Portfolio Introduction

Robin Hood was known for robbing the rich to pay the poor. Nice gesture, Robin, but you are still a thief. As a school library media specialist, it is imperative that my media center be a safe haven for a variety of media that is rich with ideas and information. It is my job to educate those around me that stealing ideas is simply put, still stealing. While encouraging my patrons to explore and utilize the wealth of available information resources, I must strive to also model legal and ethical practices. Teaching students and faculty how to cite their sources accurately and how to properly give due credit when borrowing ideas falls under the domain of the media specialist's job. Because there is so much to cover when it comes to legal and ethical practices, it will be necessary for me to use the divide and conquer approach.

The artifact I have chosen serves as a tool for educators. By teaching the teachers, I will be able to reach the students. The Internet plagiarism page I have created provides information in five key areas. First, teachers must understand why students plagiarize. What is it that drives a person to pass off someone else's words as their own? Second, educators need to get a handle on how students actually commit the dastardly deed. Next, teachers are provided information concerning where to go to learn more about this topic or to double check suspicious student work. A list of "look fors" is included so that educators can leave my page feeling confident that they will be able to identify and handle future incidents. The last portion of the page focuses on preventative measures that classroom teachers can take. I include links to many resources on the page, thus modeling that I practice what I preach.

There have been countless wonderful writers, developers, and artists throughout history, and students should be exposed to and encouraged to learn from the works of these masters. Without guidance, schools will be filled with "Robins" who may believe that they really are serving the greater good by at least turning in something, even if it isn't their own ideas. Borrowing via the citation of sources is a much more acceptable (and legal) practice.

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Internet Plagiarism