It has become easy for students to find and copy published material. But copying another person's writing without giving them credit can get students and other scholars into big trouble.
American copyright law protects original works of authorship including books, movies, music, images and artworks. The owner can sell a copyright or permit others to use it because it is property and property ownership is protected by law in the U. S.
The idea is that copyright helps society. If people can gain from their own creations, which are called their intellectual property(知识产权), then more people will want to create original works. The law, however, permits the unlicensed use of copyrighted works under what is called fair use. Fair use can include criticism, comment, news reporting, education and research. In education, students can include small parts of copyrighted work in their writing and research. But they must provide credit to the original creators through a citation which gives details about the source.
Just as it is easy to copy, it is also easy for professors to know if a student has plagiarized. First, there are computer programs and artificial intelligence, tools that compare students' papers to large databases of published writing. Second, if English is not a student's first language, a professor might recognize a change in wording and writing style. This could bring more attention to the student's paper.
Professors could simply warn a student not to do it again, lower their grade, or they might fail the student in that class. In more extreme cases, a student may be temporarily banned or expelled from school.
A. This behavior is called plagiarism.
B. However, there are some limitations.
C. Plagiarism is punished in different ways.
D. Students must follow university policies on academic behavior.
E. They can identify whether students have copied published writing.
F. For example, it can automatically create citations and combine them into a list.
G. The protection extends to computer software and the design of buildings and structures.
