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What Can Happen If You Plagiarize Work?

Whether you’ve accidentally plagiarized a small section of content but it’s been flagged by our university’s plagiarism checking tool, or you’ve come across a case of deliberate plagiarism and aren’t sure what consequences the culprit could face, we’re here to answer all of your pressing questions. From ruined reputation to the potential for legal repercussions, the consequences you could face really aren’t worth the hassle. Here, we’re exploring further into just what could happen when you plagiarize work.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of copying someone’s creative work, either knowingly or unknowingly. Students can plagiarise in their researches reports. To say in less complicated words, it is the act of claiming someone else’s works as your own—different types of plagiarism are there. 

For example, direct plagiarism is transcribing word-to-word of a piece. Deliberate plagiarism is dishonest and academically unethical. Self-plagiarism is the mingling of someone’s previous work without permission from the higher authority.

Mosaic plagiarism is nothing but borrowing phrases without applying quotation marks or using similar words that do not alter content’s original structure or meaning. Paraphrasing is also illegal and unethical. 

Accidental plagiarism happens when a person paraphrases similar sentence structures or words unintentionally. 

Visual plagiarism is comparatively newer. It includes copying photography, logos, and artwork. 

Plagiarism in Academics

In universities, plagiarism does not only hurt the doers but the academic plagiarism checkers also. Plagiarism prevention is essential for being ethical and fair. It prevents someone from making the most use of education. 

Therefore, it is quintessential to know the reasons for plagiarism and how to avoid them. Several plagiarism checker tools are available online to detect plagiarism. The words and ideas of an author come under his/her intellectual property. And other people must respect that. 

The recent trend of online education is causing harm to the students and compels them to use snippets from various sources. Writing demands creativity. Plagiarism is a serious offense. 

Removal From Position

The first and probably most obvious consequence of plagiarizing content is the potential of losing your position. This essentially means that if you are a working professional, you could lose your job and if you’re a student, you could be removed from your course or fail your degree as a result. Minor cases of plagiarism could be met with a warning, especially when there’s a substantial argument that it was an accidental case. You may have to attend plagiarism classes or your grade may be lowered depending on the severity, so it’s always best to use a plagiarism checker long before submitting any assignments.

As a working professional, you are expected to know better and where clients are put at risk as a result of your written content pieces, this is likely to result in removal from your role. You could be lucky and get off with a warning in accidental plagiarism cases, but when it appears intentional or occurs more than once, you’re more than likely to be at risk of losing your job.

Your Reputation Could Be Ruined

If losing your job or your position on a course wasn’t enough, you could also risk your reputation being destroyed. When you plagiarize, it’s likely to stick with you. Students hoping to move on from their expulsion from their University or College may find that their plagiarism case could prevent access or admittance to another educational facility. Professionals in the public eye could find that their allegation follows them from job to job – if they manage to get another job at all!

There Could Be Legal Repercussions

Anyone that produces content needs to have some understanding of plagiarism and copyright laws, or risk breaking them and suffering legal consequences. These consequences could be anything from being sued by the website or author they copied from, to a prison sentence if it’s deemed a criminal offense. Avoiding these repercussions could be as simple as knowing, understanding, and following proper citation best practices. Through thorough and relevant citation, the producer of the content can ensure that credit is given to the source, therefore helping to avoid plagiarism.

Fines, being sued, being expelled or let go from your job, or even imprisoned in serious cases are all consequences that plagiarizers could have to face if they are caught in the act. While accidental plagiarism cases are often left at the warning stage on a one-time basis, more severe cases or situations where it seems deliberate aren’t nearly as lucky. Making sure that you use a fully functional plagiarism checker and understanding how to avoid plagiarism from the offset will help you avoid any accusations or claims in the future.

What Are The Legal Consequences?

People, if guilty of plagiarism, may undergo several potential consequences of plagiarism in different segments.

1. Plagiarism in Business

SEO agencies, publishers, and freelance writers, and bloggers invest their time in writing content. It will attract more visitors to a site. It also includes web content writers working for a website development agency. 

