DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Plagiarism 2.0

2nd August 2010

Read it.

The NYT has an interesting article on the apparent increase in plagiarism by college students.  Why is this happening?  One explanation the story offers is that “many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed.”

Another possible explanation for the apparent rise in plagiarism is that many college students are simply unprepared for the type of academic work that is expected of them and engage in plagiarism even though they know it’s wrong.

I also think the apparent rise in plagiarism is of a piece with the apparent rise in cheating by students generally.  The problem is not that academic standards are too strict for the Internet Age.  Rather, it’s that students are not taught that such standards really matter.

2 Responses to “Plagiarism 2.0”

  1. Rick Says:

    What they are really saying is, “Why can’t these kids learn from the NY Times: Steal the words, then twist them to mean what you want. That way the originator won’t want to have anything to do with acknowledging any association with the text.”

  2. Whitehawk Says:

    It is also worth mentioning that we now have as vice-president one of the most famous plagarists of all time. Mr Biden made plagiarism popular and socially acceptable in the 80’s. He is a man way ahead of his time.