Plagiarism pervades university society
Rita Forbes
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: News
"Everyone knows that student life is full of pressure," said Dr. Lanny Ackiss, professor of English, "but that's one of the things that makes a college degree meaningful, that one copes with the pressure, and survives, and excels."
Ackiss said he can identify a plagiarized paper after reading just a few sentences.
"Experienced writing teachers can read a student's style the way most people can read people's faces," he said. "In writing classes, it's surprisingly easy to spot. That's one of the reasons it's not a huge problem: we know our students' styles so well."
Administrators say students faced with the temptation to plagiarize should stop and think about what they are really doing.
"What happens with plagiarism is you're passing off someone else's work as though it were your own, and that's so dishonest that it wouldn't work on the playground in third grade," Ackiss said. "… Maybe the latest forbidden fruit is how tempting it is to do it, even though we know it's wrong."
Ackiss said students will face consequences for cheating, whether or not they are caught by the University.
"In the long run, cheating is its own punishment," he said. "Cheaters are ultimately depriving themselves of both learning and of the satisfaction of being a moral and upright person. And that costs a lot, or it ought to."
Even though Carter didn't get caught, she would not engage in "helping" another student in that way again.
"That was four years ago," Carter said. "From 18 to 22, people mature a lot. I was a really poor college student at the time, and I just thought, 'Hey, I can get $300 out of this.' But I wouldn't do it again. It was stupid and reckless."
Ackiss said he can identify a plagiarized paper after reading just a few sentences.
"Experienced writing teachers can read a student's style the way most people can read people's faces," he said. "In writing classes, it's surprisingly easy to spot. That's one of the reasons it's not a huge problem: we know our students' styles so well."
Administrators say students faced with the temptation to plagiarize should stop and think about what they are really doing.
"What happens with plagiarism is you're passing off someone else's work as though it were your own, and that's so dishonest that it wouldn't work on the playground in third grade," Ackiss said. "… Maybe the latest forbidden fruit is how tempting it is to do it, even though we know it's wrong."
Ackiss said students will face consequences for cheating, whether or not they are caught by the University.
"In the long run, cheating is its own punishment," he said. "Cheaters are ultimately depriving themselves of both learning and of the satisfaction of being a moral and upright person. And that costs a lot, or it ought to."
Even though Carter didn't get caught, she would not engage in "helping" another student in that way again.
"That was four years ago," Carter said. "From 18 to 22, people mature a lot. I was a really poor college student at the time, and I just thought, 'Hey, I can get $300 out of this.' But I wouldn't do it again. It was stupid and reckless."
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