Unaware we rewrite incorrect information and contribute to their dissemination.
NOT A TEACHER
(1) As Vic told us, when you plagiarize, you copy material from other sources without
giving credit to who wrote it, and your readers think that the writing is your own writing.
(2) Your sentence means something like this:
When we plagiarize, sometimes we do NOT know that the information is false,. so
we repeat the false information. That means that more and more people will read the
false information.
(a) As you know, the United States has 50 states. Before the 1950's, it had only
48 states. Let's say that an old book says "The United States, which is located
between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, has 48 states." Let's say that a student
in another country is asked to write an article for her school newspaper. Let's say that
she goes online and copies (plagiarizes) that complete sentence without telling her
readers where she got that information. Well, when they read her article, they will now
think that the U.S. has 48 states. She has passed on the false information to more
people.
(i) That is why history books often have false information. Some historians just
copy from other historians. And so false information passes from historian #1 to
historian #2 to historian #3, etc.
(3) Some students are dishonest. When their teachers tell them to write a report on
(for example) the history of
The Times newspaper, some of them will get a book,
copy all the words, and then signed the report with their name. That is plagiarism.
Of course, the teacher wanted the students to read maybe 8 books and then explain the
information in their OWN words.
(3) Here in the United States, people take plagiarism very seriously.