Plagiarism
Plagiarism refers to the act of intentionally stealing other authors’ thoughts, ideas and expression, and presenting them as one’s own work (Helgesson & Eriksson, 2015). The act is undoubtedly unethical for a number of reasons. First, it is a form of theft as another person’s work is maliciously copied and presented as the perpetrator’s original work. In so doing, the perpetrator is given credit that they do not deserve. Second, the perpetrators benefit from the act without the acknowledgement of the author, which is unfair. When conducted in schools, the students benefit from stealing other people’s ideas while writers can make sells out of the theft.
Preventing Plagiarism
In order to avoid plagiarism, it is vital for a person to avoid copying verbatim from the work of an author. If a person is conducting a research, they should ensure that they understand the concepts then write from what they have understood, incorporating their own ideas as well. When it comes to concepts that one must copy as it is (Verbatim), one should use quotation marks, and cite the source of the information at the end of the copied material. Normally, the direct quotation is applicable when writing about facts and statistical data (Helgesson & Eriksson, 2015).
The Role of the IRB
The IRB comes in handy when dealing with and regulating research that involves human subjects. Normally, the subjects are vital when writing graduate and post-graduate thesis papers and essays, which require interviews with people. The IRB lays down the guidelines to ensure that the participants are not harmed in any way in the process (Hudson & Collins, 2015). For instance, the names of the participants are not supposed to appear anywhere in the research. Further, the participants are not supposed to be victimized in sensitive research, most especially children. Through the activities of the IRB as well as preventing plagiarism, the research process proceeds without harming others.
References
Helgesson, G., " Eriksson, S. (2015). Plagiarism in research. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 18(1), 91-101.
Hudson, K. L., " Collins, F. S. (2015). Bringing the common rule into the 21st century. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(24), 2293-2296.
