The Different Types of Plagiarism

Knowing the different types of plagiarism is a significant step towards the prevention of plagiarism.

Some people define plagiarism as the copy or borrow of other person’s work, but the words “copy” and “borrow” could actually conceal the gravity of the offense of plagiarism. The types of plagiarism wherein the sources are not cited are: “The Poor Disguise”, “The Ghost Writer”, “The Photocopy”, “The Potluck Paper”, “The Self Stealer”, and “The Labor of Laziness”.

1. The Poor Disguise. What the writers do in this type of plagiarism is they change how the source looks like by altering the phrases and keywords, while keeping the significant content.
2. The Ghost Writer. In this type of plagiarism, the work of another is copied verbatim, and pass it of as the writer’s own.
3. The Photocopy. This is the type of plagiarism in which important parts of a particular work of another person are copied by the writer without changing anything. The Potluck Paper is what you call the type of plagiarism in which the sentences that are taken from various sources are altered so that they would fit together, while the original phrasing is retained. These are done in an attempt to conceal plagiarism.
4. The Self-Stealer. In self-stealer, the writer borrows, not from other person’s works, but from his or her prior works. This is a violation of the policies regarding the originality expectation that is adopted by nearly all of the academic sectors.
5. The Labor of Laziness. Here, rather than spending so much effort in doing the original work, the writer spends his or her time rephrasing the sentences from other works and making them fit together.

Types of plagiarism in which the sources are cited are: “ The Misinformer”, “ The Resourceful Citer”, “The Too-Perfect Paraphrase”, “The Forgotten Footnote”, and “The Perfect Crime”.

1. The Misinformer is a type of plagiarism wherein finding the sources are not possible because the information given regarding the source is wrong.
2. In the Resourceful Writer, all the sentences from other sources are rephrased, the sources are all properly cited, and the quotations are used correctly.
3. The problem is everything is not original. This form of plagiarism is difficult to be detected because it is just like a well-reaserched paper in appearance. The Too-Perfect Paraphrase. The source is cited, but the text that is copied exactly are not put in quotations.
4. The Forgotten Footnote. Though the author’s name is mentioned as a source, the particular details about the location of the source is disregarded. By hiding the locations of the source, the plagiarist is trying to cover up the many forms of plagiarism. The Perfect Crime. The writer gives sources to only some of the information, and rephrase the other sentences without sources. The writer presents the rephrased words as his or her own evaluation.