Plagiarism

In today's world of high speed internet, high powered computers and free access to thousands of databases and publications, access to a vast amount of information is just a "click away". When used properly, this information can benefit students and general academics around the world. When used improperly, it can help create one of the biggest problems facing the Academic environment today, Plagiarism.

In our society, it is quite common to hear reports of people caught trying to beat the system. This is the era where the convenience of the internet has enabled the illegal downloads of information such as computer software, images, music, movies and even opinions and ideas of others. Recently the law has indicted many people for the unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted material on the World Wide Web. It is a very costly fine that has people second guessing their decision to beat the system. It is the misguided, unethical concept that immediately enters everyone's mind: why pay for something if I could get it for free? There are many software programs on the Internet that encourage the "sharing" of illegal downloads of this information. Now there are websites that let you bypass hard work and allow you to pay money for a research paper rather than produce one from your own thought and effort. In an academic setting, this occurrence is best described as plagiarism. It is theft of another person's efforts and accomplishments not to mention cheating. This means that anytime you use another person's work, you must give that person credit. Plagiarism is the use of another's words or ideas without obtaining their permission. Plagiarism can mean using someone else's entire work word for word, using just part of another piece of work, or even paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is taking some else's work and trying to put those ideas into your own words or format.

In an academic environment, it could be difficult to detect the intentional use of Plagiarism, especially in a group setting. For example, an assignment is given to a group or team of individuals in which they are instructed to research and collaborate as a group on a specified subject. It is up to the team as a whole to use the on-line