A Plethora of Plagiarism - What Can We Do About It?


Patricia Harden
School of Undergraduate Studies
Published: November-December 2008

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Student-issues

Plagiarism is not new, and it pops up in all areas. For example, a story in the New York Times over 20 years ago (Dionne, 1987) reported that Senator Joe Biden inadvertently committed plagiarism during his first year of law school more than 20 years earlier, attributing it to a lack of understanding of proper citation rules. Although Biden survived the incident, some reporters and bloggers have brought it up again in the current presidential election—showing that such events, however unintentional they may be, can come back to haunt you and cause others to question your integrity.

Not properly referencing information can have other damaging consequences. Consider that Stephen Hawking, one of the world's foremost physicists, openly admitted being wrong about some aspect of his published work when challenged by a fellow physicist (Susskind, 2008). If someone were to use or quote the flawed information without proper attribution, that person would then appear to be putting forth incorrect information—and in essence, exhibiting carelessness.

Plagiarism should not be a new concept to students by the time they are enrolled in a college or university; most students learn about it in high school, if not earlier. Even if they have not, UMUC provides a number of plagiarism-related resources for students that will help them understand what it is and how to prevent it. For example, the Effective Writing Center has a plagiarism tutorial as well as resources on proper citation formats. The UMUC Library maintains its own collection of citation resources (examples, tutorials, FAQs, and additional links), and the Center for Intellectual Property's Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory (VAIL) has guides and tutorials on both proper documentation of sources as well as tips for avoiding plagiarism. Many of these resources cross-reference each other; students are not lacking for information on the topic.

In every course syllabus, our students are referred to the university's policy on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism, Policy 150.25 (UMUC, 2006). Via this policy, students are not only directed to the plagiarism resources listed above but also are given the broad view that the core values of "truth, honesty, fairness, respect, and responsibility" (¶ 3) be upheld within the university community.

In many cases, students are in "crunch" mode when it comes to documentation of sources either because they have gotten a late start on a project or team members have not pulled together to get the assignment done. In group work, it is critical that each member correctly cites his or her source(s); it should be the responsibility of the whole group to get the sources right and to ask for help if necessary. This shared responsibility demands good time-management skills as well as a certain level of respect—for the fellow team members as well as for the sources being used in the assignment.

Recently, I gave a presentation about plagiarism at UMUC's Fifth Annual Writing Conference. I was pleased with the number of faculty and colleagues who attended, but more so, I was pleased with the interest in—and concern about—plagiarism. The presentation focused on ways to resolve and prevent plagiarism, particularly where collaborative work is concerned. I provided examples of plagiarism that had come up in my own classes as well as the attitudes and responses of the students involved in those cases of plagiarism.

The discussion after the presentation was lively. Faculty members spoke up and explained how they dealt with plagiarism, with ideas ranging from a reprimand to fix the problem to using Turnitin.com and, in a few cases, turning the student over to the dean. Some faculty have students sign statements indicating that they have read the university's plagiarism policy, while others post a statement at the beginning of the semester detailing their writing expectations of the students. We were reminded during the discussion that the previously mentioned UMUC plagiarism policy outlines the specific procedures to follow in cases of alleged plagiarism; these procedures are currently under review/re-examination by the Deans and Provost to address concerns about plagiarism and to ensure that the responsibilities of all involved parties are clearly defined.

During the discussion, Dr. Lisa Khan, Assistant Dean of Communication, Arts, and Humanities in the School of Undergraduate Studies, spoke about some students who have argued charges of plagiarism with claims that they did not understand what plagiarism is—in spite of the fact that they are given ample instruction in this area. As faculty, it becomes incumbent upon us to ensure that our students are directed to the appropriate plagiarism and citation resources so that "ignorance of the law" contentions such as these do not become the norm, as they are not a justifiable defense. At the same time, however, students must take on the responsibility of actually reviewing these resources. Proper citation may be a tedious and difficult task, but many avenues are available to our students for becoming competent in this ever-important duty.

Since the presentation, I have come up with a new tactic in my class to thwart plagiarism in collaborative work. Keeping in mind the old adage that prevention is better than cure, I initiated a weekly conference entitled "Plagiarism: So What's the Big Deal?" so that students could post their own thoughts on the topic. I have been both pleased and impressed with the responses from my students in this conference and, more importantly, that my students have shown that they understand that plagiarism is a big deal.  

