Introduction
Plagiarism is a grave offense that occurs when an individual borrows ideas without acknowledging the author. Plagiarism applies in both academic and professional environments. Essentially, penalties that arise from plagiarism range from suspension to jail term for the individuals concerned. Such is the seriousness of plagiarism that students are advised to take precautions whenever they borrow ideas from other writers. Also, students are advised to be creative enough to produce original work. According to UNSW (2013), avoiding plagiarism can be achieved by citing all borrowed ideas. This paper will conduct a self-assessment on the pre-test and post-test scores to examine my knowledge of plagiarism. It will also explore ways of improving my knowledge of plagiarism (USM, 2013).
Self-assessment
After taking a pre-test on plagiarism, the outcome showed that I scored 8 out of 10. That is, I answered eight questions correctly but failed in two questions. Among the questions, I answered correctly included those that touched on copying and pasting from the internet, use of quotation marks when quoting an author’s idea and citation of a block of text. The others touched on the citation of a conversation, citation of a borrowed idea, use of parts of an article, citation of songs and lyrics, and citation of phrases. However, I failed to answer questions concerning the citation of proverbs and citation of prominent personalities’ birthdays correctly.
Nonetheless, after reading about plagiarism, I took a post-test in which I scored nine out of ten. In this case, I failed in one of the questions I had answered correctly in the previous test. This question touched on phrases since post-test questions were similar to pre-test questions (USM, 2013).
Comparison of pre-test and post-test scores
The scores showed a slight improvement from my initial pre-test scores. However, it was quite obvious that I had failed in one of the questions I had answered correctly in pre-test scores. Nonetheless, it was also important that I managed to answer all the questions I had failed in the pre-test stage correctly in the post-test stage. Additionally, I managed to complete post-test questions faster than pre-test questions. Again, going through the post-test questions in my second attempt was much easier than during my first attempt at the pre-test stage.
Moreover, I learned a lot during my second attempt than in my first. For instance, I could now understand why I had failed to answer the two questions in the first instance correctly. In comparison, the two scores showed that I had a good idea of plagiarism, as well as on how it could be avoided. My final scores were quite impressive than the first scores since they were based on increased knowledge (USM, 2013).
Discussions
In the pre-test quiz, it is important to note that I was quite tense since I was facing the questions before covering the issues concerned. This also contributed to my failure in the two questions since I had taken sometime before going through specific requirements in plagiarism such as those on important personalities like the birth of George Bush and those on proverbs. This happened because I thought proverbs were to be credited to their respective authors, such as the famous King Solomon of the bible. Moreover, I thought that even though famous personalities’ birthdays were common, it would still amount to plagiarism. The ideas mentioned above led to wrong answers in both cases. However, I managed to rectify them in the second quiz. Notably, I failed in one question of the second quiz. However, this happened because I was excited after going through the text (Purdue University, 2013).
How to improve my knowledge of plagiarism
By going through my score in both tests, I gained valuable information on the reasons for failure in two and one questions, respectively. However, it is essential to note that by reading the article on plagiarism after the pre-test quiz, I gained critical information on plagiarism. The key among the information gained was on the citation of phrases and important personalities. I, therefore, learned that my knowledge could improve if I kept revising content on plagiarism regularly.
Moreover, practicing to avoid plagiarism through the use of plagiarism software would also help improve my knowledge of plagiarism.
Moreover, going through the ways of applying plagiarism concepts in papers on a regular basing would assist in improving my knowledge of plagiarism. Similarly, I would improve my knowledge of plagiarism by acknowledging any idea which is borrowed from others. Also, I would improve my knowledge of plagiarism by attempting to be creative to produce original work (UCU, 2013).
Conclusion
Plagiarism involves the use of ideas without giving credit to their authors. My pre-test quiz was characterized with apprehensiveness since I had not looked into the content on plagiarism. However, I still managed a score of eight out of ten. However, due to over-excitement, I failed in one of the questions which I had answered correctly during my first attempt. Nonetheless, I learned new ideas on improving my knowledge of plagiarism. I also learned to be creative in my next assignments to avoid plagiarism.
References
Purdue University (2013). Avoiding plagiarism: Overview and Contradictions. Web.
UCU (2013). What is plagiarism? Web.
UNSW (2013). Avoiding Plagiarizing: Following the Path to Good Academic Practice. Web.
USM (2013). Welcome to the Plagiarism Tutorial. Web.