Catherine Johnson

22 October 2005

Elective Activity –Legal –Plagiarism

Internet Plagiarism

The Nature of Plagiarism –Plagiarism is using others’ ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.

Nowadays, kids cheat more on papers because the internet is a simple way to get what they need. It is private, and you can do it in your own home. There are thousands of papers, ideas, and quotes on the internet that kids have access to. It’s very tempting. Students say they cheat because they don’t want to fail; others agree, saying that in many cases, succeeding in school is what is expected of them and that is what shows. Colleges don’t seem to look at how moral you are, but rather, how well did you do. Occasionally there is the student that accidentally plagiarizes (for example, simply forgetting to acknowledge a source), but most often students are afraid of failing, so they cheat.

Remedies

Give clear directions to students when they are writing a paper, or working on such a project that they might be tempted to plagiarize.

Students MUST acknowledge when they use:

*another person’s idea, opinion, or theory

*any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of information—that are not common knowledge;

*quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or

*paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.

My source for the remedies was from Indiana University’s Writing Tutorial Services, (http://www.indiana.edu/%7Ewts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml)

Websites that offer information and solutions to plagiarism

Glatt Plagiarism Services (http://www.plagiarism.com/index.htm)

A Research Guide for Students - http://www.aresearchguide.com/6plagiar.html

Coastal Carolina University – Cheating 101 (http://www2.sjsu.edu/ugs/curriculum/cheating.htm)

“Copy These Strategies” (http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/editorial/97/09/29/galles.0-0.html)