Theme: Understanding inclusive education: what is inclusive education really about

2.2 Plagiarism as a major ethical problem in linguistic research
Plagiarism (“plagiary”) derives from the Latin word ‘‘Plagiarius’’which means a kidnapper and it was first described in literature by the dramatist Ben Jonson in 1601 to describe someone guilty of literary theft.The first article on this topic was written by Halsted G.B appeared in “Science” in 1896 under the title “complement or plagiarism” and since then hundreds of articles have been written in this topic. Plagiarism is presently unknown though rates of 11-19% have been reported and some journals have rejected around 23% of articles due to this problem.
Merriam–Webster dictionary defines plagiarism as a) The theft and use of other people's ideas or words as yours; b) Use of sources without attribution; c) Literary theft and d) presenting some ideas as own and as it is new, while this idea already exists in other source.There are many ways in which misconduct in research can be defined and the presence of thousands of journals worldwide and ease of access of these articles across the globe has not led to any common name to define this problem. The first attempt to address plagiarism was in 1992 in the USA by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and then later in 1997 in the UK by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) both of which gave guidelines for research, scientific integrity and a set of principles to detect and present plagiarism.The commonly used definitions by some of the leading bodies worldwide are given below.COPE describes misconduct as the “intention to cause others to regard as true that which is not true.The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh: definition was “Behaviour by a researcher, intentional or not, that falls short of good ethical and scientific standard”.Falsification – Manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.Person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.Research misconduct does not include honest error or
differences of opinion.
Plagiarism is defined as "the act of appropriating any other person's or group's ideas or work (written, computerized, artistic, etc.) or portions thereof and passing them off as the product of one's own work in any academic exercise or activity" (UVSC Catalog 2003-2004, 29). Plagiarism can be done intentionally or unintentionally.
Intentional plagiarism occurs when the author deliberately, intentionally or knowingly copies entire text, paragraph or data and presents as its own. Unintentional occurs when the author either is not aware of such research, is unaware of the ethics in writing or does not know how to cite and thus presents similar articles.
Types of plagiarism:
Text/words or Ideas/data
The commonest form of plagiarism is of text known as “copy-cut-paste” or “word-to-word” writing wherein complete sentences, paragraph, tables or even pictures are
reproduced without acknowledgement. Described as “…copying a portion of text from another source without giving credit to its author and without enclosing the borrowed text in quotation marks.”Although previous research need to be discussed complete copying of text is to be avoided. With use of computers and the internet this form of plagiarism is very prevalent. Copying of ideas is a common form of plagiarism wherein someone else’s ideas, presentations,audio or video files, thoughts, inferences or suggestions are made into research and presented as own without proper acknowledgement. This is of course very difficult to detect or prove. Some other methods are taking ideas from books, previously published thesis, journals,magazines, conferences or meetings.
Source
This type of plagiarism uses previous article’s citations without actually reading or cross referencing the bibliography.
Mosaic/patch writing7,12
This happens when a new author uses the previous article text by replacing, reordering or rephrasing the words or sentences to give it new look without acknowledging the original author. Mosaic plagiarism is described as“… borrowing the ideas and opinions from an original source and a few verbatim words or phrases without crediting the original author. In this case, the plagiarist intertwines his or her own ideas and opinions with those of the original author, creating a confused, plagiarized mass.”
Self Plagiarism
This happens when the author has added research on a previously published article, book, contributed chapter, journal, and presents it as a new without acknowledging the first article or taking permission from the previous publisher.Submission of the same article to multiple journals to increase the chances of publication or making multiple articles from a single article, known as, “salami slicing” is another form of plagiarism. WAME’s Ethics Committee says: “With respect to the issue of how much overlap is too much…a rule of thumb that some editors have applied when considering the amount of overlap between two review articles (not book chapters) has been overlap of more than one-third of the material.”
Ghost writing
In this type the main contributor is not given due acknowledgement or someone who has not contributed is given due credit.
Collusional
In this type the author asks a professional agent or institution to write an article and then claims as its own.
Types of plagiarism include the following as well:
 Passing off material partially or completely written by someone else as your own work. It does not matter if the material is purchase, borrowed, or stolen; it is still plagiarism.
 Summarizing (briefly stating an author's main ideas), paraphrasing (putting the author's words into your own words), or quoting (copying specific words, sentences, and/or paragraphs) without crediting the source, accurately citing the information, or fairly representing the author's intentions.
 Using facts (statistics, research findings, graphics, etc.) that are not common knowledge without citing the source you obtain them from.
It needs giving credit for anything that is not common knowledge. Common knowledge is information that can easily be found in a wide variety of resources (i.e. birth dates or places).
Giving credit to authors adds to one`s credibility as a writer. It demonstrates that the researcher has done research and know what other people are saying about the subject. Responding to their ideas gives credibility and establishes that they are trying to participate in the academic discussion. Providing citations also gives your reader the opportunity to refer to the sources for further information.
Plagiarism destroys creditability because ideas are owned by the person who originated them, and using another author's ideas constitutes dishonest behavior. Using own ideas will create pride and ownership in one`s own work.
The ways to avoid plagiarism:
Being accurate in note taking and when cutting and pasting from the Internet.
 Distinguishing between quotes, paraphrases, and summaries.
 Clarifying the source of each quote or paraphrase. Include author, title of work, page numbers, and all pertinent publication information, such as publisher, date and location of publication, etc.
Being careful when writing paper.
 Quotes, paraphrases, summaries, and ideas from other author
all need to be cited.
 Paraphrases and summaries need to be in one`s own words and
must be true to the author's ideas.
 Quotes must be in quotation marks, use the exact wording as
the original quote, and convey the meaning intended by the
author
As with any wrongdoing, the degree of intent (see below) and the nature ofthe offense determine its status. When plagiarism takes place in an academic setting, it is most often handled by the individual instructors and the academic institution involved. If, however, the plagiarism involves money, prizes, or job placement, it constitutes a crime punishable in court.
Academic Punishments
Most colleges and universities havezero tolerance for plagiarists. In fact, academic standards of intellectual honesty are often more demanding thangovernmentalcopyright laws. If you have plagiarized a paper whose copyright has run out, for example, you are less likely to be treated with any more leniency than if you had plagiarized copyrighted material.
A plagiarized paper almost alwaysresults in failure for the assignment, frequently in failure for the course, and sometimes in expulsion.
Plagiarism is a common but avoidable malpractice prevalent in the world. It affects all from students to senior teachers and from developing to developed countries. Strict adherence to the journal guidelines and being honest can help to reduce this burden on the scientific society. Use of the common computer aided tools to detect plagiarism followed by severe punishment to the guilty, blacklisting the authors, worldwide notice of their activity, are some ways to address this problem. School syllabus to avoid plagiarism in courses can also help the younger generation and the demand for “quantity” rather than “quality” of published articles in jobs, interview, promotion and academics can further ease this problem.

