Plagiarism, What We Can Do About It
Copyright infringement happens everyday all over the world. Most people do not realize this, but it does. Plagiarism is just one specific type of copy right infringement which entails one person copying another's work and using it as their own. In a paper, such as this one, if a works cited page is present and works are properly cited, then neither plagiarism nor copyright infringement has taken place. "Copyright...protects original works of art, motion pictures, literary works,...which are in a fixed tangible form." (Rhoades)
Though our society has been plagued for ages with this problem, we are still at a loss as how to fix it. Copyright laws have been established, but are not prosecuted enough for them to bear the weight they need to stop the problem. The laws here in the United States also require a work to be registered with the Copyright Office to bear the weight of the law. If a work is not registered, little can be done if copyright infringement occurs. The case cannot be prosecuted in court which means the author cannot be reimbursed for any damage or loss incurred by the incident. However, a provision was written into the law that does allow certain instances for copyrighted works to be copied. Copying "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." (O'Mahoney)
Too many students plagiarize too often. We recently had an incident in class that involved one person stealing a paper out of our box where we turn in assignments. The person copied the paper changing few things and proceeded to turn the work in as their own. When both students were confronted with the issue, one student could show back up copies and original drafts, whereas the other student could not, thereby destroying their credibility. In addition to swapping or stealing papers, students have many on-line sources ready to hand out papers. "There are several large sites which sell papers, and even more which maintain small collections for free." (Leland)
"Plagiarism is a perennial temptation for students and an eternal challenge for teachers." (Leland) One might ask what could be done to stop this. The common suggestions are that teachers have their students do some assignments in class, that they also have students turn in the previous drafts to their work on papers when turning them in, and that they know what sources are available on line for students to obtain work from that they may try to pass off as their own. The drafts may be checked, as well the on-line sources, to verify if a work truly is original.
If most teachers do these things, plagiarism on college campuses would be drastically reduced. By the application of these ideas, students would learn better how to apply themselves, to do the hard work, and to not always take the easy way out. Maybe we can even learn that hard work pays better than cheating and plagiarism does. If we educate students about plagiarism, they can then avoid plagiarizing while not knowing about it, which is still plagiarism. "If you deliberately or inadvertently present someone else's actual words or even ideas as if they were your own, you can be accused of plagiarism." (Raimes) Also, by the filtering out of plagiarism in college, we might be able to cut down on any plagiarism after college that occurs.
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