Plagiarism Today
Plagiarism is such a controversial subject in all industries of life. Individuals that work hard to stand out, only to have someone else copy their work and get credit for it. This has become an argument amongst those who believe morals, ethics, and accountability take place within plagiarism. It wasn't until I read Stanley Fish’s blog on, Plagiarism Is Not a Big Moral Deal, that I was able to get a better understanding of how plagiarism plays a major role with students. In this case, I agree with plagiarism being a negative factor.
Although Fish thinks plagiarism isn't really a big deal, it is for the people who work hard on their writings. Take for instance Stanley Fish, it wasn't until he read one of the program’s
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He was not accredited in any way. This is just one of the many examples that exhibits plagiarism in our world today.
Today, plagiarism is becoming more of an issue, especially in the realm of technology. The internet has made it so easy for anyone to find a topic, then copy and paste it. It has taken away from the actual learning and reading process. Students have become lazy in this sense and have deemed themselves to be poor writers. This in turn has prompted students to think, “Why write a five to ten-page paper, when I can just buy one?” It's that simple, just click and purchase. An article written by Bruce Price states, “Meanwhile, there is massive fraud top to bottom. The kids cheat (i.e., plagiarize) by buying essays. There seem to be hundreds of these businesses, some of them claiming to have hundreds of professional writers.” Price also states, “Students don’t learn essential skills, and then the testing of those skills is compromised or hidden. What better way to hide poor writing skills than to allow a whole new industry to evolve.” These are the extremes students are taking to plagiarize their essays or papers. How can a student learn how to write, cite, and create their own masterpiece, if there are people willing to do
In the first place, writing at any level is a challenge. It is a process that requires active thinking as well as creativity. Equally important, is the drive to understand what is necessary to inform the reader when using someone else’s work. In his findings, Gabriel begins with examples of students that committed plagiarism in colleges both unknowingly and intentionally. After exploring the opinions of writing tutors and officials in these situations, he suggests that many students fail to realize that plagiarism is a crime (Gabriel). He relies on the expert opinions of educators who deal with these situations on a daily basis. One such opinion mentioned, is that of Teresa Fishman, the director for the Center of Academic Integrity at Clemson University (Gabriel). She stated, “It’s possible to believe this information is just out there for anyone to take” (qtd. in Plagiarism Lines). This is said in reference to how easy technology has made “copying” and “pasting” of information according to Gabriel. He visits both sides of the fence, so to speak, concerning the views...
They show their view of plagiarism clearly in their documents through the use of terms such as “without hesitation” and “will not be tolerated” (Student code of conduct and discipline, 2015, p. 6; 9. Academic Honesty, n.d.). Many college students try to find out the ways how to avoid being accused of committing a serious academic offence as much as they can. Putting their own name on someone else’s works and getting good grades, some of them might succeed cleverly, but it is nothing but dishonesty. Both colleges warn students the consequences of plagiarism strongly, saying it can bring negative
In the technological world we live in, where we’re only a click away from accessing the web, with billions and billions of searches to our question, plagiarizing has become easier than before. Plagiarism is the act of taking other people 's work and ideas without giving them credit. This can include any form of cheating. Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in the Digital Age, written by Trip Gabriel explores the misunderstanding of plagiarism by students. It also provide anecdotes and reasons given by different people to why students plagiarize without necessarily choosing a stand. Interestingly, it have been found that students still plagiarize knowing that it is wrong, which contradicts the idea that students misunderstand authorship. Authorship
Scott Jaschik discusses various situations of plagiarism in college in his article, “Winning Hearts and Minds in War on Plagiarism,” in order to argue that there are more efficient solutions to prevent plagiarism. Having his article published in an online news source, Inside Higher Ed, allows for Jaschik to have an audience of first year English and college instructors interested in learning about higher education. Jaschik writes in general to an audience who is interested in academic integrity and those who want to either stop or learn more about plagiarism. Jaschik employs various situations such as an online student discussion board and an assignment to purposely plagiarize in order to highlight common issues with why students plagiarize.
If anything is held to the highest value in any array of schools, it is a policy against plagiarism. Academics understand the severity that plagiarism can hold, especially since many of them tend to do it to each other. In 2005, Melissa Elias, who was at the time the President of the Madison School Board, gave a commencement speech that had several sections that were plagiarized from a speech Anna Quindlen, a Pulitzer Prize winner author, had given to Mount Holyoke in 1999. Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard University Sophomore, had published a book with several portions of copied from works of four different authors. Individuals held at high academic expectations committed both of these incidents, one being the president of a school and the other being a student of an Ivy League University. However, despite their valor in academia they both plagiarized, the only difference being that Viswanathan was getting royalties for her act of plagiarism. One has to question whether there really is a difference between these two cases, because both individuals clearly intentionally plagiarized. When handling cases of plagiarism one has to be extremely cautious due to the various degrees of plagiarism that depend on the individual’s intentionality and regards to profit.