Inclusive education is increasingly promoted and supported, not just by a few passionate indivi­duals and groups, but by UN agencies and governments globally. Yet confusion, misunderstan­dings and differences of opinion remain, leaving many unanswered questions about theory and practice:

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  Is inclusion a priority in education?
  
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  Is inclusion really about all marginalised/vulnerable/excluded groups, or is it mainly about students with disabilities and addressing ‘special’ needs?
  
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  Is inclusive education an invention from the North being imposed on the rest of the world?
  
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  In what ways is inclusion linked to key challenges facing education, such as drop-out rates, quality of education, enrolment of girls, rigid curriculum and lack of resources?
  
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  Does inclusive education really mean educating all children from a given community in the same school building?
  
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  Is inclusive education the same as inclusive schooling?
  
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  What is the difference between inclusive education, integrated education and special education?
  
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  Is inclusion really appropriate for everyone? How about children with severe or multiple disabilities, and those who are deaf or deafblind?
  
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  Is there a ‘right’ way to do inclusive education? Is there a clear plan we can follow?
  
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  Is inclusive education practical, particularly in countries with few resources and many challenges?
  
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  Isn’t inclusive education expensive? What does it cost? Can poor countries afford it?
  
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  If inclusive education focuses on changing the system, rather than focusing on individuals, won’t really vulnerable students and groups still be excluded and forgotten?
  
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  Is inclusive education still a useful concept? Isn’t it covered by other concepts such as ‘quality education’, ‘Education for All’, and ‘rights-based education’? What are the differences?
  
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  Can ‘anti-inclusion’ attitudes and behaviours be challenged and changed?
  
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  There are so many educational initiatives and priorities — how important and relevant is inclusive education?
  
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  Schools are already overloaded and facing pressure to achieve targets — doesn’t inclusion make things worse?
  

It is healthy for such questions and challenges to arise. They help to keep all stakeholders focused on finding ways to effectively, appropriately and resourcefully educate all citizens.
There is no blueprint for ‘doing’ inclusive education; it is a dynamic, organic, cultural and context-specific process.