Plagiarism? Are you kidding?

In the video, which is titled “Plagiarism? Are you kidding?”, two characters discuss the purpose of citing where they draw resources, as well as the advantages of doing it.  The man argues that citation is a waste of time and professors simply want to confirm if students read the content.  However, the woman maintains that the purpose of citation is not only for avoiding plagiarism.  Since they provide the information of the original sources, they can reinforce their idea by demonstrating that others also agree with it.  Additionally, she states that citing also means they are knowledgeable with what they described; therefore, writers can gain readers’ trust through showing they are well read.

There is an ongoing debate on the purpose and necessity of citation.  One of the basic purposes of citation, which is informing where you retain the idea, is to show the respect to the person who creates the invisible property.  It is certain that people should acknowledge when they used other’s idea.  However, I think there are negative effects as well as advantages of citation.  Writers can illustrate their knowledge based on citing every text; on the other hand, since they have several others’ idea in their writing, their writing does not look creative.  For example, the book “Arcades Project”, by Walter Benjamin, is mostly composed with citation.  Although this book is considered as having good content and logical structure, it is insufficient of the writer’s own thought.  Immoderate citing has a negative influence on writing.  Therefore, it is important to make a balance between a writer’s idea and citation of others.