Plagiarism

Plagiarism Definition

Plagiarism is the taking of written work or ideas from someone else and presenting them as one's own. Plagiarism is stealing, since ideas and literary works are intellectual property. In an academic setting, plagiarism is also fraud, since a school's job is, in part, to put its reputation on the line, certifying the true level of performance earned by the student. Plagiarism is also illegal; note that copyright laws apply to an original written work automatically when it is produced, and such work is protected under U.S. Copyright laws.

Certainly one can borrow sections, quotes and ideas from others without difficulty for a research paper, IF proper credit is given to the author or source of the borrowed material, and if the student’s work has some original quality to it. In the case of an idea or concept, the borrowed idea must be altered in a substantially "original" way (such as in a parody).

Examples of plagiarism include:

· Buying a paper from a "paper mill", copying directly for an internet website, or simply having one's older sibling write their term paper for them.

· Cutting and pasting sections of text together, modifying it here-and-there to seem original, and "forgetting" to tell anyone that the passages are not the author's own.

· Taking practically anything - a quote or a small passage - and "forgetting" to give proper credit to the author or source.

· Taking someone else's "great idea", and claiming it as one's own, even if practically all details are rewritten (the creator of the science-fiction story "Terminator" has successfully sued numerous people for stealing his ideas; Disney is being sued for allegedly plagiarizing the Hannah Montana series).

· One can even self-plagiarize! In both academia and in journalism, there is an expectation that work is new and original. A student cannot submit one single paper twice. Should a student use earlier citations in a later paper, the student must cite this earlier work as a reference, just as they would credit any other source.

Detecting Plagiarism

If you have seen a student's work in the past, and then receive an assignment that is vastly different from the prior works, you may want to first ask some questions about what they did to learn this new style/formatting/spelling/grammar/etc. If they insist that assignment is their own work, then you may want to do some internet detection work.

As easy as internet thieving is, detecting it is rather easy as well. If you have a digital copy of the assignment, use the "Copy" function of your computer, select a rather unique string of perhaps 10 words or longer from the writing in question, “paste” the string in the "Search" section of an internet search engine, and place quotation marks at the beginning and ending of the string (this will force the search engine to find the exact string, in this exact order). Choose a portion that contains an unusual word construction (like "internet thieving") so that the passage is easier to find.

Dealing with Plagiarism

Most students have some idea that plagiarism is "cheating", however, it is also likely that many do not fully understand its seriousness. With both tact and firmness, an ES should thoroughly explain what plagiarism is to the student and a responsible adult, and explain that neither our school nor any other school can accept plagiarized work for attendance purposes and especially not for grades/credits. Since attendance at IEM schools is performance-based rather than time-based, plagiarized work can result in truancy. In serious cases or repeat offenses, contact your Advisor for help.