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Persuasive Arguments Against Plagiarism
Noelle Edejer
English 130
United States University
I. Introduction
Plagiarism is intolerable in the modern world. It is inexcusable even in the past because it is reprehensible to claim another scholar’s knowledge. For scholars and students in the past this was tantamount to stealing because the words and ideas of a scholar were his only property and were supposed to be his pride, joy and identity. Of course, in the days prior to the internet and computers plagiarism was a manual process where the plagiarist would literally copy the text of another scholar using his typewriter or a pen. So the motive behind plagiarism really was theft of ideas and claiming them as one’s own. The plagiarist is too lazy to craft his own ideas and has decided to ‘borrow’ the ideas of another person. But he still had to work to steal those ideas because he had to type or write them down. He just did have to think about anything original or scholarly to say since he was just copying.
Today an element of sloth is one of the primary motivators of Plagiarism. With the advent of the internet it was a simply mater to go to Google and search for ideas then copy paste those ideas, perhaps tweak it a little and then claim it as original work. People have become lazy thanks to technology. Fortunately technology and academic integrity have found means of fighting back. Websites like Turnitin in are very effective at scouring the internet for the source of ideas that are stolen by students and passed off as original. Still it is an uphill battle, like the war against digital piracy the war on plagiarism is one that cannot be won easily. The two articles I have chosen, Instructor Perceptions of Plagiarism: Are We Finding Common Ground? and Anecdotes of Plagiarism: Some Pedagogical Issues and Considerations deal with a very complex and confusing subject related to Plagiarism. Namely what constitutes the fine line between researched properly borrowed material and what is stolen via plagiarism.
II. The Problem
Aziz et, al (2012) present in their article Anecdotes of Plagiarism: Some Pedagogical Issues and Considerations the argument that Plagiarism is a contentious issue. They present the idea that professors and students do not have a common understanding of where the line is drawn regarding Plaigirism. Instructor Perceptions of Plagiarism: Are We Finding Common Ground (Bennett, et al. , 2011) presents the same question how can plagiarism be stopped if instructors do not have a common ground regarding what is and isn’t plagiarism and cannot figure out a way to have a unified method of combatting it. I know that it can be said that most schools have a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism. But the problem lies in the fact that most schools and professors do not have a clear understanding of where the line is drawn. Without consistency or unity in their stand many people will get by and not get caught.
As a matter of fact this lack of unity can be found by a quick browse of what authors define as plagiarism. For example the most commonly used definition is “taking words or ideas of another person” and “using without proper acknowledgement” (Culwin and Lancaster, 2009). Yet Culwin and Lancaster (2009) assert that “student plagiarism is further defined as plagiarism with the intent of gaining academic credit”. It is sufficient for this paper that we combine all these definitions when we discuss plagiarism.
III. An appeal to authority?
Bennett et al. (2011) seem to use an argument that is grounded on technical research. They took 158 participants as their sample size to determine if there was any consistency in the definition of plagiarism. The participants agreed that it amounts to claiming credit for another person’s work. But the subjects were divided as to whether the act of reusing ones past work. Also the chief perception is that recycling past work was not frowned upon and a wider university board should be consulted before a finding of plagiarism is levelled in order to give due process.
If I was a critic I would level the allegation that this article uses the fallacy known as appeal to authority. They are using as proof the fact that a substantial number of the persons involved agree on something or disagree on something. The idea that a group of people believe in something and are therefore correct which can be used as a basis of authority. I guess that’s a bit democratic since if the majority think in one way then they must be right.
On a more technical note, I know this actually has more to do with a concept in statistics. If they can show that a relevant, properly selected sample of people have a view then their views can be extrapolated to the larger group as accurate. Since the study was an attempt to find consensus among the people then perhaps it was conducted properly.
To be fair, the document also talks about how the study was conducted. It was conducted using statistically sound methodologies and the data was presented in a clear and concise manner. It makes a fairly rational argument about the lack of a unified view and how it makes it possible for some students to get away with some forms of plagiarism.
IV.Hasty Generalization
On first look, the anecdotes on plagiarism seems to be just that, anecdotes. I can argue that the first part of this article resembles the fallacy known as hasty generalization. Namely, because it happened to the three of them therefore it must be true. That’s like citing a personal example and claiming that such an example is already binding on all persons.
However, the apparent hasty generalization is actually just an anecdote or story to prove a point. The authors backed up their stand with research and a review of what past authors have to say about the topic. They even have past studies that they themselves conducted on the subject. Therefore, it would appear that the anecdotes are just there to humanize the subject.
The subject is actually a bit philosophical because it involves a question on what true definition of plagiarism really is. Hence it is important for the authors to dig deep into the well of past works to uncover what reliable authors have said about the subject in the past in order to develop a proper understanding of what plagiarism is. I believe they do a fine job in presenting their arguments and raising their points.
References
Bennett, K. Behrendt, L. and Boothby, J. (2011) Instructor Perception of Plagiarism: Are we finding common ground? In Methods and Techniques.
Aziz, J. Hashim, F, and Razak N.A. (2012). Anecdotes of Plagiarism: Some Pedagogical Issues and Considerations in Asian Social Science Vol 8. August, 2012
Culwin, F., & Lancaster, T. (2009). Plagiarism Issues for Higher Education. Vine, 7(123), 36-41.
…………………….Answer preview…………………………….
In the modern world, plagiarism is not allowed or tolerated because it is a form of cheating. In college courses, students are frequently engaged with other people ideas. Students read people’s idea in texts, here them in lectures, and incorporate them into their own writing. Therefore, it is significant that students’ credit where it is expected. Plagiarism is using other individuals’ ideas and words without their permission or acknowledging the source of that information…………………………..
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