The Brazilian and Anglophone conceptions of plagiarism: a preliminary study

Abstract

With the internalization of Brazilian universities and the growing pressure for publication in English in highly ranked international journals, plagiarism acquires more complex (FERREIRA; PERSIKE, 2014) facets such as the cultural aspect. This study analyzes the view of the term adopted by textbooks of academic writing in Portuguese and compares it with the Anglophone view (SCOLLON, 1995). The anglo view was studied in literature reviews on the topic and on the main international publishers websites while the Brazilian view was sought in the definitions (or lack of) of plagiarism in eight important manuals on academic writing in Portuguese. The analysis shows that the term is avoided in Brazil, while it is widely discussed in the Anglo-Saxon context. In addition to being defined superficially – when there is a definition – prevention is not the focus, since one aspect of academic literacy essential for text production – paraphrasing – is not properly addressed by the materials.