One of the worse instances of plagiarizing I ever personally encountered occurred at Los Medanos in 2005 during the Spring semester. There was this very talented writer for the college’s community and campus paper, "the Experience", writing a series of rather articulate book reviews for the entertainment section. As the semester continued this writer’s reviews began receiving a number of accolades from readers and became one of the main attractions of the paper. When the time for the annual JAAC awards arrived the Experience won several awards alone on the book reviews.
Unfortunately, as it is often the case, when something appears to be too good to be true it almost certainly is.
Despite working as Feature's Editor, I never read the book reviews because such had nothing to do with my section, so I had no ideas something was “hinky” about the situation. Regardless, an instructor read one of said reviews sometime later, and recognized a one or two paragraphs he recalled having read earlier in a different publication. It turns out that the reviews were being plagiarized from a reviewer that worked out of NY.
When this deception was revealed to the head of the Journalism Department, she personally confronted the suppose writer about the accusation. Unfortunately the student confessed to the plagiarism of several articles, and was summarily suspended. In the spirit of integrity the head of the Journalism Department issued a statement about the incident in the next issue, and informed the JAAC why she was returning the awards.
Plagiarism is not only morally dishonest in the way a student can claim success and credit for someone else’s hard work. This form of dishonesty also completely cheats the very student engaging in such an act out of the knowledge. Even if a person successfully plagiarize the work of someone else they have only achieved a hallow victory. The passing grade might have been obtained but the curriculum has not been learned by the individual. If a student spend most of their academic career getting by through plagiarism they will not be a professional in whatever field they are trying to become a part of.
I cannot claim to have learned much new from this assignment, but I am really happy to know these sort of assignments are being taught to students on a regular basis. It is so easy to get behind in one class or another, then in desperation, attempt to plagiarize one's way out of problem. At other times students can make an honest mistake. Really, this issue is covered, though in much simpler ways, in classes as early as kindergarten: be fair, do not cheat, tell the truth, and do not take what is not yours.
Wow, that is one of the worse plagiarizing instances I have ever herd of myself! Did you know the writer? Did he end up getting expelled?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the fact that a student isn't just cheating the person who actually wrote the article, they are also cheating themselves. This individual could have had the privilege of getting awards for his actual work, had he taken the time to do it, if he was as talented as you had mentioned. Seems that his talent was wasted considering that will be on his transcripts.
I also don't feel that I learned more from this particular section, but I learned a lot from the class as a whole. Did you?
Hello, This is Hatice Biddle. Hope all is well, I always heard about plagiarism but hadn't been close to any. The individual plagiarized thought this is going to make them look good. If she hadn't plagiarized and put together some reviews herself, it may have not gotten any awards but she still would have her dignity. Now she is so much worse than just someone who can't write well. What's interesting is people make themselves believe plagiarism is worth losing everything. Do you think having those awards returned and making it public with the apology statement on the incident; do you think it deterred potential students from plagiarizing?
ReplyDeleteHi Walter!
ReplyDeleteI have nothing profound to say other than to compliment you on how well you said these sentences and their meaning " This form of dishonesty also completely cheats the very student engaging in such an act out of the knowledge. Even if a person successfully plagiarize the work of someone else they have only achieved a hallow victory." The whole point to taking any class is to learn and by using another person's work, the whole thing is pointless.
Walter, you made a good point; the basics of plagiarism is covered in the early learning years. Don't cheat, follow all directions, and don't lie are all things that are taught at an early age and naturally feel wrong to many people. We as students have to understand that our instructors have experienced how hard college can be and have created the assignment accordingly. Many students who plagiarize believe that they are cutting corners but the only thing that gets cut is thier potential to learn.
ReplyDelete