There is much more to plagiarism than most people think. To the average individual, that person probably thinks plagiarism is simply copying an original work and thinking it is not a big deal. I used to think this way also, until reality gave me a good slap across the face. Truthfully, plagiarism is a huge issue and is in fact a crime punishable by several means.
"can shift attention away from teaching students how to avoid plagiarism in the first place. In “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices,” the Council of Writing Program Administrators urges teachers to “use plagiarism detection services cautiously,” for they should “never be used to justify the avoidance of responsible teaching methods.”
In today’s academic world many students are challenged when it comes to writing, or so they think. Many of them believe that they can go on the internet and use whatever is needed for the paper they are writing. Maybe it is a lack of knowledge or confidence that they are capable of expressing themselves on paper. The majority of the time many students procrastinate until the last minute to write a paper. There are few thing students need to learn about plagiarism such as what is plagiarism, how to cite sources correctly, methods of detecting plagiarism, and what academic punishment they face when caught.
The impact of plagiarism can be a self-destructive for a student. On the other hand, plagiarism may cause an instructor to feel betrayed and disrespected by a student.
What is plagiarism? Obviously the word must be of some importance as I know it can greatly change ones future. From what I know, plagiarism can happen by careless mistakes, being uneducated of what plagiarism really means or just on purpose to save time for themselves. Some writers may not know the actual detail of how you give another writer full credit of their work. Another could be that some students are lazy, worried or in a rush to finish a paper and think plagiarizing is the best solution at that time for them. Mainly, I think this would happen in high school and colleges. Students in these areas are so busy which could make the idea plagiarizing a way to save them a little time to worry and finish another project up. I know, for me during High School, I was so busy working and keeping up my grades with trying to have a normal life plus all the pressure
Plagiarism, conventionally defined as literary theft, is the stealing and replication of the original ideas of another person without requesting for consent or crediting the author of a recorded or authored work (Heath 4). It may take several forms, for example, presenting an idea as original even though it has been derived from an existing source, or even neglecting to put quotation marks when quoting a sentence from borrowed work. In as much as plagiarism is widely regarded as a bad practice, it is at times committed unintentionally. As a result, there is an anti-plagiarism policy in several academic institutions and heavy penalties are imposed on individuals involved in plagiarism.
As students of high school and college, and even in the professional world, we are asked to research and write on subjects that are seen to be important. The research that we are asked to do, has been done many times in the past, which means people are bound to use others’ ideas and words with no recognition, sometimes without even knowing it. This leads to plagiarism, which is something many people have heard of, but never learned the true definition and the harm it can create. Schools and society need to be more proactive in explaining what plagiarism is, how to write correctly in order to prevent it, and teach the consequences plagiarism has.
Plagiarism, or the unaccredited use of another's work or ideas, has become more and more of a problem in recent times than it was in the past. According to statistics found in a survey conducted by the Free Press, 58% of high school students let someone copy their work in 1969, but by 1989 this number had risen to 97%. The expansion of the World Wide Web and the number of people accessing the Web on a regular basis has caused an epidemic of plagiarism in this country, especially among students. This is a serious problem that must be addressed because many students feel that if they are not getting in trouble for cheating, than it is okay.
Plagiarism is a very serious subject to talk about. It doesn’t sound like it is that big of a deal but very serious things can come out of it. Students could lose scholarships and get kicked out of school for something as simple as copying someone else’s work. Students should learn the rules and regulations of the school ,that they are attending, about plagiarism.[1] That’s basically what plagiarism is; copying someone else’s work.
Plagiarism is a serious offense and a growing trend in our society today. Some may associate plagiarism with the idea of taking someone else’s writing and making it their own. In fact plagiarism involves anything that is copied or taken and said to be of your own work. Dictionary.com defines plagiarism as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work, as by not crediting the author”. In fact this definition covers all types of cheating and misrepresentation of ones own work. There are many numbers and statistics that can be found on the amount of individuals that have admitted to cheating. Perhaps the most astounding number is one that was reported by Moeck in 2002 aloft of 40% of higher education students commit academic dishonesty. This number I’m sure has grown since this report and will continue to grow with the development of the Internet. There are a number of ideas and strategies that can be employed in order to stop this ever-growing phenomenon. As teachers and adults, we are responsible for stopping this trend and educating students about the consequences and dangers of plagiarism. I believe there are a variety of reasons individuals plagiarize. First, students are insecure with their own ability; they don’t believe they can do the work therefore they take others. Second, students believe they can get away with the act because they know others who have plagiarized, and there were not any consequences. Lastly, students are uneducated on what plagiarism is and do not know the consequences of their actions if they commit an act. These ideas will be the focus of the position taken on plagiarism in today’s academic society.