With permission granted but names withheld, here are just a few of their comments:

"The big deal is that when the plagiarism is intentional, you are taking credit for someone else's work. Plagiarism is unethical and we all know it is wrong. There are other ways to use the information than by copying it from the original source."

"The time and effort to gather the information was put in by someone else, so we should not take advantage and be appreciative that the information is available for us to read and learn from."

"As for unintentional plagiarism, you have to be aware and alert to what you are writing. Before submitting any work, you should go back and re-read to make sure it is your own thoughts and words." 

"Individuals work hard to research and document certain issues and they should be given credit by those that reference their ideas." 

"A few semesters ago I had a classmate in one of my online classes that would post conference responses right after mine, and it was always annoying to see that the person's responses were unbelievably similar to mine. Although this was not a severe case of plagiarism, it made me more cautious in my own writing when using the ideas of others."

"I decided to do a little extra research on plagiarism and found in Webster's New World Dictionary that the root of the word plagiarism is the word plagiarius, which means 'kidnapper'. I found that interesting, because that is such a good representation of what plagiarism is: a kidnapping of ideas - an illegal detaining of something belonging to someone else."

"I agree that it is okay to use someone else's work, but credit must be given to the original author. In some cases a writer may have no choice but to quote another person's work, which, again, is absolutely fine if credit is given to the original author."

"So what's the big deal? The big deal is that plagiarisms is stealing, you cannot intentionally claim something that belongs to someone else as your own whether it is an idea or a material belonging. Unintentional use of someone else's ideas as your own is also unethical but a little bit different. People often have the same ideas, for instance during these weekly conferences several people may have similar responses. Each person came up with their own ideas but because they were asked the same question they had similar answers. I think this is why this is an ethical issue and not a legal one."

"You are correct that it is pounded into our heads. Today schools educate kids from first grade on about plagiarism. I think that it is great to start at an early age with kids. When I was in public school, we didn't talk about it until high school. Granted today's kids are starting topics and learnings at a lot earlier age.."

"Plagiarism is viewed as a despicable act by most people in business and academia; therefore, an act of plagiarism may taint a person's reputation for the remainder of their business or academic career." 

"You provide some great food for thought. I think those that intentionally plagiarize others' works simply do not care that it is wrong. These individuals probably feel they will not get caught and, therefore, "what is the big deal." In some instances, the offender may have a conscious and realize they are doing something wrong, but they may be so desperate to receive a good grade, receive a promotion, or impress someone that they believe the benefits of plagiarizing outweigh its costs."

"Innovative thinking is a word that comes to my mind. You will lose innovative ideas, writings, images, inventions, etc. if plagiarism is acceptable."  

"People will not want to put their ideas on paper in fear that someone else will take credit for their work. I know how it feels to have someone take an idea and claim it as their own. I am sure everyone has experienced it. You start to hold back ideas or writings. Can you image we wouldn't have half the technology that we have today. We would be stuck in time."

In conclusion, when we talk with our students about plagiarism and its ill effects, direct them to appropriate resources, and let them know what is expected of them in our classes, we not only educate them about the subject matter at hand but also teach them about integrity, respect, and responsibility—values that are essential to our reputations in both the classroom and the workplace. These actions can only help our students in the ongoing battle against plagiarism.

UMUC Links of Interest

References

Dionne, Jr., E. J. (1987, September 18). Biden admits plagiarism in school but says it was not ‘malevolent.' New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2008, from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3DB143FF93BA2575AC0A961948260

Susskind, L. (2008). The black hole war: My battle with Stephen Hawking to make the world safe for quantum mechanics. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

University of Maryland University College. (2006, September 5). Policy 150.25 - Academic dishonesty and plagiarism. Retrieved October 23, 2008, from http://www.umuc.edu/policy/academic/aa15025.shtml

About the Author(s)

Patricia Harden received a bachelor's degree in Journalism with minor in Humanities from UMUC and later received a Master's in Liberal Arts from St. John's College. She has taught creative writing for kids at Maryland Hall, and English and English as a Second Language (ESL) at Anne Arundel Community College. She was also a private writing tutor for a teen with a learning disability. Patricia currently serves as an adjunct faculty for UMUC, teaching WRTG 393 online, while she works full time for a private firm as a research data analyst, writer, and editor. She has over 30 years of experience in this field.

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