DETERRING PLAGIARISM, THE NEED OF THE HOUR: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF STEPS TAKEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA AND THE UNITED STATES.

This paper is an attempt to understand the concept of “Plagiarism “, its causes , impacts ,detection with reference to comparison in its counter in India and The United States. Plagiarism is defined as an act of academic misconduct or academic dishonesty, where one pretends the other’s work/content as his own work without giving due credit to the original author. This activity has brought the Integrity and status of Higher education at stake across the World. Now, it is the need of the hour to curb it and certain steps have been taken in this regard. Higher education policies at national and international level have framed guidelines to deal with this act of academic dishonesty and professional misconduct , so as to safeguard the intellectual property right of the author. Certain Anti –plagiarism Software tools (free online and paid services) are now available to detect it. Provisions of Strict vigilance and severe penalties in the policy codes/guidelines in higher education and its review from time to time are required to curb this menace of Plagiarism in Education World.