More handpicked essays just for you.
Causes of plagiarism in universities
The importance of plagiarism in education and the workplace
Plagiarism in the academic context
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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. What is Plagiarism? According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to “plagiarize” means, “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own, to use (another's production) without crediting the source, to commit literary theft, to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source”(“Plagiarism Merriam Webster”, 2014). Not many people realize this, but plagiarism is an act of fraud since you are stealing something and claiming it as your own (“Overview-Plagiarism”, 2014). It may seem that copying a peace of writing is irrelevant to the law, and not important enough to be a crime, but the U.S. laws recognizes original ideas as intellectual property. Documented original ideas and words are protected by the copyright law(plag.org). An additional source, The Writing and Humanistic Studies of MIT, states the definition of plagiarism is, Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s ideas or language without acknowledging that they were not created by you. This definition applies to ideas, words and unusual structures regardless of where you find ... ... middle of paper ... ...egrity and Plagiarism. (n.d.). English Language and Literatures. (2014). Retrieved January 20, 2014, from https://liberal- arts.wright.edu/english-language-and-literatures/university-writing- program/academic-integrity-and-plagiarism Avoiding Plagiarism. (n.d.). Writing and Humanistic Studies. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://writing.mit.edu/wcc/avoidingplagiarism OFFICE OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS AND STUDENT CONDUCT. (n.d.). Code of Conduct. (2012). Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.wright.edu/students/judicial/integrity.html Overview - Plagiarism.org - Best Practices for Ensuring Originality in Written Work. (n.d.). Plagiarism.org. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/overview Plagiarism. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism
Etymologically, the word plagiarism comes from Latin “plagiare” meaning to “kidnap” (Das, and Panjabi, 2011). The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines plagiarize as: “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source” (“Plagiarize,” n.d.). Essentially it is a dishonest act consisting in wrongly appropriate what is not yours (“What Is Plagiarism?,” n.d.). Those nuances in its definition may explain the different types of plagiarism. The number of kinds of plagiarism varies from textbook or site. For this paper, we will be limited to the study of four common types of plagiarism as suggested by Bowdoin College. We will start with direct
Plagiarism is the copying of another individual’s writings and ideas. Plagiarism is an idea that has been constructed by society. It revolves around society’s ideas of intellectual and private property. It is considered to be a form of cheating. Often times in elementary schools and high schools, plagiarism is discussed as bad but is not actually prevented. Teachers often do not detect plagiarism and even when they do, sometimes it is ignored. The student is then rewarded with a good grade, ingraining within the student that it is acceptable to plagiarize. Plagiarism affects the ways an individual develops as a person and as a writer.
Okay, let’s define what is plagiarism? According to (Plagiarism.org, 2014), “Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work or borrowing someone else's original ideas”. But it also defined by Merriam- Webster online dictionary as using someone else’s work as your own, not giving credit to the source you got it from, and pretending that you created the idea. For example, you are researching information for an essay and you find an article that has exactly what you need. You decide to use the information as your own that is plagiarism. Another example is you use information from a website and you use some of it and not create a reference page to show that your information came from that source.
"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.”
According to Purdue Owl, Plagiarism “is the uncredited use (both intentional and unintentional) of somebody else's words or ideas.” (Purdue University 2013) Chynette Nealy defines Plagiarism as “presenting someone's words or other creative products as one's own.” (Nealy 2011)
On a research paper, how much information can you “borrow” with or without citing the original author? How do you cite the resources you “borrowed” or quoted from the original author? Will anyone know if you submit a friend’s research paper? No one can see you taking an online test from your living room – should that change how you take a test?
Southern New Hampshire University School of Business and Technology students are expected to conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner. All graded assignments, including discussion posts, papers, projects, exams and other submissions must be the original work of the individual student unless otherwise specified by the faculty. Academic dishonesty is an exceptionally serious offense and may result in a failing grade on an assignment, failure in the course, or dismissal from the College. If a faculty suspects a violation of academic integrity, a zero grade will be recorded in the gradebook as a placeholder to allow for further investigation. Students are required to understand all academic related policies by reviewing the Student
We need to find a way to work together and support students from all aspects. We need to value teachers and respect them. We need to stop seeing test scores as the only means to judge how well a student is doing. We need to ban the companies that provide the writers who write for a fee. Instead get back to the basics of guiding students to be the creative and capable thinkers that the future will require. For the majority of students, I am sure that they would write their own papers if they knew how to. Let’s even educate parents so that they can help stop the rapidly growing instances of plagiarism starting as early as elementary school. Teaching children at an early age to think for their selves try their hardest and do their own works would solve a lot of the problems around plagiarism.
The seven-paged college journal entitles “Can Paraphrasing Practice Help Students Define Plagiarism?” by Barry explain about the study of students understanding towards plagiarism through paraphrasing. Researchers ask for students, in a written form, to explain the definition of plagiarism in a set of time before and after paraphrasing practice. The main focus of the researcher and many instructors are concerned about is why students cannot avoid plagiarism. Several studies have proved that the lack of students’ knowledge about plagiarism led the students plagiarize something as depicted in some other researches findings.
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.
Integrity, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is “the quality of being honest and fair, and the state of being complete or whole” (Merriam-Webster). At Rutgers, this quality is expected of each and every student in regards to their academics. All students must be honest with their studies, and in turn, honest with themselves as well as their professors and piers. Lack of academic integrity will always result in some form of disciplinary action. At Rutgers, there a different levels of dishonesty in regards to academics, as well as different levels of disciplines.
The writer, Gabriel conveys that many students in an institution of higher education do not understand the concept of plagiarism. In the world we live in, technology is very accessible that causes students to copy and paste information very easy from the internet, without giving the credit to the writer of the original work and do not include citations. Students that believe that copying and pasting from the internet is cheating has decreased by five percent within the last decade, student do not care about writing since they do not know how to form their own ideas and put others words in their own words which causes plagiarism. Students have no interest in developing new and creative ideas because they are unwilling to be a part of the writing process and writing is hard. Therefore, Plagiarism is serious cheating, and it is a bad thing to do that will get you in serious trouble.
Plagiarism is a very serious topic to be dealt with, due to the fact that it can damage one’s future very severely. It is done often by students in high school and other institutes such as universities and colleges. People plagiarize intentionally and sometimes even unintentionally. The people who plagiarize intentionally are people who don’t really care about their future and career. The people who plagiarize unintentionally are people who do not cite their work properly and completely. Most people that plagiarize do not get a good mark and most likely have to face consequences such as failure, suspension or the chance of being expelled. In conclusion it is believed that one should not put his/her future at risk and try to expand their mind through the process of critical thinking independently, so they do not have to make the mistake of plagiarizing.
Academic Dishonesty is like a scam, taking credit for someone else’s words whether written or verbal is considered plagiarism, and Academic Dishonesty is a way of committing fraud. Plagiarism is when you represent someone else’s words as your own and then turning your work in that way. Plagiarism is a terrible thing to do. Whether it is intentional or not; it can harm you. No good can come from it. Plagiarism is dishonest.
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.