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Plagiarism
A Sign of Academic Weakness

George Thomson
December, 2000

University of Phoenix

.....Plagiarism by students isan academic reality. It is common and both intentional and unintentional.Plagiarism is a sign of academic weakness; a student can be taughtthat writing is easier to give credit and support of the student'sideas with the words of another. A student can be taught how toproperly cite others' work and the serious consequences for stealinganother's words and ideas. Plagiarism can be prevented by theteacher's lessons on the topic and by careful citation and referencerequirements.

.....No person wants his/her property(stereo, TV, car) stolen. Plagiarism is stealing of another'sproperty. Many people do not think of words and ideas as property,but they are property. The United States Constitution in ArticleI section 8 clause 11 gives Congress the power to protect a person'swords and ideas through the making of laws for copyright and patents.The Congress has made such laws that mandate a person's wordstheir property. Plagiarism of a person's words or ideas is tantamountto stealing that person's physical property. Students need toknow that by stealing another's words they have cheapened theirown education.
Plagiarism is clearly defined in nearly all academic settings.In the book Research Design and Methods: A Process Approach (4thEdition), Bruce Abbot defines plagiarism.
Plagiarism occurs when you use someone else's words or ideas froma copyrighted source. Whenever something is fixed in some medium(for example, a book, journal, electronic storage medium, or evena term paper written by a fellow student) the work is automaticallycopyrighted. Using copyrighted material as your own is at bestunethical, and at worst illegal. You can expect to receive a verylow grade, perhaps even a zero, on an assignment with plagiarizedmaterial. (Abbot, 2000).

.....Most academic institutionsdefine plagiarism with words similar to these. It is interestingto note that when a work is "fixed in some medium the workis automatically copyrighted." With the power of computertechnology, plagiarism is easy. The ease of copying words in acomputer's applications does not make it any less wrong but morelikely that a student may choose to do so.
The University of Phoenix defines plagiarism as "the useof someone else's ideas or words as your own. Webster calls it'literary theft' such as when you present an idea that actuallybelongs to someone else." (University of Phoenix, 1999) Theftis theft whether it involves words and ideas or physical property.
.....Writers may think that representationof others' ideas in their own words is not plagiarism. Yet ideasare individually creative things and should be recognized as such.Crews and VanSant wrote,
Writers sometimes plagiarize ideas from outside sources withoutrealizing that they are doing so. Put simply, you plagiarize ifyou present other writers' words and ideas as your own. You donot plagiarize if you 'provide citations for all direct quotationsand paraphrases, for borrowed ideas, and for facts that do notbelong to general knowledge'" (cited in Williams, 2000).

.....Plagiarism is motivated outof self-interest. Nearly every person has plagiarized, intentionallyor unintentionally, at some time. Students can be taught not toplagiarize out of self-interest to achieve success. The processof finding words to copy, piecing the words together, and tryingto achieve voice continuity is more difficult than reading, understandingand developing a thesis that represents an original idea.
.....It is then in the self-interestof the student to take the easier, more rewarding route. It islike getting paid more for less work. A teacher can have studentspractice the skill of reading and citing. Ultimately, the studentswill analyze and synthesize (Bloom, 1965) their own ideas aboutthe subject from the work of others they will cite.
.....It is as wrong to steal wordsand ideas as it is to steal things. This message can stick withstudents when they realize that there is a reason for the moralityof not stealing. That moral lesson is greater individual successin the individual's interest. Real academic success means a greaterreturn on the student's educational investment.
To teach these concepts, University of Phoenix professor VincentA. Lazara addresses the issue at the start of a course. Mr. Lazarasays of his approach:

I include a section on plagiarism in my syllabus and review it at the first workshop. I make explicit what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. I indicate the ethical importance of acknowledging the intellectual property of others. I note that plagiarism is not just a style issue, like the size of your margins, or a punctuation issue like leaving out a comma in a series of three or more items, but an academic honesty issue because it gives the false impression that the work of another is one's own. I emphasize the fact that plagiarism is plagiarism regardless of whether or not it is intentional and that papers plagiarized in whole or in part will receive an F / 0 points and be subject to the sanctions of the UOP. I invite student questions for discussion and student examples for clarification. (Lazara, personal communication, November 28, 2000)

....When the instructor takesa serious approach to the issue, plagiarism can be reduced significantly.Teaching proper citation as the means to deal with the ethicalissues is a proactive approach to the problem. The blocking ofquoted material and citation whether sources are quoted or paraphrased,as well as proper information on a works cited page should bea standard requirement for all in-class writing, (Lazara).

