting up the same dataset to create multiple
publications, without disclosure/justification or a significant addition
of new knowledge
• Exceptions do exist, such as when writing for a different audience,
follow-up studies, etc. with proper disclosure
• Submissions to preprint servers are also exempted normally

16. Avoiding Plagiarism

17. Avoiding Plagiarism
•Use own words as far as possible
•Be aware of style manuals and formats
•Cite properly, use a reference management software

18. APA on avoiding plagiarism
• “Writers who plagiarize disrespect the efforts of original authors by
failing to acknowledge their contributions, stifle further research by
preventing readers from tracing ideas back to their original sources,
and unfairly disregard those who exerted the effort to complete their
own work.”

19. APA on avoiding plagiarism
• Provide appropriate credit through citations
• If you model a study on someone else’s work, give credit to
the original author
• While reprinting or adapting tables/figures/images provide
a copyright attribution
• An article based on research described in an abstract
published in a conference programme or proceeding does
not constitute duplicate publication.
• However the author(s) should acknowledge previous
presentation of the research in the article’s author note

20. APA resources on avoiding plagiarism
• APA Style brief guidance on Plagiarism
• https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/plagiarism
• APA Avoiding Plagiarism Guide
• https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/avoiding-plagiarism.pdf