Plagiarism: An Academic Pandemic

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Recommended: Ryan, J. (1998). Student plagiarism in an online world

Introduction An infectious, virulent plague is ravaging the landscape of academia. It consumes young and old, male and female. The doctors won’t touch it for fear of ineffective results do to the rampant spread of “everyone has done it.” Plagiarism, as defined by the Austin Peay Woodard Library (2004), is “the act of using someone else's words, sentences, or ideas and passing them off as your own without giving credit by citing the original source.” While plagiarism isn’t actually a disease, its spread has been nothing short of pandemic. An infographic found at Schools.com lays out a telling revelation that over 75% of students admit to some form of plagiarism in their academic career. (Lynch, 2011) On the surface, it would appear that we may never find the cure to plagiarism, especially with the rise of universal access to information on the Internet. It is my position that this simply isn’t true; a prescription exists to eradicate the virus of plagiarism: 1) educate students early and often about the dangers of plagiarism; 2) identify and utilize a set of tools that aid the student in avoiding accidental plagiarism; and 3) encourage and reward students who strive for academic honesty. Counterclaim on Plagiarism According to Nels Griffin, the pandemic of plagiarism is a hoax. He asserts in his paper that nearly every thought at this point is unoriginal; he goes so far as to say that, in part, all new thought is the derivative of the work of another mind. (Griffin, 2009) Some credence can be made for this argument in that most academic work rests on the shoulders of giants. The author, however, fails to really understand the purpose of citation. A citation is the method by which an author attributes credit and then bui... ... middle of paper ... ... Students. Plagiary: Cross‐ Disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification , 1 (4), 1-8. Griffin, N. (2009, July 26). Appropriate Criteria for Plagiarism. Retrieved November 4, 2013, from Beyond the Prose: http://www.beyondprose.com/index.php/appropriate-criteria-for-plagiarism-131558/ Lynch, L. (2011, September 16). Cheating in school: How the digital age affects cheating and plagiarism. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from Schools.com: http://www.schools.com/visuals/academic-dishonesty.html?WT.qs_osrc=gensynd-cheater Mitchell, S. (2007). Penguins and Plagiarism: Stemming the Tide of Plagiarism in Elementary School. Library Media Connection , 25 (7), 47. Woodard Library: APSU. (2004). Plagiarism: The Crime of Intellectual Kidnapping. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from Woodard Library of Austin Peay State University: http://library.apsu.edu/plagiarism/

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