Here also, often, writers plagiarize content, accidentally or deliberately. It happens because of poor time management from the end of the writer. Writers, especially the sloppy ones, hurry when their deadline is approaching. Instead of starting their research at an early stage, they poorly draft a writeup hurriedly. It includes paraphrased content without any actual input from the writer’s end. 

Now, this paraphrasing also leads to plagiarism. Often, unknowingly, the writer copies the tone and, if at times, the language and the style of the original writeup. It leads to plagiarized or copied work that is not at all good for the business.

2. Adverse Consequences Writers Face for Plagiarizing

If a company’s website or a web page of a blogger contains plagiarized paragraphs or sentences without any credit or quotation marks, be sure that copy will not get accepted by the search engine. Yes, search engines do not approve copied content. So if a writer is submitting it, then it may not reach the maximum audience.

On the other hand, it is also possible that one having the original content starts getting less view, and the one with the duplicate one starts getting more because the search engine does not know who has written the original content. 

So, the writer may have the unique content experience less traffic on their site. It shatters all their hard work. Hence, a plagiarism checker here becomes pretty essential for the writer.

3. Publishing House Can Pull Down a Book if Accused of Plagiarism

Indeed, plagiarism is not similar to copyright infringement. However, that does not mean an author can plagiarize ideas and content in a book. A publishing house is always in search for looking authentic and unique content. 

However, if any author ditches and breaches the contract, the publishing house does have the authority to pull down a book. So, whenever an author is submitting a manuscript, they should check for plagiarism. 

Publishing houses should also use a plagiarism checker. As publishing work with plagiarism can harm the reputation of the publication house.

4. Copyleaks Plagiarism Checker can help a Person in Avoiding Plagiarism

There are ample reasons for plagiarism. According to the Council of Writing Program Administrators, people use plagiarised articles because of poor time management, disregard of consequences, and carelessness. The Copyleaks application gives valuable feedback and premium services through their plagiarism detection software. 

People do not need to look for line-by-line similarity in Google text. Copyleaks make things easier, and they can use Copyleaks add-ons. To avoid plagiarism, one must credit the original writers and cite the sources. These ways are the defense against plagiarism. Therefore, mentioning proper citation is quintessential. 

Numerous plagiarism detecting tools are there that mention the plagiarised percentage in a few minutes. 

Accidental plagiarism imposes a less harsh penalty with a warning on a one-time basis. People must use the functional online plagiarism checker to correct plagiarised portions. Using Copyleaks may help you avoid any claim or accusations in the future.

The students can go through the on-campus judicial system. The persons guilty of plagiarism may have legal ramifications for copyright infringement. Therefore one can apply a particular section of someone’s works but only with attribution of the source. 

The attempt of plagiarism in any segment or a plagiarized work may damage one’s career entirely. Some universities place their accused students on disciplinary probation. The act of dissertation in academics is a severe offense, and it is under the realm of an academic integrity code violation. An alleged person may face dismissal from the workforce and expulsion from his office.

FAQ
  1. What is wrong with plagiarism?

Plagiarism is wrong because it damages one’s reputation. The act of plagiarism sticks with you for a long. However, avoiding plagiarism is not tricky. Knowing, realizing the consequences of plagiarism, and following adequate citation best practices, people can overcome any accusations against them. 

  1. Who does it hurt if you plagiarise?

Your act of plagiarism may hurt many people surrounding you. For example, if you are a student, it can hurt your teachers or professors if you are in higher grades. Plagiarism in the office can hurt your boss, and it can damage your reputation as well. 

  1. Can You Academically Plagiarise?

Students are never allowed to plagiarise. Plagiarism is one college that can prevent admittance and access to another educational facility. Professionals suffer from various difficulties due to the allegation they face due to plagiarism from job to job.

  1. What happens if you plagiarise in the workplace? 

If someone plagiarises in the workplace, he may face various legal consequences as well. The result could be anything from being sued by the author or website from where they plagiarise. This act is a criminal offense. People can be imprisoned or expelled from their job in severe cases.

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