Plagiarism is a large problem in colleges and universities in today’s world. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines plagiarism as “the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person.” Many students take other people’s words from the internet, books or new reports and use these words in their school assignments without giving the actual writer the credit they deserve. This has become a rising problem and it is now one of the most common types of cheating in North America. There has been anti-plagiarism software such as a program called Turnitin which checks to see if the student plagiarized in their assignment. Anti-plagiarism software is a great idea to deter students from copying other author’s work. Universities …show more content…
The software could be used to help students understand how to avoid plagiarism and it could improve their writing and citing skills. They could also learn how to quote and paraphrase work rather than just copy and paste. It is “certainly becoming harder to get away with the 'crime' of plagiarism” (Whittaker 2011) with anti-plagiarism and this deters students from plagiarising and forces them to learn how to properly cite and create bibliographies. After learning how to avoid plagiarism, students will be encouraged to continue citing their work properly even when their work is no longer being run through anti-plagiarism …show more content…
Turnitin shows content that has been copied and it is up to the teacher to decide if the student was actually plagiarising in their assignment. Many believe that if an educator decides that you did indeed plagiarize even if it appears to be on accident then you should be punished. This causes many students to dislike the software and several educators agree that the software should not be used in that manner. In an article about the Anti-plagiarism software, Turnitin, authors Sutherland-Smith and Carr reported that a teacher named Barry who is a teacher from the Faculty of Education is worried that Turnitin ‘could be used to punish rather than help students overcome issues with plagiarism.’ (2013). The software should be used to punish repeat offenders who are not trying to learn but it should also be used to identify students who are struggling with creating proper citations and bibliographies. These struggling students should have someone sit down with them and teach them how to properly avoid plagiarism rather than just being punished. If the software is used in the proper way, it could be very beneficial for teachers and
Plagiarism of Electronic material has been very difficult to detect in the past, but new technology has made detecting electronic plagiarism of material such as Internet content, online databases, and e-books possible. Educational institutions are now able to check content submitted by students’ using software such as DupliChecker and Turnitin, which check work against current and archived web pages and databases of previously submitted student work consisting of journals, assignments and essays. Students can also take an active part by checking their work using similar software made available to the public.
According to the Merriam-Webster, the definition of plagiarism is “the act of using another person’s words or ideas without giving credit to that person”. (“Plagiarism”). In both Colleges, the act of committing plagiarism has penalties, and it is a serious issue that goes against the Academic Honesty policies of both institutions; The two Colleges, as recently mentioned, have some similarities and differences in their policies, where George Brown has a stronger focus on giving information on avoiding plagiarism, Seneca has more severe punishment for committing plagiarism.
Beyond this basic concern is the atmosphere plagiarism software detection programs can create, the expectation that students will cheat, that they are basically dishonest in their work. This atmosphere undermines trust and make writing even more distasteful. It’s just another trap, another hurdle to jump before graduation. Students are encouraged to see writing for college as a game rather than as an integral part of their education. We don’t want that.
The problem of plagiarism has increased drastically over the years with all of the new electronic sources. Now, all that the student has to do is to copy an article, highlight it and paste it into a word processing program. It was not much harder for a student to plagiarize before the Internet. A lazy student could easily copy an entire section out of a book word for word and conveniently “forget” to cite the reference from which it came. It would take the professor forever to find this source especially if it was not well known. With just some quick manipulating of words, professors can be tricked into believing that they are looking at a new original work.
I love procrastinating and then cheating and plagiarizing to get my essays and research papers complete on time! The only drawback is a website called turnitin.com Teachers use turnitin.com to check for plagiarism in submitted papers. This website often indicates plagiarism when all the writing is completely original. This is called a "false positive". Although a "false positive" has no negative impact at all on the owners of turnitin.com, it can destroy a students academic future!
The better educated you are, the better off you are socially, and economically. Having a degree is, in general, a good indicator of your level of education. To get it some students study very hard. Others, on the contrary, prefer to take some shortcuts that seem to be easier for them. Those, not so much interested in acquiring a solid education, simply want to plagiarize to pass their classes, to get that degree. Plagiarism spreads out through any level of our education system. It even extends beyond that limit to reach almost any aspect of our society. With the internet revolution, this problem becomes more acute. “The web has provided global access to an unfathomable cornucopia of term papers, essays, and other scholarly works, right there out in the open for purchase or outright theft” (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 160). This paper will discuss the different types of plagiarism. Before getting deeper into that discussion, we will start by explaining the word plagiarism.
When I think of plagiarism, I imagine a person literally stealing from another individual. The term plagiarism is derived from the Latin word plagi rius, which essentially represents the felony of kidnapping. An individual who kidnaps anothers work is a felon. Obviously, this form of larceny is not as immoral as the form for which one can be imprisoned; however, most educators and honest students view plagiarism in this manner. Within education I conceive that there are two kinds of plagiarism: copying a paper word-for-word and not providing the correct recognition to the original author when utilizing their composition. I believe that each situation of plagiarism should be considered serious enough to investigate in order to determine an appropriate consequence. If an individual is not clear on how to cite works properly within the context of an essay, then the omission should be determined non-intentional and, therefore, not subject to punishment. However, if someone deliberately duplicates somebody elses work, then he or she should be reprimanded. This form of pilfering usually occurs in the higher levels of education, as in high school or college.
Without the proper use of digital technology, students are prone to commit plagiarism that can detrimental to their future. I say, there are many positives to the digital age and that if the conversation of plagiarism started
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.
"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.”
Plagiarism takes various forms. A student may cheat doing something as extreme as purchasing a paper, hiring someone to write a paper or turning in a paper freely provided by a friend. Many students unknowingly commit Plagiarism by failing to properly cite their sources crediting the authors. Still others cite, but plagiarize by coping much too much and writing far, far too little of their own synthesized thoughts and ideas. Students must be careful about copying too much. If a paper is mostly other writers’ material, that can be considered Plagiarism, even if the student credits their sources.
Professors should read and judge accordingly. If plagiarism exists, these third-parties provide proof of it. On the other hand, these well known web sites, fail to distinguish between quoted, non-quoted, original writing, paraphrasing or plagiarism. Often students write their own thoughts, conclusions or recollection of events and the tool reads it as copied material. The system analyses by comparing the passage, but it is by no means, absolute.
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.
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 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.