Plagiarism Position Paper

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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. So... ... middle of paper ... ...A_V19_I1_Langdon_Neuner1.pdf Loutzenhiser, K., Pita, A., & Reed, J. (2006). Revisiting plagiarism in an internet era: How modern technology contributes to the problem and solutions. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 3(8), 55-62. Retrieved from http://journals.cluteonline.com/index.php/TLC/article/viewArticle/1693 Martin, A. (2006). Plagiarism. Retrieved from http://www.termpaperscorner.com/articles/plagiarism.html Moeck, P. (2002). Academic dishonesty: Cheating among community college students. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 29: 470-491. Plagiarism FAQ's. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2011 from http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_plagiarism_faq.htm plagiarism. (n.d.). © Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism

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