Plagiarism and Academic Honesty

[ldymrln]

Imagine an author whose original work has been plagiarized by a student. Why would that author consider plagiarism to be such a grave offense? I would appreciate any feedback from anyone.

[staropeace]

It isnt any different than mugging someone....stealing their thoughts....and one of the hardest things to prove.

[themadone06]

I don't think any author would take grave offense to it because they are still banking on the writing. It is just the respect thing. I would say if someone plagiarized a paragraph from King he wouldn't really care all that much. Also I don't see how you could steal some writing from King and somehow make money off of it. He writes primarily fictional works. Maybe if the person stole a whole idea, but then it wouldn't get published anyway.

However lets say that you are writing a History Thesis and you find a piece of work and steal most of their research. You are are doing absolutely no work yourself, while the other people spent hours and hours of time to find the research. Basically plagiarism is stealing, and that is why on the University level if you are caught you are expelled.

I guess the main thing is if you plagiarize you know you are stealing someone Else's work. It is really easy not to plagiarize, so if you do you did it on purpose in my opinion.

[Bryan James]

Writing ain't throwing horseshoes at a picnic.

Sometimes the words come easily, but there's usually a sticking point that requires a lot of effort and [I]ethic[I] involved.

Standing on the shoulders of giants is one thing, but stealing their thunder is another.

Reference appropriately. Write over, around, and under them...and all is well. Steal their (sometimes hard, sometimes easy) work, and that's a different story.

The author probably has no major cause of action against the student, unless monetary damages are appreciable, but the student's school certainly has an obligation to lay the smack down.

I was accused of plagiarism when I was 20. I was a lackluster student in a class (pretty much all classes that semester for various reasons), but I turned in a stellar paper. I brought in 20 pounds of reference material and dropped them on the tenured Phd's desk and just said "You charged me. You find what you said I stole," then I turned and walked away.

Three weeks later he asked me to stay after class.

"Please take those books you left for me."

I never heard a word about the subject again.

Part of being a student (and we all remain students) is doing the stuff yourself.

BJS

[~Ally~]

Reference appropriately. Write over, around, and under them...and all is well. Steal their (sometimes hard, sometimes easy) work, and that's a different story.

Part of being a student (and we all remain students) is doing the stuff yourself.

Hi guys. I totally agree with you here Bryan. There really is no need to plagiarise, more care just needs to be taken with accurate citation and referencing.

I feel like all I do at the moment is write assignments, I most certainly don't enjoy it either, but I would never entertain the idea of plagiarising someone's work...when I get my results back it is nice to know I have earned my grade..and I'm doing quite well so far, all it takes is a bit of hard work.

[Bryan James]

I feel like all I do at the moment is write assignments, I most certainly don't enjoy it either, but I would never entertain the idea of plagiarising someone's work...when I get my results back it is nice to know I have earned my grade..and I'm doing quite well so far, all it takes is a bit of hard work.

This seems like the best place to post this anecdote, but I do not advocate such a tactic for anyone.

I think it was the same undergraduate semester I referred to above or the next, but it was some "fill your requirements" seminar class. Professor was another tenured PhD, Criminal Justice class, I think it was. He was the kind of guy who liked to hear himself talk, the kind of guy who fantasized about himself during sex.

I was carrying a solid B+ down the home stretch, but we had a Final Paper due at the end of the semester. It was 30% of our grade. Twenty some-odd pages, footnotes, a List of References Cited, all that jazz.

The dude apparently read none of the papers that the class turned in.

He certainly didn't read mine, because I never turned one in.

I got an A- in that class.

I did not complain.

BJS

[geoffreyblack]

I teach several classes in several schools. Usually have about 300 students a semester. I use www.plagiarismdetection.org to scan my students' projects for plagiarism. This website is convenient for me as it allows creation of numerous sub-accounts and classes. Each of my students gets an account, logs in and submits his/her paper for plagiarism scan. I do not even read the papers without scanning them for plagiarism beforehand. This is my routine.

<a href="http://www.plagiarismdetection.org">PlagiarismDetection.org</a>

[The Sentimental Fool]

I have yet to run into trouble with plagiarizing. Recently our English teacher taught us how to source properly and many in our class now know it is very important to add the proper sources your paper. He also uses a system in which he can run papers through and see which parts are plagiarized. I agree with Ally88 though, it's good to get a good grade on your paper and know that you earned it.

[michal]

You know the old saying,,, Copy from one and it's plagiarism, copy from 5 and it's academical research...
But seriously now, as a professional writer (not books I am sad to say - commercial writing meant to make you buy stuff you could probably do without) only once was I accused of plagiarism. I was a young writer then and a fellow writer accused me of stealing because... brace yourselves... she said my text was too well-written to have been my own.

I will not tire you with the rage-attack that followed, I can just say that what she made me feel was dirty, wrongfully accused and for a self-made woman to be accused of theft... Even today if I'd see that person on the street I doubt it if I can keep my manners.

[GNTLGNT]

Plagiarism is theft of one's intellectual property, mental rape I feel...if caught, the offender should be whacked on their respective reproductive organs with a 10 pound sledge. Paper's I wrote often had more footnote pages than actual content-but everybody got credit-but gads did I get to hate typing IBID>>>