Plagiarism in the Digital Age

                  

            

         “Plagiarism is the fear of a blank page.” 
                                           ~Mokokolma Mokhonoana 

The first hit on Google for the word “plagiarism” and its informal synonym “cribbing” gives us these definitions and etymologies:

pla·gia·rism. plājəˌrizəm

The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

From early 17th century: from Latin plagiarius ‘kidnapper’ (from plagium ‘a kidnapping,’ from Greek plagion ) + -ism.

synonyms:

copying, infringement of copyright, piracy, theft, stealing; informal cribbing

crib. krib/verb

copy (another person's work) illicitly or without acknowledgment

Dictionary.com offers this for the word “plagiarism”:

An act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of 

another author without authorization, and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author.

Plagiarism Online lists this as the number 2 form of plagiarism:

Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit.

            We all know the most obvious forms of plagiarism: copying directly from online or hard copy sources; and paraphrasing others’ ideas as one’s own.  It is easy to locate direct plagiarism off the internet.  As a writing teacher for over 30 years, I can identify writing and thinking styles as a forensics expert can finger prints.  Once I suspect that a student’s writing is not his own, all I have to do is to print out the source document, append it to the student’s paper, and I’ve proven my case. But the internet has spawned more insidious forms of plagiarism. 

Before computers and the internet, if a particular piece of information appeared in five sources—usually encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference hard copy—it was considered to be “common knowledge,” available for “fair use” and did not have to be cited.  “Cairo is the capital of Egypt” counts as common knowledge, as does “William Shakespeare wrote The Comedy of Errors.” Plagiarists have become more wily in their use of the internet than to copy sources directly.  What they do now is to scan summary sites such as Schmoop and Monarch Notes (see A Monarch Shmoops Off Cliffs, Sending Off Sparks: The No Fear Prison and Misprision of Paraphrase) for themes and ideas, or they harvest them from Google hits and compile them to form their papers.  If confronted, those who have some conscience will admit how they wrote their papers.  Others claim that these ideas are common knowledge and so fair use: no citation necessary.

But the internet engines may list five sites for the same idea, often not offering citations of original sources.  The rule of five no longer applies.  If you do not do the work of developing your own ideas and researching whether others have formulated them before you, then your work is not original. 

Let’s draw a distinction between term papers and theses.  A term paper constitutes compiling others’ ideas and words with proper citations.  A term paper requires only research, organizational, and citation skills, and can be a grind.  The internet can turn the writing of a term paper into an assembly line that requires little to no investment in thinking, experimenting, revising. A thesis or essay requires not only term paper skills but, essentially, critical and creative thinking.  There are no short-cuts to original thinking—it takes time, experimentation, patience, energy, and humility.  Original thinking can be an exhilarating adventure. Sweeping up—kidnapping—others’ original ideas and claiming them as one’s own is not.

 Specifically (although this applies to all universes of discourse), a literary thesis or interpretation is entering a conversation that—as with those who write about giants such as Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, or Shakespeare—spans centuries.   

The best policy is to 

(1) report and cite your research activities on an essay;
(2) cite your sources within your paper, not just as part of a Works Cited list;
(3) the first time you use a source, write the full title, author and page numbers;
(4) thereafter, use the author's last name to introduce her/his ideas, and add page numbers;
(5) research ideas you have independently so that you can cite and situate your contribution into the larger conversation before you;
(6) when in doubt, cite.

To give credit, even if it’s to write “the first five hits on Google for Romeo and Juliet interpret the death scene as…,” is to show respect for those who have done the work of deep thinking before us.  To name them is to friend them. To give credit makes you (look) smart and confident. To give credit credits the researcher as an honest person with a conscience, who belongs in the conversation—who belongs to the family of literary enthusiasts.  It is a sure way to develop integrity.  To plagiarize is to sully oneself, to skulk in alleyways, to be burdened with shame.  It shows disrespect for oneself, for those from whom one steals, for those whom one is attempting to sham. To give credit is shine.

So why do people plagiarize?  South African philosopher and essayist Mokokoma Mokhonoana writes that “Plagiarism is the fear of a blank page.” Why we become afraid of the blank page is a topic for another time. I’m most concerned about students, who, on the night before a paper is due—after coming home from a day of four classes and two jobs and caring for an ill parent—in the dark of their bedrooms, with only laptops for light, steal.

Works Cited:

Plagiarism Online