Why do intelligent people plagiarize? Even if we dismiss the ethics and morals of plagiarism, there seems to be a little sense of it. Broadly, intellectuals plagiarize for the same reason others do, as they feel it’s the best way to obtain the desired outcome. But why risk your career and your future by cutting corners when you are competent of accomplishing a task?
Up until the seventeenth-century writers did not think twice about using clauses from other’s work. As Aristotle noted: “Imitation is natural to man from childhood [and] the first things that he learns come to him through imitation,” (Brynn). Plagiarism became a problem when writing became a source of employment. It was then that, “word was getting around that words could be owned by their first writers,” (Brynn). Suddenly, society raised the value of originality, and the reasoning is still unknown. Plagiarism was finally acknowledged as a crime in the 18th century, and the first person to use the word “plagiary” in English to denote literacy theft was Ben Johnson (Brynn). Today, plagiarism has increased substantially due to accessible access to information. However, instead of regressing back to pre-eighteenth-century ethics, we ought to move towards a more colorful world, not one in black and white.
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Punishing students by taking them out of school will only worsen their learning ability. Raising student awareness, and teaching learning instructors on how to address the issues within their pupils will build better student-teacher relationships. A student who is more engaged in a classroom is more likely to do well and produce quality work. If we teach plagiarism as an educational opportunity, and not as an atrocity, we can improve a student’s ability to synthesize sources and integrate that knowledge in their own
According to Johnathan Malesic, in his article “How Dumb Do They Think We Are?” students think that professors are ignorant at not being able to tell if their paper is plagiarized or not. Some students believe that they can get away with plagiarizing a paper, but they do not realize that professors know how to search and locate authors’ work online and identify a plagiarized essay. In the beginning, Malesic talks about how he was completely insulted when he found his first plagiarized paper, but little did he know that this would surely happen again. Other teachers had told him that this would not be the final time; as a matter of fact, they said to expect it to happen almost every time he assigned a paper. Sure enough they were right. He mentions how he wishes that students would use their taught knowledge to do their papers and put an author’s work into their own words. He ends the article with how he believes that a person who plagiarizes a paper is not really a student at all (87).
Plagiarism means to steal or borrow someone’s original ideas without their consent and labelling them your own. It can be done in different ways and has been labelled a serious offense in the contemporary world. Deriving ideas from an existing source in one’s work without citation of the work is a form of plagiarism. Also, using a production without crediting the source and committing literally theft are forms of plagiarism that can be charged in a court of law as copyright issues. It is considered fraud because it is stealing someone else’s work and making people to believe that it is your own. It is possible for different individuals to have similar ideas but the manner in which they are expressed cannot be the same. In writing
It is a random Thursday night on the first floor of Brewster Hall and the Campus of State University when a frazzled young girl wanders into the room of a fellow student inquiring about The Stranger by Albert Camus. She needs to have a three page paper completed by tomorrow and cannot find a kick start on the essay writing process. Since her peers are on the level of the common doormat concerning Camus, she was left without any further help. However, had she just typed “the stranger, camus” into Google, three of the first ten sites listed would have directed her to either free or paid essay sites.
First, we must understand the history of plagiarism and the problem many instructors have in separating original thinking from collaborative thinking (that which is influenced by those who have come before). Western thought traces its roots to the great civilizations of Classical Greece and Rome. The nature of much writing from this period up into the 19th Century was ...
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
New York Times journalist, Trip Gabriel, puts into perspective students ability to use their creativity throughout their academic career in “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age.” This article discusses issues of plagiarism in the digital age, especially through college students. There are different perspectives from various people either attending college or professors that argue why plagiarism occurs. Whether it’s because of laziness, unpreparedness going into college, originality, or authorship not taken into consideration. Overall, this article infers the different standpoints of plagiarism, demonstrating the ease the digital age gives students to plagiarize, and the importance
However, this defeats the whole purpose of school. If students are plagiarizing to get by, not only is there no creativity and originality, but it would not benefit them going on in the real world. It will not teach them how to use their brain to think critically on what they are doing. Depending on the severity of the plagiarism, consequences can vary. Some of these consequences could be getting kicked out of college, losing your position at a corporation or institution and possibly running into the risk of finding employment
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...
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.
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 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.
Students that copy other student's work are hurting themselves in the long run. Their creativity level drops every time they copy or have someone else do their work. After a while of copying and forging, the student's ability to think creatively and successfully becomes next to nothing. "Educators must continue to socialize students of all ages about the importance of maintaining high ethical standards," (Glazer 222). The educational system is where students learn these tricks and proceed to carry them on into there professional careers. Corners are too easy to cut these days, and in order for people to keep their minds as functional as possible, they need to do their own work. It is too easy for students to buy a students paper that had the same class the quarter before, reword it a little, and turn it in as their own. Students are no longer able to write a fictional story by themselves because the computer or someone else can do it for them.
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.
Today we face a serious problem which is Plagiarism and modern pirates. Plagiarism is the perform of occupying other’s ideas or work and showing the work off as one's own. The critical consequences of plagiarism of ideas and words are known by anyone with an academic background. Plagiarism is deemed academic misconduct and a violation of journalist ethics.