Plagiarize and risk more then just a bad grade
in the morning. No one’s around, the thought comes into his mind to go to the Internet and Google the topic to see what other people have to say.
With hundreds, possibly thousands of resources at his fingertips, it will only take a few taps of the mouse, a little copy and paste, then change the name and bam – the report is finished.
Each year as students start school, the professors go over their syllabuses to explain classroom procedure, assignments and what is expected. In those syllabuses, there is usually a reference to a policy about cheating and plagiarism, summed up as “not tolerated.”
According to the USU Student Academic Honesty Code, plagiarism is defined as, “Knowingly representing by paraphrase or direct quotation, the published or unpublished work of another person as one’s own in any academic exercise or activity without full and clear acknowledgement. It also includes the unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials.”
Plagiarizing could cost a student more than just a slap on the wrist. According to the Student Code, the punishments of plagiarism range from verbal warnings to community service and even removal of a degree.
Dallin Phillips, campus judicial officer, said that having a charge of plagiarism on a transcript could potentially cause more of a problem than a fight. Phillips said because cheating shows a person’s character, it can potentially make it harder for someone to obtain a job. He arranges for hearing meetings in cases of repeat plagiarism or serious cases, noting that USU has between one to three of those cases a year.
When students are caught stealing others’ work, the zero-tolerance policy kicks in. Ted Pease, a professor in the journalism and communications department, told of a past experience when a student was caught plagiarizing while writing for USU’s online newspaper, the Hard News Cafe.
A professor at a university in Delaware recognized the stolen work that was published on the site and contacted Pease, who then took steps to investigate the case and eventually took away the student’s degree.
“Plagiarizing doesn’t just damage the student’s reputation, but Utah State’s reputation too,” Pease said.
Both students and professors agree that plagiarism occurs when people get behind and try to rush to meet deadlines. Katie Nelson, a sophomore majoring in history, thinks that students may be tempted more to plagiarize around finals time when everything seems to be due all at once.
Also, many times, the student or author of a paper may just forget to adequately attribute a quote or idea to a proper source. Professors say that this is the most frequent type of plagiarism they run into.
Plagiarism isn’t just found in the journalism department. Professor Linda DuHadway said that plagiarism can happen in her computer science classes when students steal work from others. The science department uses a program designed to compare homework with a database of reports to specifically catch plagiarism.
Teachers offer much advice to students to protect them from claims of plagiarism. They say that students need to avoid being rushed, by developing good study habits like doing a part of their homework every day, and starting an assignment as soon as it is given. Learning how to properly attribute sources takes only minutes more and can save students from the damaging consequences of plagiarism.
“Professors are a lot smarter then most people think – they know when someone is plagiarizing, so why do it?” said Lacee Wilkey, a sophomore majoring in finance.
DuHadway emphasized the importance of just turning papers in on time, saying, “It’s better to turn a paper in to get partial credit, then to risk the chance of getting caught and getting a zero on the assignment and then subtracting the points possible, so in effect, getting a negative score.”
Professors are also making it harder for students to plagiarize. In the English department, professor and Department Head Jeffery Smitten said the professors are making assignments more specific to limit the possibility of finding similar work on the Web. He also acknowledged that search engines like Google and Ask Jeeves not only make research easier, but it also makes it easier to check for stolen ideas.
-dwkoecher@cc.usu.edu