The Act of Plagiarism Monday, January 05, 2009 By Meghan Mulcahy This poor little girl doesn't know what she is doing to her life while she copies and pastes someone else's words as her own. - Advertising Research papers and literary analysis' are two burdens about half of the student body at Cameron High School have had to carry this year. Students are given a month or two to get their bibliography cards, note cards, and finally write the paper. Most high school students are one in the same, big procrastinators. Soon temptations are roaring saying, "Just get your paper off the internet!" Don't fall into that temptation. Teachers can say those words all the time, but it never fails, two or three students seem to plagiarize anyways.   "People plagiarize for a couple of reasons: they don't know they're doing it or they think they can get away with it.  In the first case, it's a matter of not understanding either the techniques for or the reasons for indicating a difference between what is yours and what is someone else's. What is another's language? What is another's idea even if expressed in my words?," said Professor of English and Chair Dept. of English, Foreign Languages and Journalism Missouri Western State University Dr. Mike Cadden. "In the second case it's just disrespect for the writer whose words/ideas are taken as well as disrespect for the reader. Even if time is running out or the person is simply lazy, it is still a knowing theft and fraud." No matter how much a teacher lectures, his/her students some still seem to plagiarize their papers.   Language Arts III Teacher Mr. Calvert said, "I generally find two or three plagiarized papers a year. About eighty percent of the paper is usually plagiarized." Some papers are mostly plagiarized, but then there are other papers with some unsighted quotes. It is really not hard to see if a student has plagiarized or not. Mr. Cadden said, "It's usually easy.  A student doesn't know that they sound very different than their sources.  Teachers can tell when your voice shifts or knowledge shared is unlikely to be had by the writer." When a student plagiarizes, they really don't think about if what they are writing sounds like themselves. Most the time it is due to procrastination or lack of information. "It is really tempting to plagiarize," said Senior Nicki Duerfeldt. "There are so many good quotes, and you wish you could put it into your paper but you can't." Nicki has one sure fire tip for all students ."To avoid plagiarizing make sure you cite a lot. It helps so much." Not citing sources can cause a lot of damage, whether it be in high school, college or even in the working world. "Colleges look at academics--especially elite schools. If you are up for a scholarship or trying to get into somewhere such as Stanford, plagiarizing is something that can knock you out," said Mr. Calvert. It is best to never start plagiarizing. Mr. Cadden explained, "If not caught they will likely do it again until they are." He then said, "At the university, a student can fail an assignment, a course, or be expelled. It depends on the university's policy and the number of offenses committed. At Missouri Western State University, all cases have to be reported even if the instructor has handled it in the course." As a person plagiarizes more, their punishments become more and more severe. Plagiarizing is not a good habit. It can destroy a person's life  completely. It is not a smart idea. Teachers have a knack for finding plagiarized papers. At its core, plagiarizing is just another way of lying. It is fraud to take someone's words as your own. It is better to have never written the paper at all than it is to plagiarize the whole thing.

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