OF PLAGIARISM AND OUR COLLECTIVE LACK OF PRODUCTIVITY AND CREATIVITY It is time we talked frankly. The truth is bitter, harsh and cold. I find it utterly appalling and extremely disgusting that most people on facebook and on other social media platforms are not only bereft of original ideas but they pass off other peoples writings as though it were their own. Some take it beyond the social media but plagiarise in real life, in the academia and in journalism. It can be utterly frustrating and absolutely annoying to find what you wrote on peoples walls without any form of intellectual acknowledgment. If you must re-post another authors writing without his consent, just do well to acknowledge your source: Give him credit! if you did not write it yourself, you must give credit to the author. That is the moral thing to do. My discontent with this unacceptable act is thus relayed in the following words: 1. Plagiarism is the unjustifiable, unacceptable and insensitive wrongful appropriation and purloining of another persons intellectual work. It consists of the mindless publication of an authors own language, literary style, original thoughts, ideas and expressions and consequently representing them as your own original work. Plagiarism is immoral, thoughtless and socially despicable. It is the perverse corruption and clueless tainting of another persons originality. A person who plagiarises gives himself or herself up as a mindless person devoid of any modicum of imagination, a victim of awkward copycatism, a classless imitator of some sorts, a man or woman bereft of the capacity to think, write and generate original ideas, an ardent endorser of anything in prints without any critical re-examination, an uncreative creature, a void human being and an unproductive person! Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty, intellectual fraud and a breach of journalistic ethics. It is subject to sanctions like expulsion, suspension of studies, societal stigma and career ban in the academia and in the writing industry. It is often said: steal from one author, that is plagiarism, steal from many authors, that is research! Even though no one is an island and nobody knows anything from our pre-existing world but learnt all we know on earth, it is expedient that we restructure whatever information we have in our own words and make it original, think deeply to generate our own original thoughts and garner information from other authors on the same theme so as not to fall into the crippling precipice of plagiaristic ruin and the unnerving crucible of the dungeon of intellectual theft! All you need to do is to read wide and think; thats not so hard to do, or is it? Plagiarism is not a crime in the strict legal sense in Nigeria and in most countries as it has not been codified as part of the legislatively sanctioned donts but in the academia and the writing industry, it is a grave ethical offence. Instructively, cases of plagiarism can constitute copyright infringement in the quest of proving infringement against the tortfeasor and the alleged infringer in intellectual property. It is a sad larceny of incorporeal and intangible property. It is particularly so with me as I always encourage people developing their own thought as the hallmark of writing uniqueness. No one can be more youer than you! Youll just remain the best in your genre of writing. It brings out your best and reinforces your confidence. The more you write, the better it gets. Furthermore, plagiarism in some context is considered intellectual theft and outright stealing, but the concept is non-existent in legal parlance. Plagiarism is not mentioned in any current civil or criminal statute with prescribed sanctions. It is even worse off as there is no current control of information, the public space, internet-generated information and evidence and even individual privacy on the social media scene in Nigeria as well as in most countries of the world with respect to defamation committed thereon but that is a whole subject matter on its own. Some plagiarism matters are best treated as cases of unfair competition and a gross violation of the doctrine of moral rights. The increased availability of intellectual property due to a meteoric rise in technology has further deepened the debate regarding whether copyright offences are criminal or just a civil wrong. A basic understanding of the concept is also advocated to advance a clear cut delineation of its content and context. Plagiarism is not the same as copyright infringement. Whilst both terms may apply to a particular act but they are different concepts and two sides to the same act. Copyright infringement is an illegal violation of the rights of a copyright holder, when material specifically restricted by copyright is used by the alleged infringer without the copyright holders consent. It is intellectual piracy! Thus, copyright infringement is a broader term for all incorporeal stealing whilst piracy is more concerned with illegal duplication and distribution of anothers products, for instance, a movie for pecuniary benefits. Comparatively, the moral concept of plagiarism is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarising authors reputation that is achieved through false claims of authorship. It is spreading the work of an author without his consent and taking the credit. Plagiarism is not particularly illegal towards the author as his work is unduly made popular even though he might be unacknowledged but towards the reader, the audience, patrons/matrons and the tutor/teachers/lecturers/examiners whom the plagiary owes a moral obligation to divulge the source of authorship. This notable distinction becomes clearer as even when claims of copyright has expired, false claims of authorship may still constitute plagiarism. 