Against Plagiarism

in academic writing

Original writing is honest writing

Here is a version suitable for an honest scholar or researcher:

When people know each other outside the Internet (in real life), an online misrepresentation (or disruption) of gender usually does not take place. People may, however, represent themselves differently in e-mail, seeming more outgoing or extroverted (Poster, 1995).

Comparing the text above to the original, you can see that the words "gender" and "disruption" are repeated from Poster's text, but otherwise, the phrasing is original and the idea is much condensed. Note also that Poster still gets credit for the idea! After all, the idea comes straight from his paper. Here is the original:

According to Poster (1995): "Some aspects of the Internet, such as electronic mail between individuals who know each other, may introduce no strong disruption of the gender system. In this case, the cyborg individual does not overtake or displace the embodied individual, though even here studies have shown some differences in self-presentation (more spontaneity and less guardedness)."

This is how academic writing is done. An honest scholar is always very, very scrupulous about giving credit to other writers.