Taking Plagiarism Seriously It is important to remember that college is stressful and difficult. Add on a few papers due each semester, and students are not sure where to put their efforts. Writing adds a lot of stress especially for students who struggle to learn how to cite sources and avoid plagiarism. In this essay, we will review three important habits to avoiding plagiarism and how students can set themselves up for future writing success. There are more habits and every student has a personalized way of studying and writing papers. Without getting into the finer details of citation styles, we will discuss the general principles behind plagiarism in college writing. Let’s begin with the planning stages. Any writing project requires a bit of planning and thinking ahead. Students who don’t plan even small …show more content…
If a student cannot state it in their own words, it is time for a refresher. But that is why colleges have so many great resources available to students. You can watch videos on YouTube that demonstrate what is plagiarism or you can go to Writing Center on any college campus and discuss with someone knowledgeable. Let’s review a good definition of plagiarism: when you use ideas, facts, and opinions that are not your own – even when you don't use the author's exact words – you must give appropriate credit to the author as you incorporate his or her ideas into your paper. Students are not walking sponges, and they cannot remember every definition that every college instructor shoves down their throat. But there is nothing wrong with reviewing information and refreshing our memory of how to avoid plagiarism. As an English teacher, there are times where Google helps refresh my memory from something learned long ago. Instead of guessing, students should seek out resources and not take any chances of being wrong when it comes to
As one begins to grasp the concept of Schroth’s (2012) article The Plagiarism Plague, it is easy to identify the author’s dissatisfaction for plagiarism and the negative connotations he has for someone who is involved in this heinous offense. He initiates and summarizes his commentary with personal stories of how plagiarism has affected him. Schroth offers several solutions for the copyright issue that is upon us; he states, “the sanction for plagiarism must be at least an F on the paper, accompanied by a letter in the student's file to be consulted if it happens again, with the understanding that a second offense would mean expulsion.” Schroth was also sure to mention the collective approach necessary from all educators for his solution to be implemented. He believes the “policy will be effective only with leadership from the president and full cooperation from the faculty.” The writer goes on to explain how plagiarism has become an epidemic in this society and the effects of its prevalence thereof. Although plagiarism has become rampant in this society, it is still immoral and unethical. College students continue to plagiarize however, because they refuse to regard their education as a top priority and it has become culturally acceptable for people to falsify information without any serious penalties for their dishonesty.
With the ever-increasing wealth of information provided by a simple Internet search, students are finding their resource options growing. From hundreds of topic specific sources to completely written essays, students are challenged to use their own words. Michelle Cleary addresses the issues of plagiarism faced by students today while giving real-life solutions from an instructor’s view in her article, "Top 10 Reasons Students Plagiarize & What Teachers Can Do about It (With Apologies to David Letterman)". From research methods to writing instructions, the author uses a cause and effect scenario to illustrate the plagiarism problems and suggests methods that encourage academic success. Students struggle not only with the temptation to plagiarize, but also worry about inadvertently plagiarizing, and the ramifications of their actions.
Plagiarism is defined as “the presentation of work for credit that is not [a writer’s] own” (Johanson, 2010, p. 267). The information obtained by a writer from another source should be cited in the text and referenced when paraphrasing or quoting another author’s material (APA, 2010). Student plagiarism can be avoided by using electronic resources or software to prevent unintentional plagiarism, educating students on how to properly cite and reference material in an academic writing, and providing information to students about the consequences of plagiarizing.
Students may feel too overwhelmed with college work at times, so they try to cut coners by plagiarizing to save time. Students often feel like they do not have the time to do the things they love, and still manage to keep a passing grade. Most students feel very anxious when they think about starting a research paper, or writing an essay. They do not understand that all it takes is a little practice to perfect this skill and make writing easier.Expirenced writers can maintaine a calm composure when writing because they have learned how to mange their time well by learning for mistakes. Taking the time to learn and practice writing will greatly reduce the chances of plagiarism.
