A label that I dislike

I have not updated my blog for quite a while, and finally I m going to update my blog, and it is about something that bothers me to the extent that I couldn't sleep today.

What would you feel if someone says that you are 'fierce' because you once scolded and shouted at an amateur driver for speeding at 120 km/h along the highway at 1'o clock in the morning?

And that person was, of course, sitting in the backseat of the car.

I felt utterly annoyed and shocked of his labelling me as 'a fierce girl' just because of this incident, yet I still have to put on a i-am-not disgusted-and-i-don't-mind face for fear of losing this person as a friend.

I am not here to defend myself or to express my dislike against this person but to put things straight.

So, do you think it is appropriate to label a person as fierce for shouting for his/her life in a car driven by a young driver who is speeding? Maybe you are thinking it could be some other incident that prompt this person to label me as being fierce but I am very sure that there are no similar occurrences. Besides, I only have known this person for barely half a year. I simply couldn't understand how can this person reach a conclusion so fast.

Sometimes I couldn't comprehend why people like to label others, and worse still if such labelling persist for long. It is like sentencing a person to death row for something he/she had done wrongly just once. Maybe the thinking that first impression lasts the longest do have some truth to it, but I think it is not fair to the victims who are wrongly or instantaneously labeled for some minor wrong doings.

To sum up, I definitely do not think that one should label someone without getting to know the person more. To my friend who had disturbed my sleep tonight, please do not take my disgust too personally because this blog is intended for me to write down my thoughts in a reflective manner as I treat this blog like an open-to-public diary.

Plagiarism And Collusion

Definition of plagiarism: 

1. An act of stealing and passing off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own 

2. Using (another's production) without crediting the source

3. Committing literary theft : 

4. Presenting a new and an original idea or product derived from an existing source

(Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary)

Definition of Collusion: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary)

The above is itself a good example of plagiarism. Basically, you must cite the source of the information if it is not originally yours, especially information cited from the Internet. The term collusion is not very common to Malaysian students. In terms of academia wise, collusion means the sharing of common ideas in writing.

I was told by one of my friends who have recently came back from Australia about how serious the Aussies take plagiarism and collusion as a form of human rights infringement. This friend of mine has completed her foundation study in Australia, hence she knows the Australian academic culture pretty well. 

What I bound to write on this topic is solely based on what my friend says and what I think as well, so any collision of facts is much regretted.

Apparently, the Australians do not accept the practice of plagiarism and collusion of ideas. A charge of plagiarism can have serious consequences, including getting ZERO for your examinations and expulsion from a university. Some individuals caught plagiarizing in academic works claim that they plagiarized unintentionally by failing to include sufficient quotations or give the bibliography, however, I am still unclear of how do they charge you for plagiarizing and collusion because people may happen to have identical ideas or write sentences that are identical to certain sources. A grey issue indeed. 

 

But one thing is for sure, copying a whole paragraph directly from a text or a excerpt without proper citing to acknowledge the original writer is definitely a no-no in the academic world. Even so, many students are tempted to do so because it saves the trouble to squeeze your head for ideas, and with the development of the Internet, where articles appear in a click of the mouse, has made the act of copying of the works of others very much easier.

Collusion is no less serious an offense. Students who share ideas among themselves are both charged of the offense of collusion. Both students would get ZERO mark for the assignment. Hence, this offense should not be taken lightly by students. Some students can get very selfish and refuse to share their ideas to others in fear of collusion of ideas. This just add more burden to students to be wary of idea-stealers. Are you one of them?

Nevertheless, using your own original ideas is the best way to avoid plagiarism and collusion of ideas. I have to take more precautions now because before this I always refer to the Internet for more information and ideas, and in between may have committed these offenses without realizing the consequences. 

What my friend told me today scare the hell off me. But none of my lecturers ever warn us about it, only my English lecturer once touched slightly on this issue. 

What should people like me whose ideas do not come smoothly do about this? 

Copy and fail the test or don't copy and fail the test?