I have been pondering the reason why elementary school children often cut and paste information from the Internet into their reports and essays. Every year, I experience the same situation: There are at least 5-10 of my students who get caught copying work off the Internet.  I suspect that some are smart enough to not get caught, so the percentage might be even higher. Why do students plagiarise? 

 

When I ask my students, they claim innocence and that they didn’t know better.  I can almost relate to that, but I talk about plagiarism in my “Mr. Miller’s Survival Guide to Grade 7″, where I indicate why I think plagiarism is not appropriate:

 

“One of the easiest ways to make notes is to copy exactly what someone else says or writes.  Now, before you get out your pen and start writing, you should know that using information from someone else’s books, papers, projects, internet sites, encyclopaedias, etc. is called Plagiarism! It is actually against Canadian law and people can be tried in court for plagiarism because you are breaking a copyright law.  As a teacher, I see plagiarism every year. I quickly learn the abilities of each and every of my students.  I will know immediately if the writing is yours or not. If I suspect it is not, I will use your bibliography to check the source. If you have no bibliography, then I will give you your report/essay back – bear in mind that you may get a 0 if there is not a logical reason why there is no bibliography.  In other words, WRITE ONE!

While you can’t copy other peoples’ work, you can use some of their words if you give them credit and use what is called direct quotation.  The sentence(s) that you wish to use MUST be placed inside quotation marks and a page number where you took the quotation:

“Good science fiction is like tomorrow’s news, just a little further into the future (Clark 39).”

 

Notice that the quotes have the author’s name and page number inside the quotes. This is mandatory in virtually all reports and essays that you will have to write.  You will have to have a bibliography at the end of your essay, project or report that indicates the title of the book and the author (in this case, Clark).  For bibliography formats, see the bibliography section in this guide.”

 

 Again, I indicate why I think it is wrong, which is my morality speaking and the values that my teachers, parents and community leaders instilled in my when I was young.  To be truthful, I hadn’t checked the actual Canadian law on using other peoples’ work without giving them credit… Maybe I was being a little hypocritical and getting on a soapbox to try to get my students to fall into line…I can honestly say (with my halo tightly fastened above my head that I didn’t plagiarize as a child!  Adult, that’s another story… (Which I will get to later! Yikes!)

 

I asked a friend, David, who works at a reputable advertising agency in London, England on his thoughts about plagiarising:

 

“Well, technically every report is plagiarism because all thought on any subject isn’t original.  It’s taken from somewhere and copied but said in your own words – chewing up the words of someone else and spitting out your own dribble…  What’s original anymore?”

I thought that was quite true – there is so much information out there these days that it might actually be hard to come up with some original thought or idea that someone hasn’t already discussed, researched or copyrighted for their own.

So, why do students do it?  I mean, some of them don’t even change the multitude of fonts from the Internet or even take out the hyperlinks when they cut and paste! Don’t they have a sense of shame or guilt?!  Where is their sense of morality?  Well, maybe it has to be instilled in them and gently re-affirmed when they do it the first couple of times…

 

What are the consequences?

 

Well, I checked Canadian law, using my trusty Google search engine and came up with a link:

 

 http://www.canadalegal.info/ref-intellectual-property/ip-it-law.html#plagiarism-definition

 

Which said,

 

 “Appropriation of the literary composition of another and passing off as one’s own the product of the mind and language of another. . An example of the offence of plagiarism in the law is INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT, which comes into being when the work allegedly copied is protect by copyright.” [quote p.170 Canadian law Dictionary, 2nd ed., by John A. Yogis, Q.C. (adapted fr. Law Dictionary by Steven H. Gifis), © 1990 Barron's Educational Series, Inc.; ISBN #-0-8120-4308-1; Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 90-34213]

This link was useful too:

 

http://www.cjlt.ca/content/vol32.2/edmonds.html

 

Someone has spent a lot of time working on a paper on plagiarism.  I am assuming that the author followed his or her own rules and came up with their own original ideas and put it in their own words…

 

Many universities state that consequences can be

 

 …an awkward confrontation with your instructor to expulsion

 (http://www.lib.unb.ca/instruction/PlagiarismBibliography.html )

 The above link contained a “Plagiarism: How-NOT-to-Guide”, which I immediately felt the impulse to cut and paste it into my Mr. Miller’s Survival Guide to Grade 7.”  Of course, it was for the better of my students, right?  Well, I didn’t actually cut and paste it. I certainly read it though! (http://www.lib.unb.ca/instruction/Plagiarism.html )

 

What I found helpful, was their tips on avoiding it – which I already had in my philosophy, that students start their research early, use citations and use a specific format of citation (I use the Canadian Writer’s Handbook.)

 

They also suggested to:

 

·        Paraphrase properly

·        Use direct quotes sparingly

·        Keep in mind that facts that are “common knowledge” do not need to be cited.

·        Make your own argument

·        Know where to go for help.

 

Again, these seem to be common everyday suggestions that most teachers would use!  However, am I plagiarizing that website by listing the headings directly from their site?  (Yes, I cut and paste, but I edited and used my own bullets.)

When I have plagiarized

 

 The above point I made about cutting and pasting useful educational materials strikes back to the point about times when I have plagiarized (I can just hear all the TSKS! as other teachers read this!) But then again, maybe not because many of them have done what I have… cut and paste educational materials that someone else created in order to educate our students.  I’m sure that we have all heard and used the saying, “Why re-invent the wheel?” when creating lessons… Is this right or wrong?

 Whoa! My head is starting to spin…

 

What resources are there for teachers?

 

Doing my research, I came across a few resources that teachers may want to use:

        www.PlagiarismScanner.com  Software for your computer

www.Turnitin.com Use their facilities to check if your students’ work is honest

http://www.plagarize.com/  Information on plagiarism and resources

http://www.plagiarism.org/ More resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism The “Almighty” resource on the web…

http://www.cln.org/themes/plagiarism.html Links and resources

 The links go on and on and on…

 (A non-copyright animated gif – irony not lost on me)

 

So, to get back to why students plagiarise, I think that they do it because they are either not prepared or they don’t know better.  They need to be educated about the proper methods of citations and using other peoples’ ideas. Secondly, they need to be shown how to use them and practice using their own words. Finally, they need to learn about time management and setting priorities in order to get the work handed in on time and not feel the impulse to cut and paste.

 

Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now.