PLAGIARISM, STATISTICS

1. Plagiarism & other frauds
Murtaza Kamal
Star Hospitals, Hyderabad
17th of March, 2019
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2. Avoid academic
dishonesty:
IT CAN BE DETECTED
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3. Academic dishonesty
Serious repercussions on:
Student’s career
Supervisor
Institution’s stature
MC reason: Student’s ignorance
You are accountable for your actions
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4. Scope of the talk…
Types of academic dishonesty
Plagiarism
Copyright infringement
Fictitious data in thesis
Acknowledgement issues
Avoiding academic dishonesty
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5. Types of academic
dishonesty
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6. Plagiarism
Unacknowledged use of work of another person as own’s
own (Immaterial whether work has been published)
Copying sentences, paragraphs, phrases, tables, figures
from a known source without proper acknowledgement
Mere referencing is not enough; it doesn’t absolve you of
misconduct
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7. Plagiarised:
Whole document
Paragraph
Single sentence
Distinctive phrase
Specialised term
Specific data
Pictorial element
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8. Copywrite infringement
Author of a creative effort has right to decide who can
make copies, or make works emanating from original
Every creative work is copyrighted the moment it is fixed in
concrete form—> No notice/ registration necessary
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9. Does this mean we need to seek
permission every time we want to
use material from another author’s
work?
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10. Exceptions…
Usage of less than a substantial part of a copywriter
protected work + giving sufficient acknowledgement
Non commercial research+ private study
Criticism, review + reporting current events
Teaching in educational establishments
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11. Fictitious data in thesis
Must respect principals of academic integrity
Do not cook up data
Dishonesty: Attracts disciplinary action
Need to sign a decleration—> Material presented is own
Supervisor+ co- supervisor vouch for truth of declaration
Remember to declare contribution of co-workers
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12. Acknowledgement issues
Won’t be evaluated—> Still important part: Thank right
people in a right way
Place to express heartfelt emotions people who supported
Varies from formal thanks to informal sense of gratitude to
family members
Essential to take prior permission whom you will
acknowledge
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13. Acknowledgement issues
cont…
Mention only those who have been directly involved in
creation of scholarly work
Not advisable to mention who don’t have direct link to work
eg:
Childhood heres
School teachers
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14. How to avoid plagiarism?
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15. Tips to avoid
plagiarism…
Give credit whenever you use another person’s:
Idea/ opinion/ theory
Statistics/ graphs/ drawings
Quotation/ paraphrase of spoken/ written works
If needed to quote somebody verbatim—> Put original
words in “ DOUBLE QUOTATION MARKS” + give
reference to original source
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16. Tips to avoid plagiarism cont…
Quotations seldom used in medical thesis—> Rather,
paraphrase + write out idea in your own words
Avoid rearranging/ replacing a few words
Check your paraphrase to be sure—> Information is
accurate+ meaning is not changed
Give reference to original source
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17. Tips to avoid plagiarism cont…
While stating important points—> Critically analyse,
compare+ contrast views of different papers+ Add your own
thoughts
Draft in your own language—> Impression that you analysed
information
Difficult sometimes to differentiate between deliberate and
accidental plagiarism—> Give credit where its due
Always site source
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18. You can be easily caught
Electronic documents—> Temptations of cut-copy- paste
Software+ plagiarism detectors—> Misconduct caught in
seconds
MC excuse: “I HAD INTENDED TO MODIFY THE SENTENCES
LATER BUT FORGOT”
Such callousness—> Brought down senior supervisors/ scientists
from posts
Can bring down the mighty
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19. Softwares
CrossCheck
Deja vu
eBLAST
iThenticate
Simplest: Copy+ paste doubtful sentence within quotation
marks in “ Google search bar”
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20. Society for scientific values
To promote integrity, objectivity+ ethical values in pursuit of
science
Distinguished Indian scientists, Prof Avtar Paintal
1986
www.scientificvalues.org
Publishes cases from time to time where scientific ethics
have been compromised
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21. Walter Cannon
Research is systematic acquisition of new knowledge,
which deeply satisfies both explorer’s adventurous spirit +
its persistent curiosity
Explorer ( Enthusiastic PG) in temptation to finish thesis—
> May tend to unwanted territory of accidental misconduct
Writing scientific work is serious work—> DO NOT TAKE
IT LIGHTLY
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22. So,…
Read fill text of cross references+ do not assume from
reading only abstract
Read complete text, highlight major points, analyse
strength of study—> Prepare your own draft—> Do not
reproduce what others have said—> Substantiate points in
own words
Use your own ideas—> Its your thesis
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23. Cont…
Use different colours…
Use ideas of others meagrely—> Only to support/ re-
inforce your argument
During note taking, include complete citation for each item
you use, use quotation marks when directly stating another
person’s work
Carefully select action verb to express opinion
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24. Take home message…
Avoid scientific misconduct
Begin early—> Time to read all resources, opportunity to
develop own analysis+ support of supervisor
Paraphrase other’s writings in own words+ language
Whenever in doubt, cite the source
Countercheck draft for ant plagiarised element
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25. THANK YOU…
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