Term Paper on "Conundrum of Plagiarism Nowadays"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

Conundrum of Plagiarism

Nowadays, plagiarism seems to be all around us, even in unlikely places. Doris Kearns Goodwin, a historian of the Lyndon Johnson presidency admitted to it, as did Senator Joseph Biden when running for President. Plagiarism has caused Pulitzer Prize winners, professors, and others their careers and reputations. A fascinating irony is when those who have most to lose from plagiarism plagiarize anyway. In my own words, plagiarism means stealing someone else's ideas, insights, scholarly or creative work, and taking credit for it oneself. The most frequent examples of plagiarism in an academic setting (all of which I have seen first hand, and, unfortunately, in increasing numbers) are when students have others write their term papers, copy ideas from books or internet sources without citing the actual authors, or even buy papers online. Plagiarism is a serious problem, I feel, not only because it is fundamentally dishonest and unethical, but because it compromises one's sense of self; development as a critical thinker; pride, self-respect; and confidence (and that is when one does not get caught!)

Increasingly, people blame plagiarism on the Internet. In my opinion, the Internet is not a cause of plagiarism, just a vehicle. People plagiarized before the Internet, and would still plagiarize if it ceased to exist. Moreover, the Internet is also a wonderful tool for serious research, and can put information at people's fingertips to help them do their own work and not plagiarize. The internet tempts some people's academic integrity, but academic integrity (or the lack of it) grows from inside oneself. The lack of it cannot be blamed on a computer. "Theft of intellectual property," such as another person's academic or other writing, or creative writing, is one standard definition of plagiarism, but in my own view plagiarism even includes someone's verbal ideas. For instance, I once had a boss who would take something I said in a meeting, say nothing positive to me about it, but then the next day pass it on to her own supervisor and take all the credit for it. That is not an "official" definition of plagiarism, but in my view it is equally dishonest, and equally harmful to one's own self-respect and integrity, as well as a violation of others.

I believe that one possible underlying reason for plagiarism in today's world is that is not longer considered a very important value to be educated, think for oneself, and to be able to think originally and critically. It even seems, sometimes, that society discourages, or even punishes those qualities. What seems to be more important nowadays is having lots of money and expensive possessions. If one thinks too deeply about the value of that goal (none) or of money or possessions for their own sake (these have no intrinsic value) it spoils all the fun of getting those possessions and showing them off to others. Television, films, and even (yes) the Internet all contribute to the shallowness that makes many people think it is all right, even preferable, to not think very deeply, or to even think for oneself.

A once spent time in Great Britain, and, although it is certainly not a perfect country, it does seem to place more of a national value on things like thinking well, speaking and writing well, thinking for oneself, and maintaining personal ethics. All in all, most people don't plagiarize because they can't do the work. They just don't want to have to bother to do the work, or to have to think, perhaps for an extended period, about things and in ways that make doing the work… READ MORE

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