Student Plagiarism Online World Julie J.C.H. Ryan,

¶ … Student Plagiarism Online World" Julie J.C.H. Ryan, book "The Conscious Reader, 12th edition"

Do Not Cheat

There are several valid points in Julie J.C.H. Ryan's article in The Conscious Reader, the 12th Edition -- "Student Plagiarism in an Online World." The author's central premise, of course, is that the internet has made it increasingly easier for students to plagiarize and offer someone else's written material as their own. Another fundamental part of this article is Ryan's implication that plagiarizing is in and of itself wrong, and produces negative consequences for those who engage in it. A careful overview of Ryan's article reveals that the author is correct about the harmful effects of plagiarism so easily provided by the internet because it negatively impacts students who do not cheat, prevents those who plagiarize from fully understanding the format of academic papers, and feeds into the sense of entitlement that the instant accessibility of the internet produces.

One of the most detrimental effects of plagiarism through the means of internet sources is produced on those who do not plagiarize. Such students, of course, do their own research and put the time in to actually think and hammer out written works that are their own, and which are on par with students at their particular grade or university level. However, due to the efforts of those who plagiarize by utilizing sources far more advanced than their particular grade level, the standard by which teachers review papers and issue grades is effectively -- and unfairly -- raised. Ryan discusses this effect of plagiarism in the following quotation by noting that for those who do not plagiarize "their grades… suffer when their papers are judged and graded against papers that are superior but stolen... Students have a right to…fairness... When teachers turn a blind eye to plagiarism, it undermines that right and denigrates grades…and…institutions" (Ryan).

This degree of deception that harms involved in plagiarism that harms others is similar to other aspects of the internet, such as when corporations willingly deceive the public on Wikipedia by editing and publishing incorrect information (Hafner).

There is a maxim that expresses the idea that one must know the rules before one can successfully (and beneficially) break them. Yet one of the more notable points of Ryan's essay is the fact that students who plagiarize academic papers do not even fully learn the correct format and way to write a paper. The author details this and other facts by presenting a detailed analysis of the various ways that students plagiarize. The ubiquity of social media sites such as Facebook and the type of communication they facilitate for college students can assist in the exchange of information used to plagiarize (Levy). Ryan also offers a set of advice as to how teachers and professors can detect these acts of plagiarism. One of the most easily accessible ways for them to do so, the author writes, is to scrutinize the references and footnotes. In many instances, students who plagiarize decide to not use footnotes so they "can point to a bibliography and claim ignorance regarding proper footnoting procedure" (Ryan) in order to not get caught. Also, the author explains that in many instances, students actually use references that are not properly used in their papers without knowing the proper way of even using references. Thus, it becomes readily apparent that ultimately the internet's instant accessibility to sources for students to plagiarize from ultimately harms their own general knowledge -- and that of whichever employer that chooses to hire them afterwards.