Plagiarism
Two Principles Differentiate Plagiarism and Copyrights
- Copyright infringement is selling another’s work or commercially exploiting it without the proper rights to do so. Copyright laws protect the item and not the idea; they are valid and upheld in a court of law. Copyrights expire 70 years after the author’s death.
- Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s ideas, even if the idea is explained in different words, without crediting the author. Plagiarism is not dealt with in a law court, however, it is considered stealing and is punishable in professional, education and commercial frameworks.
Literary Plagiarism – Important:
The term “literary plagiarism” in academia refers to presenting another’s work as one’s own. Use of freely accessible online materials exacerbates the phenomenon. Plagiarism may be purposeful or accidental.
One might purposely or accidentally include part or all of authored material in their course and academic work (including presentations) without referencing it. This may occur because he does not know that he needs to acknowledge copied material or how to do it. Authors should be aware that they cannot copy their own published data and illustrations without citing them (self plagiarism).
Regardless of why the material was plagiarized, it is a clear violation of academic ethics. In the Technion it is listed as a violation in the Student Discipline Statutes (paragraph 15 and the same as for undergraduate studies).