.....Furthermore, the instructorcan teach that a thesis statement must be supported through citation.A student can learn to develop an idea and then look for evidence,which is cited, to support the thesis. This "habit of mind"(Coalition of Essential Schools, 1996) should be required in nearlyall writing for a class.
....Plagiarism can be identified.Once identified, the student should be informed of the instructor'sopinion. If it is appropriate, the instructor may suggest a rewrite.By regular reading of the students' work, a shift in the students'writing style is more evident. Other identifiers can point theteacher toward further checks of sources.
.....Grammar changes in audienceor style, and content can assist the instructor. Grammar inconsistenciespoint to the student lifting work. Mr. Lazara states, "Whenparts of the paper are perfect and others are terrible, I suspectthe former is copied and the latter is not." (Lazara, personalcommunication November 28, 2000). Making another person's wordsfit one's own style is difficult. The teacher can look to changesin the voice of the work as an indicator as well as problems withcontent. "When the content throughout does not closely fitthe assignment requirements, I suspect that they copied somethingthat was the closest match they could find." (Lazara personalcommunication November 28, 2000).
.....Once plagiarism is suspected,the instructor can either return the paper to the student witha reminder of the citation requirements, or if serious, the instructormay move to fact finding and proof that writing is plagiarized.It is worth the effort for the instructor to establish the plagiarismrules and enforce the consequence if work is plagiarized. Mr.Lazara says of his investigations. "I frequently check sources.In one case, it took me upwards of 2 hours to catch someone bysurfing the Internet. In another case it took a trip to the library,and in still another, it required that I obtain a copy of thetextbook he used in a previous course on that topic." (Lazarapersonal communication, November 28, 2000) Proactive enforcementis the best method for reducing plagiarism. Once students knowthe instructor will not let plagiarism pass, word gets aroundquickly that the instructor checks sources.
.....A good teaching example of disciplinaryaction is evident in a recent example of Mr. Lazara. He said:


I recently caught someone plagiarizing material from the Encyclopaedia Britannica online to answer the take home final exam questions. I could tell that the material was presented in a highly technical style with the jargon of the field and presented in a form that was well beyond the writing competency level displayed by the student in past work. It took me about an hour to prove it since I checked Americana and Encarta first, suspecting by the style of writing that it was taken from an encyclopedia. Since it was from an outside source and on the final assignment, I assumed it was intentional effort to deceive; and since it was the bulk of the paper, the student had not made a good faith effort to complete the assignment on her own. So, I failed the paper and filed formal plagiarism charges that included a copy of the plagiarized materials attached to a copy of the original materials from which they were copied. (Lazara personal communication, November 28, 2000

.....A student can be taught thatplagiarism is not necessary. It is more time consuming and moredifficult to plagiarize. Students can be taught to develop theirown ideas and use reference to other sources, sparingly, to supportthe thesis of the writing. Teaching the morality of non-plagiarism,argument development and citation is an effective means for thecourse instructor to confront the issue. Sharon Williams writesof this idea, "The best way to avoid plagiarism is to keepcontrol of your argument. You should include ideas from othersources only when those ideas add weight to your argument."(Williams, 2000). Writers in "control of your argument"make better students because they are spending time in the developmentof ideas rater than the lifting of ideas. Plagiarism is an academicreality. It will happen in all classroom settings. The task ofthe instructor is to teach the reasons and skills to avoid plagiarismand to discipline it when necessary.


References

.....Abbott, Bruce B. and Bordens,Kenneth S. (2000) Research Design and Methods: A Process Approach(4th Edition) . Avalible: http://www.ipfw.edu/nf1/bordens/web/rdm4/index1.htm

.....Coalition of Essential Schools(CES). (1996). The Ten Common Principles.

.....University of Phoenix. (1999).Administration, Policy and Orientation, Faculty Development
Workshop. University Academic Affairs.

.....Williams, Shannon (2000).Avoiding Plagiarism. Available at: http://www.hamilton.edu/academic/Resource/WC/AvoidingPlagiarism.html