Plagiarism is a nasty disease. Teachers have been fighting against it for as long as there have been students to teach. As a high school English teacher, I have come across it many times in my career. It appears that many kids don't know they are plagiarizing when they copy work from another person. In their earlier days, kids were told to do a book report. Then, they were taught to do research using a bibliography. When they reach high school, theyÕre taught that now, even inside the actual paper, they have to give credit for other's ideas. The concept is new to them, and they stuggle with it. As technology increases, and computers become an everyday appliance in homes, plagiarizing is even more convenient. By their senior year and on into college, students have learned how to copy pages directly off the web, and the web even makes it easy to do this.
Approximately 30 percent of all students plagiarize on every assignment they complete (plagiarism.org). "With respect to cheating, I'm just in denial. I just don't want to deal with it because I know it's a huge problem."--San Louis Obispo professor (plagiarism.org). This number and quote are frustrating. There are other, higher statistics quoted while researching, but they all prove the same thing- some students are cheating, some are letting them cheat. The internet has just made this easier (Ryan).
"All the praise currently being lavished upon computer technology in the writing classroom should be tempered with realistic criticism...the Internet makes plagiarism very easy," (Tichenor).
With such a large number of students cheating, what is the solution? There are many different avenues to pursue as a teacher, and ironically, the web that helps students cheat is the very same technology used by teachers to catch those students. There are now web sites devoted to catching plagiarists. Two are plagiarism.org and Turnitin.com . Both of these sites use Document Source Analysis, which makes a "digital fingerprint" of the text document (plagiarism.org.).
There are other solutions as well. One author suggests that every college administration should every student, using the handbook, of the definition of plagiarism and the consequences. He also says that every tool used to catch plagiarism should be made available to every professor, and each professor should be reminded of his/her responsibility to turn in any violations (Standler).
Aside from just letting students know the definition and consequences, teachers have the ability to control the work that comes in. Instead of having students turn in the final draft only, have them turn in prewriting, note cards, bibliography cards, and outline, and all rough drafts. Have private conferences with them on their topic and lead a discussion about how they came up with the topic and any questions they have (Bates and Fain). Require students to discuss how they are doing the research and the process of how they are completing the research paper (Hinchliffe).
Aside from solving the problem of plagiarism, teachers need to know how to detect it. Look for context change (Ryan). With in-class writing assignments, teachers get a knowledge of their student's syntax and vocabulary choice. If there is a big shift in the style of writing, it is usually apparent. Look for missing footnotes or bibliography information. Also try to be aware of fake references. Apparently, citing non existent journals is very common among desparate students (Ryan). Also, some students are not bright enough to even "cut and paste" a web site into their own document. They will just print out the web page and attach it to their cover sheet, not realizing that the printout will have the web address on it somewhere.
As stated above, another detection source is the web itself. Many teachers can go online to sites such as schoolsucks.com, altavista.com., or any search engine. After typing in a suspicious sentence and searching, chances are it might be on the internet (Bates and Fain).
Why is plagiarizing so easy? Is it just the web? Unforturnately, in the past, many teachers have been reluctant to pursue an accusation of plagiarism. It was often hard to prove and time comsuming. There have always been "paper mills", places that write papers and sell them to needy students. Term paper mills have been on the internet since 1996 and have gone global (Fain). Unfortunately, students are getting papers that may be outdated or irrelevant. There are no guarantees of quality. Paper mills will always be around, but teachers should let students know up front that they know about them and can investigate on the internet for any papers that might have been bought or copied from there.
Aside from paper mills, students are copying regular, original research papers by professor and students. These are on the web with statements of copyright, any student can hit the print button and use the paper how he/she wants (Fain).
Students who get caught cheating will probably receive a zero for their grade. Some might have to go before the dean, some may even be expelled from the school. But, there is a more serious side to plagiarizing. It is also a legal issue. There have been many cases in court dealing with copying, especially if one's reputation is on the line. Everyone must follow copyright rules and pleading ignorance in not a defense (Standler). While researching this aspect, it was interesting to come upon two cases that dealt with the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. One man was a Ph.D. candidate whose faculty adviser told to copy large amounts of material he had written into his (candidate) own dissertation. He was awarded his Ph.D, but it was later taken away. He sued, but the court decided that not only was his adviser in the wrong, but the candidate should also have known better (Sandler). Again, ignorance of the law is no defense.
Another interesting UTK case involved an undergraduate student in 1997. He copied one half of a text and the othe half was his own work, but he submitted his "research" paper to a class and to a competition. It was brought to court, but the court upheld the judgement that he should fail the class and be suspended for one year (Sandler).
Whatever the reason students cheat- stress, GPA, laziness, not knowing any better- it is still not acceptable. They need to be told upfront, the first day of class what plagiarism is and what the consequences are. This should not be first taught in college, but all the way back to grade school where they are conducting their first research. In high school, students are taught to use parenthetical citation. I can not remember who said it, but in one of the many e-mail jokes/quotes I have received about education, this one sums it up the best, "Copying from one is plagiarism, copying from many is research." Interesting theory. Just make sure you admit it didn't come from you!
Bates, Peggy and Margaret Fain. Easy Steps to Combatting Plagiarism. March 5, 1999. Retrieved from http://www.coastal.edu/library/easystep.htm April 16, 2002.
Fain, Margaret. Cheating 101: Paper Mills and You. March 5, 1999. Retrieved from http://www.coastal.edu/library/papermil.htm April 15, 2002.
Hinchliffe, Lisa. Cut and Paste Plagiarism: Preventing, Detecting, and Tracking Online Plagiarism. Retrieved from http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~janicke/plagiary.htm April 15, 2002.
Plagiarism.org. 2001. Retrieved from http://plagiarism.org April 16, 2002.
Ryan, Julie. Student Plagiarism in an Online World. No date. Retreived from http://www.asee.org/prism/december/html/student_plagiarism_in_an_onlin.htm April 23, 2002.
Standler, Ronald. Plagiarism in Colleges in USA. 2000. Retreived from http://www.rbs2.com/plag.htm April 16, 2002.
Tichenor, Stuart. Cutting Edge Technology: Inspiration or Irritation? May 20, 2002. Retrieved from http://webspirs.lib.utk.edu April 15, 2002.