Plagiarism as a Terrible Scourge Affecting Many Peoples Educative Possibilities - Essay Example

PLAGIARISM Summary This is an important and useful article. Plagiarism is a terrible scourge affecting many peoples educative possibilities. It must be seriously tackled. In this article the authors describe how it is increasingly prevalent in universities and what can be done to stop it. Plagiarism is sapping our universities of their educational possibilities. It is preventing students from learning and it is teaching them the wrong incentives. Instead of doing their own work, they pay for someone else to do it. The authors of this paper are deeply concerned about this. They suggest that instead of threatening to punish students who plagiarize work, a more effective approach is to educate them about the affects and consequences of plagiarism. The authors describe an experiment to help educate accounting students. The study asked students a number of important questions relating to plagiarism. For example, when is it necessary to cite references. What does it mean to paraphrase? What are the potential punishments or disciplinary actions for performing an act of plagiarism? The authors concluded that providing students with an incentive to put references in their work is a good way to avoid acts of plagiarism. They decided that a practice-based approach is often most effective in getting students to understand why they should cite their references and avoid co-opting others material as their own. Leading the students through step by step why plagiarism is wrong and not in their best interests and how it distorts the work of the academy is the best way to prevent it from happening in the first place, they conclude. Introduction This article brings a number of useful ideas with important applications. The authors are correct: plagiarism should never be tolerated. It is never enough to look over and regurgitate a Wikipedia entry. Educators need to find ways to instill in students the value of originality and independent research. Main Body When I write about historical events, for example, I always begin by trying to find contemporaneous accounts or records written by people who participated in the event themselves. This is an excellent way to ground the topic and prevent it from becoming too abstract. But primary sources are not enough. Few essay topics require a round up of only one kind of source. In order to provide depth of research, a writer will need to combine primary and secondary sources. In the sciences, for example, raw data is important, but how that data has been interpreted by others, over the years, is also very significant. You need to cite that work and not merely present it as your own. It is important to use academic libraries, online databases such as ProQuest, and Google Books and Scholar, in order to find these sources and put them into action. Beware collecting or holding on to irrelevant information, which is sometimes a temptation. It is easy to get sidetracked and create a “bulge”—a part or paragraph of the essay that has no real connection with the thesis. It is also easy to forget where your work starts and where someone else s begins. That is how a lot of plagiarism begins. You copy a lot of quotes into your paper hoping to use them and cite them properly, but over the weeks you begin to forget what work is yours and what work is not. These are some of the practical concerns involved, which the authors of the paper dont really touch on. In the end, the author present a useful way of trying to solve the plagiarism problem. However, it is a weakness to suggest that this would work in every circumstance and classroom. For example, the students they used were accounting students who were headed towards a professional career most likely. These people are probably more mindful than most students. Whether education is the whole solution definitely remains to be seen. There are alternative measures that might be more effective. Education may work with a group of highly motivated students like these ones, but it may be less effective for other groups. Many other critiques suggest that deterrence is a better bet (Braumoeller, 2001). Some believe that online plagiarism is the greatest threat and teachers should focus on altering student to problems with it (Anderson, 1999). These are good ideas, but one wonders if plagiarism will ever be eliminated. The truth of the matter is that there are different people in the world. Some are self-starters who approach things from an honest point of you and would never dream of plagiarizing. Others are shiftless and lazy and unable to write. These people will plagiarize. The problem is not ignorance. Every plagiarist will claim to be ignorant of their deed when caught. The problem is that there are simply dishonest people out there who will treat for whatever reason (Garfield, 1967). When this is recognized by professionals, the debate can truly begin. There is certainly is a value in developing a program as suggested by the authors of this piece. This is a definite strength. In the modern world plagiarism is definitely a threat which reduces the societal respect enjoyed by universities in todays world. The big concern is that students graduating from schools will be less educated than ever before. They will find a quick fix for their coursework rather than sitting down and engaging with the work themselves. Plagiarism is a kind of rot within the system and requires the most dedicated response possible. But that response must not underestimate the inherent incentives within plagiarism and, of course, human nature which at the heart of this dispute. People have always cheated; the question must be how to minimize that cheating. It seems that the best method would be to deter on the one hand and educate on the other. From that perspective the authors of this essay have provided a blueprint required to win half the battle. Conclusion This paper is a fascinating example of innovative thinking on this subject. The professors involved try to think outside of the box in order to achieve an important goal: eliminating plagiarism in the classroom. Their ideas are sound but may not have a large application. References Anderson, Gregory L. May 1999. Cyberplagiarism. College & Research Libraries News, 60 Issue 5, pp. 371-375 An investigation into the uses and abuses of computers for facilitating plagiarism online. Poorly written, but with some useful information. Braumoeller, Bear F. and Gains, Brain J. December 2001. Actions do speak louder than words: deterring plagiarism with the use of plagiarism-detection software. PS, Political Science and Politics, V. 34, Issue 4, pp. 835-840. The authors argue that deterrence is the key to ending this scourge and that software may give professors a leg up over miscreant students. An effective and interesting piece. Carroll, Jude. 2002. A Handbook for Deterring Plagiarism in Higher Education. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. A comprehensive examination of steps that can be taken to deterring plagiarism in universities. Nice prose style but nothing new here. Garfield, Jeffery S. December 1967. A Correlative Study of Cheating in College Students. The Journal of Educational Research, V. 61, Issue 4, n.p. This older article shows that the problems of plagiarism have been around since time immemorial. A good argument made that this is not new and will never entirely be eliminated. Impressive stuff. Kock, Ned. July 1999. A case of academic plagiarism. Communications of the ACM, V. 42 Issue 7, pp. 96-105 This case study takes the reader through the steps of an individual episode of plagiarism. Very illuminating. Richardson, Shannon. January 18, 2002. Web engine could help honor code. Daily Texan, Accessed online: Academic Universe. Argues that professors should operate under a trust but verify system aided by online technologies. Appendix This is another useful article on how to deal with plagiarism. It comes from the following site: http://write.oid.ucla.edu/plagiarism/handle How to Deal with Plagiarism When You Suspect It Sometimes plagiarism is malicious; sometimes it is not. Sometimes students don’t understand how and when to appropriately cite language or ideas, which is why it’s important for you to cover citation issues with your class (see Preparing the Students to Write the Assignment). Sometimes they panic because of time pressure or perceived lack of ability, and they plagiarize even though they know it’s wrong. And sometimes they cheat because they can. Sometimes instructors don’t want to recognize that a student has cheated. That realization can be painful and the potential bureaucratic hassle can loom large. However, it’s important to face a case of suspected plagiarism head-on, even if your faculty instructor treats it leniently. Here is a quick reference for steps you might go through when you suspect plagiarism in a student essay (although you should still refer to the Dean of Students site): Try to find the source of the plagiarized material to confirm your doubts. Google is a good search tool, as students are sometimes not terribly resourceful in their stealing. You might also ask your instructor to run the paper through Turnitin.com, which is available for all courses. Inform your faculty instructor of your findings and decide together what action to take as the situation develops (consulting with the student and/or referral to the Dean of Students).  Ask the student to meet with you outside of class to tell them why you’re having trouble grading their work. Ask the student to explain suspicious concepts or language and to provide their notes, drafts, and sources. Don’t grade the paper until the case is resolved, and retain a photocopy if you give it back to the student. Read More