Students have a much broader spectrum of resources at their fingers today that allow them the opportunity to use information to pass off as their own. Why do students pass off this information as their own? Is it because students are lazy? Is it because they know there is a good chance that their teacher wont be able to notice or prove it? Or is it because maybe they don't even know what they are doing is wrong?
I think all of these questions can be answered with a "yes". Some students do want to take the easy way out; therefore they will try to find a free pre-written paper on the Internet and in some cases even purchase an online paper. The problem doesn't only lie in papers, it can also just be snippets of information off the Internet that is passed off as their own and not cited as a secondary source. Most students who are computer/internet savvy would realize that it is difficult for a teacher to seek out the exact source of information that has been plagiarized, which makes it difficult to prove they have plagiarized. "As technology grows in school districts, so do the problems encountered" (Baum, Janna J).
Perhaps we should be giving some students the benefit of the doubt when smaller portions of work have been plagiarized and you are aware that maybe they don't understand what they have done is wrong. Which brings in the question of when is an appropriate time to start discussing plagiarism? Should it always be talked about - I think so. What is the harm in touching on the subject from a young age and then advancing on the topic when students begin research reports?
I have left you all with some questions throughout my post - please feel free to answer whichever one(s) you would like :-)
Here is a link with many links talking about the subject of online plagerism.
Here is a link that discusses the ethics of blogging.
Here is a link that is debating the issue of ethics of blogging.
3 comments:
I think that these topics need to be adressed as soon as students start using the computers. They are young at that point but they can be introduced to it and it will be familiar to them throughout their schooling.
I also looked into this article regarding Cyber Ethics, and I think it is very dependant on the age group you are working with. Of course the younger students will not be as aware of the issues surrounding the ethics of the cyber world. Older students, who may be more aware of the ethics issue, still may not be completely sure about the "rules". I think it is important to review plagiarism with all students, to ensure they understand exactly what it is all about. To comment on the notion about students being lazy, I do not think this is always the case, however, due dates seem to creep up on us all, and this can be the result, and it may be a quick fix, and many times students do not think they are "copying" if they are changing some of the words around, and further so, some do not feel the need to cite something they are not copying word for word.
Erin Behnsen
I think it's important to raise the issue of plaigarism as soon as students are writing any work that reuqires research. Regardless of whether or not students are using technology to research a particular topic, it is important that students understand what creating their own work means as opposed to using someone elses ideas to support their own.
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