Avoiding Plagiarism in Academic Writing: a Guide on What to Cite and How

RESUMO

This article defends the conventional view that plagiarism in academic writing is a form of publication misconduct. I emphasize that what constitutes plagiarism is presenting the intellectual product of another as if it is one's own. Common knowledge does not need to be cited; but verbatim text; data; results; distinctive arguments; organizational structures and ideas; do. What academic authors would like to have protected are their distinctive or novel contributions to their fields of knowledge; whatever form those take. Those who Plagiarize act unethically because they seek to obtain credit that is not due to them and they deny credit to those to whom it is due. Self-plagiarism is another form of academic misconduct that entails seeking to obtain credit for the same work more than once. As with plagiarism; it is seen as dishonest and fraudulent. Avoiding accusations of plagiarism can be easily achieved by following a few simple conventions of referencing and punctuation; and academic authors are advised to protect their own reputations by following these conventions