Abstract

The word plagiarism is derived from the Latin word plagiārius, meaning, “kidnapped”.  The “kidnapping” of works, both verbal and written, is centuries old, and with the advent and escalation of e-learning, which may commonly be referred to as learning supported by technology, the practice of plagiarism has escalated.  Previously, academic environments simply announced the resulting punishment should plagiarism be discovered, but research now reveals that plagiarism, both in traditional and e-learning academic environments may be drastically reduced by educating students more effectively, albeit, teaching them to write and think critically.  With encouraged critical thinking, students are less likely to plagiarize, as their own thoughts, reinforced with valid and cited resources, becomes valued. 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Those who plagiarize

       ( The quotation is over 40 words - will be correctly formatted or edited on final paper) submitted by second editor

 as posted on http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_facts.html :

"A study by The Center for Academic Integrity found that almost 80% of college students admit to cheating at least once.

According to a survey by the Psychological Record 36% of undergraduates have admitted to plagiarizing written material.

A poll conducted by US News and World Reports found that 90% of students believe that cheaters are either never caught or have never been appropriately disciplined.

A national survey published in Education Week found that 54% of students admitted to plagiarizing from the internet; 74% of students admitted that at least once during the past school year they had engaged in "serious" cheating; and 47% of students believe their teachers sometimes choose to ignore students who are cheating.

And although many instructors are aware of the problem, most feel powerless to stop it.

A study conducted by Donald L. McCabe titled Faculty Responses to Academic Dishonesty: The Influence of Honor Codes found that 55% of faculty "would not be willing to devote any real effort to documenting suspected incidents of student cheating". "

         As plagiarism among academic environments continues to explode, corporations have emerged in order to ease or relieve part of the responsibility for “catching” plagiarists.  Among the most widely used is http://turnitin.com/static/index.html .  Many colleges and universities require students to register for the service, and while used as a deterrent to plagiarism, there may be circumstances where professors are not trained in the use of the software, so abandon its use.  This returns us to the premise posed by several researchers and logicians where if the incidence of plagiarism is to be reduced, students must be trained to write academically.  With the increased use of the Internet as a learning environment, published websites have spattered the Internet, like so much paint.  Some are valuable as academic support, and some seek only to elicit funds for "training"of teachers.  Among those that are available to both instructors and students is the Purdue Online Writing Lab from Purdue University, (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/).  One of the most respected reference and citation tools is Diana Hacker, and although now deceased, Hacker's reputation for instruction in referencing and citation in order to dissuade students from plagiarizing continues (http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/.  As a sidebar, students would be advised not to pay for any service in formatting, as there are reputable plug in tools available.  One of the favored is son of citation machine (http://citationmachine.net/).  Additionally, easybib (www.easybib.com)  provides unlimited MLA citation and formatting and one APA format.  However, for the undergraduate student or graduate student who writes extensively, the nominal cost of 14.99 per year for a subscription is well worth the cost

         Even with the opportunities to save time in citation and formatting, the unscrupulous individual will nevertheless plagiarize, and then rationalize the behavior.  In her book, Plagiarism, the internet and student learning: Improving academic integrity (2008),  Wendy Sutherland-Smith specifically addresses the use of the Internet by students, and the resulting explosion of global incidence of plagiarism.

Second Editor's Addition:    (review pending for image use rights)

References

(2010). Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://www.easybib.com/

Blum, S. D. (2009). My word!: plagiarism and college culture. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

[Cartoon describing plagiarism and result]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://CartoonStock.com

Hacker, D. (n.d.). Research and Documentation Online. Retrieved May 10, 2010, from    http://www.dianahacker.com/

Prevent plagiarism. Engage students. (2010). Retrieved April 10, 2010, from http://turnitin.com/static/index.html

Sutherland-Smith, W. (2008). Plagiarism, the Internet and student learning: improving academic integrity. New York: Routledge.

The Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2008). Retrieved May 2, 2010, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Warlick, D. (2000, October 29). Retrieved May 10, 2010, from http://sonofcitationmachine.net

"What is Plagiarism" (2010). Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://plagiarism.org/index.html

Images:  Images where legal use cannot be located will be removed

http://www.edutopia.org/student-plagiarism-teacher-strategy  (use rights in review)

http://www.pyrczak.com/antiplagiarism/images/Trent48.gif      (use rights in review)