Defining the "Gray Area" of Plagiarism in School

Plagiarism is a serious crime. End of story. It's not as if you were simply stealing something a person had purchased from the outside; worse, plagiarism steals someone's intellectual property, something very personal and which belongs to them and them alone. Intent doesn't matter. Whether you intend to plagiarize or not, it's still wrong, and will warrant, at the very least, a failing grade or, even worse, expulsion from your college. Even a few of the best historians get caught plagiarizing...and it ruined their careers, even if it was only a paragraph that was copied. Stripped of their status, reputation, and any awards their book may have won, the consequences were devastating. And as technology gets more and more advanced, it is becoming more and more inevitable that those who plagiarize will get caught. College professors rely on years of experience to detect plagiarism. They also have been increasingly utilizing a website called turnitin.com that electronically compares the text of a student's paper to perhaps billions of both internet and textual sources transcribed electronically. Chances are, if you plagiarize, you will get caught. And, in any case, even if you have three hours left to write a six page paper, it's better to write it in your own (very tired) words rather than using someone else's.

A great deal of those who plagiarize had no malicious intent to do so; rather, they lacked a complete knowledge of what plagiarism is and therefore fell into one of the "gray areas" of gathering information from other sources. Many of us define plagiarism as using other people's exact words as our own without their permission. Even the Encyclopedia Brittanica defines plagiarism as "the act of taking the writings of another person and passing them off as one's own." Still, there is a gray area extant, for many of those accused of plagiarism thought that they had changed the original work enough to call it their own, when, in truth, they hadn't.

Many people are under the impression that if an individual changes a word or two of the original author's sentence, it is no longer plagiarizing. This is in fact false. If the sentence structure of the original author is the same as in your paper and you fail to give the author credit, it is plagiarism. Failure to put the author's words in quotations, thus failing to given her/him credit, and to properly cite the work in which your information was found classifies as plagiarism. Copying an entire paragraph from a book and simply altering a few adverbs or adjectives simply does not cut the bill for an original work. Even if you get ideas from a book or journal article, you still owe the author credit, and it is imperative that you do so.

The government takes plagiarism seriously indeed. In fact, there are established "Fair Use Guidelines" for borrowing textual support in papers that were established by the Conference on Fair Use. Section 4.22 of the document says: "Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less, in the aggregate of a copyrighted work consisting of text material may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project created under Section 2 of these guidelines. An entire poem of less than 250 words may be used, but no more than three poems by one poet, or five poems by different poets from any anthology may be used. For poems of greater length, 250 words may be used but no more than three excerpts by a poet, or five excerpts by different poets from a single anthology may be used." The guidelines then, are very specific, and few people understand how specific they are indeed.

It would seem that everything has to be cited in order to avoid plagiarism charges. After all, there are billions of sources available on any given subject, and surely one of them is bound to have said what you were thinking to write in your paper. Not so. While books are excellent tools for lending ideas (which should be cited), they also inspire ideas of your own, conclusions that you draw from the text itself. When performing research, read an entire chapter or paragraph, and then, without looking at the text again, write what the information you gleaned from the text, in your own words. Such is paraphrasing, and correct paraphrasing is entirely legitimate. Just be sure that you haven't inadvertently copied any exact phrases. Expand on your own ideas; you'll never know where they may take you.

What about facts? Do they need to be cited? This too is another gray area. Commonly known facts, such as the fact that George Washington was the first president of the United States do not require citation. Everyone knows that. Everyone knows that Martin Luther King gave the "I have a dream" speech. However, what does need to be cited are the specifics, for instance, that George Washington was nominated as president on Day X of Event A by Individual C (who had previously mentioned his intent to nominate Washington to Individuals D and E, on Events B and C). This critical kind of information yet requires a citation.

Another issue that many students have is that they will turn in a paper for Class B which they have already written previously for Class A, claiming that it is their own intellectual property and their own work to be disposed of how they chose. This, however, is still cheating, as it goes against academic honesty guidelines.

Plagiarism is indeed a widespread problem with increasingly severe academic and judicial repercussions. A thorough understanding of what is and what is not cheating, and abiding by those standards, is essential. According to a survey performed by U.S. News and World Report and presented on the plagiarism.org website, "75% of college students admitted cheating and 90% of college students didn't believe cheaters would get caught." However, the truth is that plagiarism may lead even to time in jail, and being incognizant of your actions hardly helps matters. It's your responsibility to cite the sources you use properly and that you manage your actions according to the law. Awareness is critical. Plagiarism, of any sort, is a crime.