Is Academic Honesty in Jeopardy?

There are many views on the topic of plagiarism; when is it considered plagiarism, how it is dealt with and how to properly gather information from others. According to Tech Terms a general definition of Plagiarism is “the act of copying someone else's work and publishing it as your own. This includes text, media, and even ideas. Whenever another person's work is copied and republished without an appropriate reference or citation” (techterms). In today’s era we have advanced technology that makes it is very easy to have access any information we please. This allows individuals to view other’s work and be tempted to copy and paste it to use it for their own. Honesty plays a major role in the success of an individual in education or even in the work force. In high school, students begin to research from books, websites and reports. They soon comprehend that it is very important to know how to properly cite other individuals work because they could face the consequences if they do not do so. What measures could the high school take if a student is caught plagiarizing? The common action that a student may face is receiving a zero on that assignment or more harshly a school suspension. In university academic dishonesty is more looked upon, the consequences are significantly more impacting. The student caught plagiarizing will receive a mark of zero if they are lucky, but if not they could end up being expelled out of university with no refund on their tuition. If an individual is found guilty of plagiarism in the workforce, they most likely will be fired or asked to resign from their position. To conclude academic honesty is very important for the overall success of an individual.

To further explain this concept, we can look closely at the situation that Katrina endured. She completed her essay on Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and handed it into her teacher. Her essay writes “We know that Middle English refers to the type of English that people used in the time period after the Norman Conquest and coming before the Modern English age that begins with the Renaissance. We usually think of this age as spanning the time from 1100 to 1500, but these dates are only approximate because the Norman Conquest occurred in 1066 and there are pieces written before 1500, like Le Morte D'Arthur, that we consider to be modern.” It has almost identical words to the novel C. Hugh Holman's A Handbook to Literature on the definition of Middle English. The book states “English as spoken and written in the period following the Norman Conquest and preceding the Modern English period beginning at the Renaissance. The dates most commonly given are 1100 to 1500, though both are approximate dates, as the Norman Conquest came in 1066 and some writings earlier than 1500 (e.g., Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur) may properly be called “modern” English.” Katrina uses this source word-for-word, only change some words and rearranging parts of each sentence. It is evident that she does not bother citing the source at the end, then argues that it was common knowledge that she came up with herself.

In the essay Katrina used many synonyms of words that were seen in the book like “occured in” to “came in” and “pieces written before” to “writings earlier than” and lastly the statement “the time period after the Norman Conquest and coming before the Modern English age that begins with the Renaissance” was changed to “the period following the Norman Conquest and preceding the Modern English period beginning at the Renaissance”. It would be considered properly paraphrased if she used the proper citation.

Plagiarism is the same as copying on a test!

After reading it through, the teacher concluded that Katrina had indeed plagiarized. I agree with the teacher’s statement. I would consider this an act of plagiarism because Katrina paraphrased someone else's work without proper citation. Katrina argues that it was common knowledge but it seems far-fetched considering the complexity of that section in the essay. She could have done it by accident or purposely, but in the end she still plagiarized and that comes with consequences. If I was Katrina’s teacher I would take immediate action, either count her essay as a zero or make her redo the assignment on a different topic. Either of one these punishments will teach her the consequences, letting her learn from her mistakes. If this is not Katrina’s first time being caught for plagiarism, then I believe that the teacher and the school should take more serious action. This might be by calling a parent and detention or even a suspension. The harsher punishment will show her how academic dishonesty is not acceptable. Discipline will become more severe as she continues her path in education and later in the workforce. This is knowingly preparing Katrina for university, as there is more at stake.

-Holly MacAlpine