Plagiarism is a misconduct that is gaining notoriety and is becoming an increasingly worrying problem in the fields of academia and publishing. The article ‘Plagiarism: The Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V boom’ featured in BBC Magazine (2 March 2011) details how this breach of integrity is quickly spreading, most commonly among students and occasionally involving high-profile individuals such as German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Colonel Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam.
The growing accounts of plagiarism nowadays are in part due to the ease of access and the vast information made available on the internet. A plagiarist in more traditional times may have had to read extensively through an array of books to source for information to replicate; but in this modern day it is just a matter of simply browsing through search engines, a few clicks here and there, copying, and finally pasting into the deceitful document.
Technology has certainly made life easier - imagine having to manually go through all of that for a few pieces of information! Unfortunately, cheating has also been made easier with technology.
(Source: www.readkutubkids.wordpress.com)
In my opinion, while the internet has certainly proved to be highly instrumental in providing a massive source of information for academic purposes, we can’t take such convenience for granted without putting in our own effort in order to make our work worthwhile.
Nevertheless, the fact still remains that the internet has only created better, more well-equipped cheaters which ultimately raises the level of difficulty in catching such perpetrators (Kennedy, 2006). However, while the internet gives more for plagiarists to source from, it has also granted a degree of ease for authorities to weed out any culprits, through web-based plagiarism detection technologies. Despite the increasing prominence of such technologies, tutors and lecturers still find their gut instincts serving them best, as it takes a degree of scepticism on their part to initiate any further investigation into a document’s integrity (Miller, 2007).
Therefore, while authorities may do their best in catching up with plagiarists before they grow anymore rampant, it remains as a case of prevention being better than the cure. Instead of constantly bombarding students and would-be cheaters with threats of strict repercussions, the powers-that-be should educate them about plagiarism and how to best avoid it (Nagel, 2010). This will deter the initial urge to plagiarize and hopefully avoid such activity from surging in popularity.
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References:
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References:
Kennedy, R. 2006, ‘Digital plagiarism: The role of society and technology’, Orange: A Student Journal of Technical Communication, viewed 11 June 2011, < http://orange.eserver.org/issues/5-1/kennedy.html>.
Miller, K. 2007, ‘Professors take search for plagiarism to web’, Palm Beach Post, 17 June, viewed 11 June 2011, < http://proquest.umi.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/pqdweb?index=0&did=1291271971&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1307947881&clientId=14273>.
Nagel, D. 2010, ‘Plagiarism deterred through information, not threats’, Campus Technology, viewed 11 June 2011, < http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/02/02/plagiarism-deterred-through-information-not-threats.aspx>.
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