2. Plagiarism is stealing! It is stealing another persons ideas, literary style, thoughts, language and expression. It should be frowned at by all. I find it strange that people write what other people wrote consequent on their deep thoughts and which have become golden nuggets over the years and either acknowledge the author or not. This only confirms your thoughtlessness: think and write your own and let the next generation remember your speech and quote you. Those whose work you cite and steal have only but one head as you, use yours! 3. Anyone who plagiarises is a kidnapper! Historically, in the 1st century, the use of the Latin word plagiarius which means a kidnapper came into literary consciousness and it was used to denote someone stealing anothers work. It was pioneered and popularised by Roman poet Martial, who complained graphically and figuratively that another poet had kidnapped his verses. The word plagiarism thus came into the English language circa in the year 1601 by foremost dramatist, Ben Johnson who described as a plagiary someone guilty of literary theft. Plaga means snare, to weave, net or unduly take. The derived form plagiarism was introduced into the English language in the year 1620. 4. It is very disturbing that people plagiarise to the extent of including the authors mistakes, name and date of publication. It only confirms the plagiarys incompetence and lack of competence. I once saw a re-post of my work on anothers wall on facebook. It was a poem I found and I wrote that I didnt write it but the facebook plagiary sent it with my prefix explanation as though it were his own. These are the same set of people that will dub another persons examination scripts with his name and matric number. It boils my blood to see people obtaining complimentary comments on works they did not write. Nothing can be more asinine. I always love to ascribe authorship to whatever I write by ending it with my literary pseudonym: the word bank. This is to stamp my authorship on my writings. I am not particularly pained when my work goes viral or become plagiarised because writing is fun for me and I humbly believe I can write better ones than the ones plagiarised by manufacturing from the word reservoir. Words mean a lot to me; I nurture and culture them, romance them, ruminate over them, chew them, swallow them and digest them and I will not permit anyone that ruptures them: straight face. I am excited sometimes when my writings go on a voyage of exploration and viral flight and comes back to me as a broadcast message, this has happened more times than you want to imagine (without my name on it again of course) and with no alteration of the content, all I say is: cant these willing conveyors of these write up use their own heads to think and write something better?. This collective plagiarism is a sorry, sordid, cruel and ingenious reflection of our parlous state of national under-development! Nigeria is a crude assemblage of people who do not think! We are amused by others excellence and no more. We stink as a people. We have become so rusty and uncreative. We reproduce existing knowledge without carrying out our own research. We rely on existing obsolete knowledge devoid of any current bearing to modern day realities. The currency of a research is its beauty. If you are not current, you cannot be correct! This also explains why professors that are no longer professing keep churning out unbaked graduates that are not imbued with the requisite skills needed to drive a 21st century job market by regurgitating old and ineffectual plagiarised knowledge to the students of the museum which our supposed ivory towers have become! This is the crux of the matter. We seek the reward without sowing the seed. We all want quick money forgetting unwittingly that money is not a magic, it is not a mystery, it is not luck, it is not even a miracle! Money is a reward mechanism for those who think and can solve problems! 5. Plagiarism will abort your academic dreams and pregnancy: Dont do it. I have seen many academic dreams dying because of this intellectual dishonesty. The western world frowns at it. Infact, there is a plagiarism checker that you must turn your work through to ascertain the originality. It is called turnitinuk. I make bold to say that the major difference between Nigerian education and the western education is plagiarism! Many students in Nigeria just surf the net and compile teachings from their old notes and supply the knowledge to earn indefensible marks. It will be your undoing to do that in a university outside Nigeria. You will earn no mark! Citing wikipedia and other internet sources that are not peer-reviewed is equally frowned at. I remember with disgust an incident of a student in Nigeria who stole another students project who graduated in 1975 in another university and only changed his name to his own and rebound it! Unfortunately for him, the external examiner, an emeritus Professor supervised that same long essay! After a less than careful first glance examination of the project by the external examiner, he enthused, this project originally belongs to Olawumi Popoola, department of sociology (not real names, institution and department) an alumnus of the University of Ife, 1975. I supervised the work. The only thing original to you in this work is your name and matric number! You know the end of the story and your guess is as good as mine! Stay original and dont plagiarise in real life. You have the capacity to think and produce! Keep on succeeding. Barka Da Sallah, today is Eid-el-Adha. Happy Eid-Al-Kabir. Alhamdulilahi! May the numbers of AMIN that would be said after Fatiha worldwide today during the Eid-el prayers mean an extra-terrestrial approval to all your heart desires. I felicitate with the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria and beyond. Tosin Ayo, The word bank
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 06:54:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015