Upon completing a rigorous quiz, I received this Plagiarism Certificate of Completion. The quiz consisted of several examples of the various forms of plagiarism, whether word-for-word, paraphrased, or absence of the required citations. I had to carefully read through the original source and compare it to the author’s version. This certification is evidence that I have been trained in recognizing and differentiating between forms of plagiarism, a cornerstone of compliance with codes of ethics in any professional setting that I will enter in the field of Instructional Design. 

As an English teacher, I felt confident going into this assignment. I have spent the last decade teaching 6th graders how to recognize and avoid plagiarism. As a result, I decided to test my knowledge and go straight to the quiz. Not surprisingly, I did not pass. Although I answered a majority of the questions correctly, in order to obtain the certificate, I had to score no lower than 9/10 on the quiz. Humbled by this experience, I went back and reviewed the tutorials, watched the videos, and completed the practice problems. Even then, it took me several more times before passing the quiz. One recurring error was the lost locator, which is when the piece of writing has the quote, the citation, and the reference, but is missing the precise location in the text. This experience helped me grasp how nuanced plagiarism can be and how important it is to look critically at a piece of writing to ensure that one has not (intentionally or unintentionally) committed plagiarism. In order to do that, however, you have to know all forms, the obvious and the subtle. Familiarity with all shades of plagiarism will ease the process of identifying and avoiding plagiarism so that I am conscientious about the work I am producing in any context. 

Whether a student or employee, plagiarism has potential ethical and legal consequences. When writing research in this LDT program, I better understand how to give proper credit where credit is due not just when using someone else’s words, but also their ideas. Similarly, as an employee, both my professional reputation and the reputation of the company I represent are at stake. Working with subject matter experts and pulling resources from various places requires the use of many people’s words and ideas, inevitably presenting the potential to plagiarize. However, with my deeper understanding of plagiarism’s many forms, I have the training to make sure it never occurs. In collaborative situations involving teamwork, I can support my colleagues by peer-reviewing materials and recognizing plagiarism before it leads to dire consequences. Sharing this knowledge will help cultivate trust among my team members so that we feel confident knowing we have done our due diligence to design trustworthy products. The completion of this training prepares me to be meticulous about word choice, phrasing, punctuation, and citations to guarantee my work consistently meets ethical and legal standards of Instructional Design.