Internet, and the Ease of

¶ … Internet, and the ease of access to this information thanks to advancements in technology, plagiarism has become an increasingly prevalent concern. No longer are students only privy to the works of their friends or family members, or those labor-intensive discoveries found in the library, but they now have access to thousands of written works on any number of topics with just a few taps of the keyboard and clicks of the mouse ("Plagiarism Today"). Occasionally, this plagiarism occurs accidentally; oftentimes it is more purposeful.

This report overviews what plagiarism is as well as the types of plagiarism that are often found. It also discusses how plagiarism can be avoided. These topics are explored in hopes of bringing to light the increasing prevalence of plagiarism as well as what can be done to avoid it, limiting the report to specifically plagiarism of written resources, in the academic world, whether these resources are published electronically or in the more traditional sense, on paper.

Plagiarism Overview: Webster's New World Dictionary defines plagiarism as taking "the ideas, writings, etc. from another and (passing) them off as one's own" (qtd. "Avoiding Plagiarism"). It is the deliberate use of someone else's work without giving the author proper acknowledgement for the work being used ("Plagiarism"). Today, with the ease of the Internet and the variety of search engines, plagiarism is easier to accomplish than ever before.

Gone are the days when potential plagiarists had the tedious process of searching through a limited amount of resources, oftentimes copying the material by hand. Instead, the Internet offers access to thousands of sources in a matter of seconds, with the ease of copy and paste as an added bonus. Term papers, articles and even entire books are available online for plagiarism fodder ("Plagiarism Today"). It is the very nature of online content that serves as part of the challenge of plagiarism.

The lines of distinction over what is privately owned content vs. public domain are blurred online. "Electronic resources, by nature easily reproducible, are not perceived as 'intellectual property' in the same way that their material counterparts are" ("Plagiarism Today"). This ease of access coupled with the sometimes-questionable ownership of material has seen the incidence of plagiarism skyrocket. Eighty percent of college students admitted to cheating at least once in a study conducted by The Center for Academic Integrity.

In a survey by the Psychological Record, 36% of undergraduates admitted to plagiarizing written material. And, study reported in The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next clearly demonstrates the increase in plagiarism. In 1969, just over 58% of high school students admitted to letting someone else copy from their work. Twenty years later, in 1989, that number increased to a startling 97.5% of students.

"A national survey published in Education Week found that 54% of students admitted to plagiarizing from the internet; 74% of students admitted that at least once during the past school year they had engaged in "serious" cheating" (qtd. In "Statistics"). Of compounding importance, are the belief and/or lack of discipline for those who are caught plagiarizing. Ninety percent of students stated that they felt that cheaters were either never caught or were not appropriately disciplined.

Two hundred and fifty seven chief student affairs officers, across the United States, indicated that they felt cheating has not been addressed properly by colleges and universities. And, according to a Gallup poll conducted in 2000, the two top problems respondents felt were plaguing the country were education and a decline in ethics - both of which ranked higher than issues such as drugs and crime. In the previously mentioned Education Week survey, "47% of students believe their teachers sometimes choose to ignore students who are cheating" (qtd. In "Statistics").

Fifty-five percent of faculty members surveyed in one study indicated that they wouldn't be willing to make any real effort towards documenting incidents of suspected student cheating. Responses included: With respect to cheating, I'm just in denial. I just don't want to deal with it because I know it is a huge problem." -- San Luis Obispo professor, as reported in Net Learning. Who wants to sit around looking for websites trying to find out if a paper is plagiarized or not..

pretty soon you're a private investigator." -- a Stanford University professor, from an article in TechWeb News. Plagiarism] is one of those areas in the academy that no one wants to talk about and is often rewarded for not addressing actively." -- an Associate VP of Student Life, as posted in The Chronicle of Higher Education's "Colloquy." Too few universities are willing to back up their professors when they catch students cheating, according to academic observers.

The schools are simply not willing to expend the effort required to get to the bottom of cheating cases" -- as stated by The National Center for Policy Analysis. (qtd. In "Statistics"). Types of Plagiarism: There are several different types of plagiarism, many of which are new thanks to the introduction of the Internet and its wealth of resources.

There is the traditional forms of plagiarism such as turning in another person's work as their own as well as turning in a paper that the student has asked a peer to write. Copying material from a source without giving proper citation is also a traditional type of plagiarism, whether that material be hand-copied from a book or copied and pasted from an electronic source.

Even when a source is properly documented, but direct quotations do not include the quotation marks, this is a form a plagiarism, as is paraphrasing material from a source without giving proper acknowledgement. The Internet has also introduced the purchasing a paper from an online term paper service as another form of plagiarism, as is turning in work that was located on a 'free term paper' website ("Avoiding Plagiarism").

Avoiding Plagiarism: charge of plagiarism can have severe consequences, including expulsion from a university or loss of a job, not to mention a writer's loss of credibility and professional standing" ("OWL Materials"). For this reason, when writing, ensuring that all sources are properly documented is critical to avoiding plagiarism and its consequences. However, ensuring one is not plagiarizing goes one step beyond correct citation. A being explored can be based on what is already known, but the author should contribute something new to the knowledge. Or, when.