Plagiarism

Rob Jenkins, an associate professor of English at Georgia Perimeter College analyzes the effects and the consequences of plagiarism in his article titled: ” Toward a Rational Response to Plagiarism”.

Rob Jenkins takes into consideration what kind of problems would it cause to students that take someone elses essay and returns it as his own. He is also trying to figure out what is the best way for teachers to react to their students about the matter.

He says it should briefly told to the students what is the teachers stand on plagiarism and what are the penalties to students that get caught. Mr. Jenkins emphasises that the matter should not be overemphasised either. I think it is really hard for a teacher to try to prevent students from plagiating someone elses text in their essays.

There are a few reasons for that fact. One is that it is pretty hard to determine what is “plagiating”. If you just take someone`s idea and say it in your own words, is it cheating? Or does it have to be an accurate citation about what someone else has said or written.
Reason number two. I think nowadays most students in Finland do not feel that they are making a big crime for cheating on an English assignment. And the penalties would not be that bad. What is the worst thing that could happen? You would have to write your essay again? That does not sound very intimitating. Higher education is not that valued anymore either. And the teachers are not that feared or respected as they once were. I do not know in what kind of school does Mr. Jenkins teach but I do not feel that his ideas apply that well at schools in Finland.

Reason number three. How do you get caught from plagiarism? I have no idea. Maybe if you return the exact same assignment back that some other student in your group had returned too, you might get busted. I just do not see how any University teacher would have the energy and time to investigate where does every student`s sentences originate from.

Reason number four. Would the student who plagiates and gets caught from it stop doing it? My guess is: ”no”. He or she would probably just do a better job next time. I do not believe that a person who tries to pick the easy way out would at any point stop doing so. Rob Jenkins says that a punishing plagiaists is an unfortunate part of the teachers job. I just do not see the students learning anything from the punishments.

My final conclusion. There is no way to stop plagiating and it can’t be monitored (except in a classroom) are reasons enough to stop worrying about it. You just can’t stop it. And the ones who do plagiate probably do as much work as the ones who write their own essays. Rob Jenkins made the same conclusion.

I see something good at plagiating that Jenkins did not mention. In todays world where information is all over the internet the ability to search knowledge from the right places is a major benefit. Why invent the wheel again? It is important to pass things to everyone. As the founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales said: ”Imagine a World in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge”. It is a fact that most innovations result from borrowing rather than from true invention. In the end isn't this statement of John Burke so true: “If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism. If you steal from two, it's research.” Just remember to include quotations or give the appropriate citation and that will do.