Plagiarism from a teacher’s position

There is currently a lot of information in existence on the Web and in handouts from schools/colleges/universities, even on this site, in relation to plagiarism. You understand what it is: duplicating someone else’s work to boost your own results without paraphrasing (re-writing in your own words so you can show your comprehension of the material).  Also, you have been told about self-plagiarism: taking a previous piece of work and re-submitting it to your own professor/lecturer, where you do not learn anything, period!
Yes, you have been launched into a world of advanced Information Technology and spectacular consoles from some big-named manufacturers/companies, but do bear in mind that the Internet has only really been commercially available for the past 15 years or thereabouts.  This means that a lot of people who are older than you are in fact well versed in the ways the Internet and indeed IT work.
Granted, not all people know how to use IT or the Internet effectively, but a lot of people do.  Mainly because we as educationalists have to make sure we’re up to date with the current technology, otherwise we would be dismissing an integral part of the learning and development using a very valuable resource.
This subsequently means that plagiarism is something you are not able to get away with when it comes to the vast majority of IT-literate teachers/lecturers.  I have had so many students, this year alone, hand in work that evidently is partially and in some instances entirely, plagiarised.
Here’s why: your writing is personal to you.  You write in a distinct way and yes, you sometimes word sentences using incorrect grammar.  So when the next passage is read and it’s grammatically sound, reads like an extract from a 21-year-olds college or university assignment and in small cases, has a different font, it’s not difficult to spot the distinction.
When this happens it is easy to initially pop that sentence into Google and let it do all the hard work.  If it comes back with positive hits on the exact phraseology which leads to a website, which in turn leads to a passage sneakily similar to yours, then you’ve been sussed.
Taking it a step further, your paper can then be put through plagiarismchecker.net and checked for any more inconsistencies.

In today’s IT-orientated world you are not the only (young) people that know how to browse the Internet to find something that will fit in your paper, us tutors/lecturers here are just as well equipped.  So be mindful the next time you are trawling through the Web.

Helpful links:

• JISC – plagiarism resources and advice from the Joint Information Systems Committee.
• http://www.plagiarismchecker.net/ – free plagiarism checking software and articles, resources and lesson plans on avoiding plagiarism.
• PlagiarismAdvice.org – JISC’s specific plagiarism advice website.