Defines plagiarism:
Plagiarism is taking someone else’s words or ideas and passing them off as your own. This definition is made by Tony T.N. Hung, Hong Kong Baptist University, in the book Avoiding Plagiarism.
Also we can find the similar definition in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: plagiarism means an idea, phrase, or story that has been copied from another person’s work, without stating where it came from.
From the two definitions, we can easily analyze what is plagiarism. When we are trying to use other’s intellect creations and make them as yours, it is already a plagiarism. According to the Tony T.N. Huang’s explanation, sometimes it is a carelessness made by ourselves. No matter it is a careless or conscious, plagiarism is a big problem. Steal other’s idea, words or any typical creation is plagiarism. We can only use them when we have already given the attribution.
Even when we are paraphrasing someone’s paragraphs or sentences, it is still plagiarism if those sentences containing the distinctive idea not only the common knowledge.
Can I legally post any picture on my blog that I have downloaded from the Internet as long as I credit the source?
It depends on different situations.
If we use this photo for commercial reason, and we get profit from this photo, it is definitely illegal.
If we use the photo only for private, for example, personal study or commenting on sth, we can use it without the author’s permission and it is legal according to the Chinese law. But if the author has already said all reprint is not allowed, we cann’t use it any more.
So when we download pictures from the Internet, we can only use it on condition that we have credited the source and we have got the author’s permission if we use for commercial reason.
