Plagiarism is a word that strikes fear in the hearts of many. It is a serious issue, essentially the “mortal sin” of academia. There seems to be no quicker way to damage your reputation as a student or receive a failing grade.
At the training for First Year Seminar teaching apprentices last week, we began a discussion of plagiarism and the Wooster Ethic in order to make sure we knew how to steer the first-years in the right direction. However, it soon became shockingly apparent that many of the upperclassmen were just as confused about plagiarism and citation as we anticipated the first-years to be.
While everyone understood the most blatant cases of plagiarism, it was the more subtle situations that created confusion, including the ideas of paraphrasing and common knowledge. It was obvious that copying and pasting from the Internet into an essay and then turning it in is plagiarism, but just how many words do you need to change when paraphrasing, even if you cite? And what exactly defines common knowledge? Plus, to add to the confusion, many of these situations vary by discipline.
I believe that the students who plagiarize knowingly are doing so not out of deceitfulness or laziness, but out of stress and desperation. Plagiarizing seems to be the only option at 4 a.m. the night before a paper is due; it’s either plagiarize or have nothing to submit and fail. They take the dishonest route in order to save the grades they care about so much.
But, if you’re caught, you’ll fail anyway. At least if you turn nothing in, you keep your integrity, if not your GPA. So, I think that the majority of students know that plagiarism isn’t the way to go, even in desperate situations.
However, while the situation I just described is a scary thought for most of us, I think perhaps the most frightening situation is that our lack of understanding about plagiarism and citation could lead us to plagiarize unknowingly, and then fail a course or assignment, despite our honest intentions.
As a result, it seems clear that we need to find a way to help students better understand this complicated and critical issue. Perhaps more First Year Seminars and introductory courses need to spend time discussing plagiarism and citation in depth. Or, maybe citation guides should be required texts for more courses. The Writing Center or Educational Planning and Advising Center could offer a session on plagiarism and citations similar to the COW 101 sessions offered in previous years, and encourage students of all ages to attend.
Of course, in the end, it’s the students’ responsibility to ensure that their papers are plagiarism free, not the duty of the professors. That’s why we need to ask for the help and clarity we want, go to our professors with questions about confusing issues, and read our citation guides a little more closely, so that if a question about our work arises, we can prove that we tried everything we could to be honest and ethical.
And, of course, when in doubt, we must cite, cite, cite.
Emily Tarr is a senior staff writer for the Voice. She can be reached for comment at ETarr11@wooster.edu.