The Plagiarism Spectrum moves plagiarism beyond the black-and-white definition of “literary theft” to one that captures the nuances of how plagiarism can take form in student writing, with a severity scale based on student intent.
Plagiarism is an increasing large issue on college campuses, a habit to most of the student. According to the article ‘’The Plagiarism Plague’’, the findings on the survey made to 50,000 students on more than 60 campuses was that 70 percent of the students admitted that they cheated. Half of the students surveyed admitted that one or more times made serious cheating on writing assignments, with 77 percent of the students surveyed said that cheating was not a serious issue.
There are many definitions of plagiarism. The Code of Academic Honesty at Cornell University described this act as “the unacknowledged use of the words or ideas of others” (2005). “Using the words, sentences, arguments, rhetorical structures, and ideas of another without proper citation and acknowledgment” is how plagiarism was defined in the Code of Academic Honesty at the University of Iowa (2016). The Honor Code
Plagiarism is “the presentation of work for credit that is not [a writer’s] own” (Johanson, 2010, p. 267). Any information obtained by a writer from another source requires a citation in the text; therefore, a writer must provide a reference when paraphrasing or quoting another author’s material (APA, 2010). The use electronic resources or software to prevent unintentional plagiarism, educating students on how to cite and reference material in academic writing appropriately, and providing information to students about the consequences of plagiarizing.
In such a cases, students usually do very little research on the particular subject and simply copy information from internet, make slight changes to the words and present it as own work. This is also considered serious plagiarism because the information taken has not been quoted and the source has not been cited. Brian Martin argues that a lot of students are victims of this type of plagiarism because the students are unaware of the correct method of referencing and are unaware of their educational institution policy on paraphrasing, therefore it is essential students to become familiar with the university rules regarding paraphrasing and always put quotation marks and cite the source of information.
“Copying’ or “borrowing” someone else’s words or ideas may perhaps be the more inoffensive way of explaining plagiarism. However, these two terms may deliver a connotation that plagiarism is not much of a serious offense. Whether the act of plagiarising is intentional or unintentional, it is considered as a fraud. In an academic setting plagiarism may even
Plagiarism is a act of imprinting another person's writing, conversation, or even ideas. This even includes the information one gets from WebPages, the published papers online and even articles
Being a college student is hard. College requires plenty of work. Some students have other things to do besides going to school; some of them need to work in order to pay for their tuition. When school isn’t the only thing students have to worry about, they might get behind in their classes, but they can’t fail them so they have to find out a way to stay on both their job and school. A large amount of students are pushed into cheating; they do it so often that suddenly it becomes a habit. Nowadays, plagiarism is extremely popular. Students don’t like using their brain anymore; they just copy and paste. To avoid plagiarism, students should do their own work; learn how to cite in a proper form, and understand that plagiarism can result in
In an honest self-assessment, I recognize that I have has some degree of difficulty truly understanding the many different rules of plagiarism. The scores yielded by both of my tests and the answers provided throughout each of these tests suggests that I still have a great deal to learn about properly attributing citations, about how to identify my sources and how to avoid the pitfalls of accidental plagiarism.
Plagiarism, what is it and how to avoid it has been a major question on every students’ mind. Sure it is easy just to copy and paste and take all the credit for the work that another individual put in, but is it worth it? According to WPA, Writing Program Administrators, the definition of plagiarism as states, “plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source.” Plagiarism has always concerned teachers and administrators, who want students’ work to repre¬sent their own efforts and to reflect the outcomes of their learning. However, with the advent of the Internet and easy access to almost limitless written material on
newspaper, listen to music, type up papers, watch movies, play games, or do research. Web-sites have been made for teachers in which they can check for student plagiarism. They simply type in a few sentences from their student paper, and the matches are revealed almost immediately. Society is different from what it was several years ago. Children are being educated at a younger age. We must begin teaching the youth now that the act of plagiarism is immoral. It goes against everything that is right. If this continues, ideas will be stolen and credit will not be given where it is deserved.