Plagiarism+in+the+Digital+Age

﻿ Background Reading for Learning Team - []

Plagiarism in the Digital Age
by Cara Patten, Kerrie Hartman, Ashley Marsiglia, and David Davenport

__**Plagiarism in Schools **__ Students these days use the internet for everything; it may be something adults do not understand, because they did not have the same opportunities when they were in school. This articles states that although the internet has helped students so much, it also made plagiarism a lot easier (Ma, 2008). The article also states that “more and more young people at school are practicing cheating, and things are getting worse each year” (Ma, 2008, p. 198). Compared to when today’s parents’ of teens were growing up, there are many more computers and websites readily available. When students are doing a project on a certain topic, they just type the topic into www.google.com to find out more about it. The fact that more and more students are cheating seems to be directly connected to access to the internet (Ma, 2008). The internet helps students find information easily, but it also “provides opportunities for simple copying and pasting of other people’s works” (Ma, 2008, p. 199). Some students may not even realize that what they are doing is plagiarizing. Students are able to communicate much easier now with the internet and learn through each other. They are also learning through other people and not citing where they learned it from (Ma, 2008). Students have not been taught enough about plagiarism and most of the students who are caught, had no idea they were plagiarizing. According to Ma (2008) “some young people seem to find it hard to tell collaboration from cheating” (Ma, 2008, p. 200). These students may think that the ideas are their own because they learned something from someone else and then added to it to create their own idea. Most students who were surveyed, in a variety of surveys and over multiple years, admitted that they did not think that plagiarism was a problem because they have seen other people doing it (Ma, 2008).

__**Plagiarism In Middle Schools **__ The article titled, //An Empirical Investigation of Digital Cheating and Plagiarism Among Middle School Students,// is an overview of a study conducted by professors and associate professors at Ohio University. The main objective of the study was to find out what middle school students have to say regarding plagiarism (Ma, Yong Lu, Turner, & Wan, 2007). “This empirical study explores the impact the internet has on ethics by examining why young people are cheating and how the internet might contribute to a culture of cheating (Ma et al., 2007, p. 71-72)”.

As the several authors state, one of the major questions evaluated in this study is what role does the internet play in plagiarism (Ma et al., 2007). The most significant finding was that “the internet brought more convenience to digital plagiarism" (Ma et al., 2007, p. 76). Even teachers can see the obvious effects of the internet when it comes to their students work and plagiarism (Ma et al., 2007). Additionally, the authors investigated why students plagiarize (Ma et al., 2007). Several reasons were discussed as to why students submit work that is not their own. The ultimate reason that students gave was “the fact that others were doing so" (Ma et al., 2007, p. 77). Especially at the middle school age, students are likely to follow what their classmates do whether or not it is the right choice. Another reason explained in the article is the easy access to websites (Ma et al., 2007). “Students reported that websites contain a vast amount of information and it was easy for them to find web pages about any topic" (Ma et al., 2007, p. 77) which makes it easy to complete any assignment. Students also plagiarize because they feel that they can get away with it (Ma et al., 2007). The last reason discussed for why students plagiarize is ignorance. Many students do not fully understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it (Ma et al., 2007). Perhaps if more quality instruction on the topic was provided in school then the number of students who plagiarize would decrease. The study also concluded that student interest also plays a role in plagiarism (Ma et al., 2007). “Most often students reported cheating when they felt that the homework was not interesting at all" (Ma et al., 2007, p. 79). The results explained in this article are proof that plagiarism is an issue that needs to be addressed. As technology continues to blossom, the issue will only get worse if not corrected.

__**Plagiarism in Higher Education **__ The use of the internet as a research tool has had a major impact in the field of education. Research findings show that plagiarism in the digital age is likely a common and widespread occurrence among students of varying ages and in many educational settings. On one hand, educators are happy for students to have access to such a wide array of information, but the shift to web-based research has also presented much dilemma when it comes to addressing plagiarism (Scanlon, 2003).

First of all, there seems to be confusion among college students brought up in the age of the internet about what constitutes on-line plagiarism (Scanlon, 2003). There has been a misconception that much of the information found on the internet is common knowledge and can be used without citing sources (Scanlon, 2003). This is the first hurdle educators must overcome. Another issue that college professors have to address is the use of internet plagiarism detectors and how to incorporate them into the research process. While plagiarism-detection software will most likely deter most students from cutting and pasting someone else's work into their own, it will not address the entire scope of the problem, which mostly stems from student's lack of knowledge on the subject (Scanlon, 2003). Scanlon (2003) believes that educators must carefully balance direct instruction on what internet plagiarism is, and how to avoid it, with the use of the plagiarism detectors in order to enlighten students about this new dilemma of the digital-age, without showing distrust to the students. Incorporation of explicit information about using someone else's intellectual property as one's own into a lesson on citing references would be one effective way to approach the subject (Scanlon, 2003). While the goal, in the end, is to prevent online plagiarism, educators "should act as educators, rather than detectives" (Scanlon, 2003, p. 161).

__**Confronting Plagiarism **__ Recent technological advances have made plagiarism an ever increasing occurrence among students. The digital age has contributed, partially, due to the ease and convenience of anyone’s ability to access and seek reference on any subject. This digital capability has, obviously, led to the attractiveness and effortlessness of this problem.

Authur Sterngold, an assistant professor at Lycoming College, offers another aspect of the growing problem (plagiarism) other than the cliches thrown about like; attacks of students’ morality, cheaters, and other lack of…rationalizations (Sterngold, 2004). Although these declarations have their particular validity; they are not the “explain-all-encompassing” descriptive answer to the problem. Other variables exist that appear, all too often, a result in a system’s failure to take the effort required to eliminate the “ignorance factor.” That “ignorance” being those, for whatever variables that are deemed, whom have not been educated to the proper and necessary importance of the structure and practice to facilitate the preferred product---a non-plagiarized, acceptable, written representation/reflection of a desired thought.

Sterngold goes on to address that this proper structure and practice is many times void of the previous educational history in many more students than may be realized. A variety of reasons can be accountable for continuing a status quo that appears to have an influenced contribution to the problem (plagiarism). Explanations such as; professors cruising their way through years with the same instructional method and materials (even as the world changes around them), or some professors simply stating that they “don’t have the interest or temperament to work closely with students on research and writing tasks,” or even the arrogance/ego factors like “it’s not my job,” I’m above that platform, and because I can (Sterngold, 2004). I feel these situations cannot be exclusive to circumstance of higher learning and bore their respective roots before that situational beginning.

__**Conclusion **__ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Cheating seems to be a problem in students of all ages. Most research gives the following reasons for the cheating epidemic: students do not know what they are doing wrong, students feel pressured to do well or they are pressed for time so they plagiarize because it is the easy way, and because there is little to no punishment for plagiarizing in schools (Ma, 2008). <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">It also appears that the issue of plagiarism needs to be discussed at a younger age, perhaps before high school. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Plagiarism can be combated by encouraging teachers to use a variety of anti-plagiarism tools, and also by teaching students about plagiarism and how to properly cite their sources (Ma, 2008). Teachers need to learn how to investigate plagiarism in their classroom by using a variety of tools, such as generators that automatically can tell how much plagiarism is in a paper. Teachers can also simple type phrases into google to tell if they are plagiarized. If students are more aware of the problem, they will be more inclined to fix it.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">Exposure with proper structure and practice, utilized, can become a preventive measure and thus plagiarism would be reduced. However, with exposure being the only constant, plagiarism will continue as an entity, although not entirely, of ignorance.