Our View: Plagiarism

It’s 2 a.m., less than eight hours before a Utah State University student’s 10-page mid-term is due. His eyes are blood shot and all he wants to do is go to bed.

So he scans through the plethora of information on the Internet, copies and pastes a few paragraphs and calls it a done deal.

Completely innocent right?

Not exactly.

Whether we want to admit it or not, our fellow Utah State University students – who may even be our fellow friends – are participating in plagiarism.

It’s a problem that haunts professors every year and we as a student body need to be more responsible for what we claim as our own work and the work of someone else.

Although there may not seem anything wrong with copying a few sentences from a Web site or a 1,000-page text book, there is. It’s taking credit for someone else’s work and it’s wrong.

Luckily, according to university officials, USU receives a considerably less amount of plagiarism cases than its peer institutions. But we shouldn’t use that as an excuse or a reason to think we won’t get caught.

First, students need to realize what plagiarizing is. According to the USU Honor System it is “representing, by paraphrase or direct quotation, the published or unpublished work of another person as one’s own in any academic exercise or activity without full and clear acknowledgment.”

Second, students need to understand how easy it is to avoid plagiarism. A simple attribution is all it takes.

Third, students need to take into account that it is dishonest and unethical and could lead to revocation of a degree or ejection from the university.

So, when it’s late at night and “borrowing” a simple phrase seems innocent, think twice. Nothing is worth losing the respect of friends, the university and most importantly, yourself.