Plagiarism on the Internet

Plagiarism On The Internet

By

Nancy Rockstroh

Intoductionn to the Internet

Professor William Bezemek

Table of Contents

  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. What is plagiarism?
  • 3. How easy is it to plagiarize on the Internet?
  • 4. Is there a way to detect plagiarism?
  • 5. Conclusion
  • 6. Bibliography

    The Internet provides a vast amount of information on a variety of topics. Therefore it is a prime target for plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined in Funk and Wagnalls’ New Standard Dictionary (1921) as"The act of plagiarizing or appropriating the ideas , writings, or inventions of another without our acknowledgment: specify. the stealing of passages either for word or in substance, from the writings of another and publishing them as one’s own."(Funk, 1921).

    The Internet makes it possible for a person to access information at an accelerated rate. In the past a researcher would have to do a lot of "leg work" to access available information on a specific topic. They would have to physically go somewhere to research information from a number of different sources (books,encyclopedia,micro-fich and film, etc.). They would then read and record all of this information using paper and pen , and carry it all around with them while they were writing their paper.

    Since the introduction of the Internet , it is now possible for a researcher to sit at his/her computer and access information from all over the world and simply press the print button on their computer to record the information they find. This literally puts information at their finger tips and saves them an incredible amount of time.

    A plagiarist could cut and paste a paper together in a matter of minutes. They simply choose a search engine such as Infoseek , type in their topic and press the search button. They are presented with often hundreds of pieces of information regarding their topic and they can cut and paste to their hearts content. This method of plagiarism at least takes a little effort. There is an even easier way to plagiarize.

    In Tom Rocklin’s article Down loadable Term Papers: What’s a Prof. To Do? ,he describes how easy it is to download a term paper off of the Internet. There are Web sites such as, www.schoolsucks.com, that encourage students to submit their written papers so that other students can print them and turn them in as their own. Other such sites expect payment , usually with a credit card. The student merely gives them their topic and they will search for the appropriate paper and deliver it to the student in a printed version or a floppy disk.

    These forms of plagiarism can be very difficult to detect. There are companies that sell software to educators to help them detect plagiarism such as Glatt Plagiarism Teaching Program . The problem with these programs are they are very timely to use and would only be helpful to a teacher with a small number of students.

    Many learning institutions and their individual departments have plagiarism policies such as Mankato State University Department of Speech Communication, which define plagiarism and the consequences a student will face if caught plagiarizing.

    Robert Harris from Southern California College wrote " Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Use in Assigning Research Papers" . He provides educators with six simple strategies which can help discourage plagiarism among their students.

  • "1. Provide a list of specific topics.
  • 2. Require specific components in the paper.
  • 3. Require drafts of the paper.
  • 4. re oral reports of student papers.
  • 5. Have students indicate where they found each source.
  • 6. Be clear and explicit in your syllabus about your requirements." ;Robert Harris

    Plagiarism stifles individual creativity and the process to have unique thoughts. It is important for educators to relay this message to their students. Plagiarism can only be contained by teaching students that it is morally and ethically wrong . The affects of the Internet on the moral fiber of our society has yet to be measured . The Internet makes plagiarism much easier than in the past. Will this affect the frequency in which plagiarism occurs? The future holds the answer to this question.

    Bibliography

    Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Use in Assigning Research Papers, Robert Harris, Southern California College, http://www.sccu.edu/Faculty/R-Harris/antiplag.htm

    Computers open window to student cheating, by Carlos Alcal, The Sacramento Bee, httpL//www.sacbee.com/news/beetoday/newsroom/local/111797/local05.html

    Downloadable Term Papers: What’s a Prof. To Do?, by Tom Rocklin, University of Iowa, http://www.uiowa.edu/~centeach/newsletter/online-exclusives/term-paper-download.html

    Glatt Plagiarism Teaching Program, by GPT Teach, http://www.plagiarism.com/teach.id.htm

    Plagiary and the Art of Skillfull Citation: What is plagiarism?, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, http://condor.bcm,tmc.edu/Micro-Immuno/courses/igr/plagdef.html

    Plagiarism Policy, by Department of Speech Communication , Mankato State University, http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/spcomm/…n/Department/SpCommPlagiarismPolicy.html .