Why Plagiarism Matters?
How many people would steal the belongings of others if they were given a chance? Well, very few people would steal the belongings of others as it is generally considered a serious moral and legal offence. But, what about using someone else’s words or ideas and pretending as one’s own? Studies shows that plagiarism has become very common these days. This indicates that a lot of people do not take this breach of honor code seriously. So, it is very important that everyone understands what plagiarism is and why it should be avoided.
First of all, learning about plagiarism has become important especially in the age of internet. As, the use of internet has increased the plagiarism to excessively high level. When the use of internet was not so widespread, plagiarism was not very excessive. For instance, a report from Duke University’s Center for Academic Integrity states “that 10 percent of students surveyed in 1999 admitted doing so without properly crediting the source. By 2005, the percentage was almost 40 percent.” (Roberts). As well as, internet has changed the way students look at the intellectual property. The plagiarism educators say, there is growing a disassociation in the internet age as the “concepts of intellectual property, copyright and originality” are in danger “in the unbridled exchange of online information” (Gabriel). Internet, also, has made copying and pasting much easier. There are plenty of online resources and it is on the fingertip of students to copy someone’s else work. Many students do not bother themselves to write their own original content and simply copy other people’s work. Donald J Dudley, who supervise the office of discipline, at the University of California, Davis, on campus of 32,000, said many times it was students who copied intentionally because they did not want “to engage in the writing process” as “writing is difficult, and doing it well takes time and practice” (Gabriel). Therefore, in this age, it is extremely important to learn about plagiarism.
Secondly, it is important to learn about plagiarism and the ways of avoiding it as many students commit plagiarism unintentionally or accidentally. There are many students who do not know how to use sources properly in their writing hence commit plagiarism. For example, many students do not know how to cite sources properly or how to paraphrase the material into their own words. As well as, many students did not learn using sources in their high schools. When they come in college they are not prepared for college level writing. According to Sarah Wilensky, Indiana University senior, the main reason of plagiarism in colleges is that “students leave high school unprepared for intellectual rigors of college writing”. She believe that if students were taught in schools to “ closely read sources and synthesize them into (their) own original argument” then they would not “be tempted to plagiarize in college” (Gabriel). There are also students who do not understand the concept of common knowledge. It is sometimes confusing for many students. A student of Maryland University, after copying from Wikipedia, did not think that he needed to give credit to the source, as it was “unsigned and collectively written” counted as common knowledge (Gabriel). So, it is therefore very important that all students learn about plagiarism in order to avoid doing it unintentionally.
Thirdly, it is important to learn avoiding plagiarism because it is not easy to get away with plagiarism. As, many colleges now use software programmes to detect plagiarism in students’ writing. This has made it very easy for colleges to catch plagiarists; while made it difficult for students to get away with plagiarism. For example, thousands of colleges now uses Turnitin, a plagiarism detection software, that “compares students writing with billions of documents” and give report of matched passages and the sources (Roberts). As well as, plagiarism policies of many colleges are very strict. Every year many students are expelled from colleges because of plagiarism cases. For example, University of Virginia “has a single sanction honor code” which means students get kicked out of the college after one attempt of violation (Associated Press). Also, the success ratio is very low for students who file lawsuit against their colleges. There are many students who are filing lawsuits against their colleges but “those lawsuits are rarely successful” because generally courts “prefer to leave the decision about academic integrity up to the academics”, also “courts are typically reluctant to overrule a decision made by academics” (Bailey). Therefore, there are severe consequences ahead for those who commit plagiarism.
Finally, people should try to avoid committing plagiarism, as much as possible, as the charges of plagiarism can have many negative effects on a person’s academic and professional career. As, students who are alleged for plagiarism are treated severely. They “can fail classes, be suspended or even expelled”. It is possible that “students who previously graduated can even lose their degrees years later” (Bailey). As well as, it can have many damaging effects for a person. He can lose all the money that was spend on his education, he might have to left his career or he may not be able to study in the college of his choice (Bailey). Similarly, in a workplace, plagiarism charges can get a person into many troubles. Since, in professional life, the rules are even more strict. These are some of the consequences of plagiarism in workplace: “pay may be suspended, get fired, loss of professional credibility, imprisonment, professional license or degree may be revoked, future professional career prospects can be damaged” (Troppello). In this way, plagiarism can be devastating for a person’s professional and academic career.
To conclude the discussion, the use internet has increased the plagiarism to a extremely high extent; although, many of those students who commit plagiarism do so accidentally or unknowingly. But, with the help of new plagiarism detection softwares, it has become almost impossible to get away with plagiarism. Besides, there are many negative effects of plagiarism charges on a person’s academic and professional career, as well. So, it is better that a person learns about plagiarism and ways of avoiding it. As said by Marie Curie, “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood”.
Works Cited
Associated Press. “Students accused of plagiarism expelled from ship”. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. CMA, 11 Aug. 2008.
Bailey, Jonathan. “Academic Plagiarism, Real Courts”. Plagiarism Today. Plagiarism Today, 7 Feb. 2017.
Gabriel, Trip. “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age”. The New York Times. The New York Times, 1 Aug. 2010.
Roberts, Joel. “Technology Sniffs Out Student Plagiarism”. CBS News. The Associated Press, 17 Mar. 2007.
Troppello, Joanne. “How Plagiarism Can Negatively Affect Your Professional Career”. Career Addict. Career Addict, 25 Nov. 2016.
