Module 7 - But I swear it's my own work

3/8/2014

Photo: PlaneMad flickr creative commons

Go to Plagiarism 101 and read about plagiarism.

- What did you learn that you did not already know?
- How has technology affected plagiarism and work ethic of students?
-Your initial post should reflect deep critical thinking and reflection on this topic.

For this session, you MUST reply to TWO (2) posts.

Cole

3/10/2014 08:31:06 am

All these years, I thought that it was only plagiarizing if you copy something word for word. I didn't know that it's still plagiarism if you change a few of the words within the sentence. I also didn't know that as long as you cite where you got the information, that it is not considered plagiarism. I realize now why works cited and in-text citations are so important. Technology has made it easier for students to plagiarize, even if they don't realize that they are doing it. It is so easy for students to gather information from everywhere on the web, and because kids work ethics now a days are so poor, they just write everything word for word instead of putting it in their own words. Technology has diminished work ethic because you no longer have to search through books and magazines to find the information you're looking for. You simply type it into a search engine and you will get thousands of hits, although the lazy students of today will only look at the first few links. If they don't find what they're looking for in those first few links, they immediately search something else up instead of looking at the rest of the page or even the next page. I'm guilty of this also, but this research project has taught me to look further in because you might find something useful.

Devin Blattner

3/10/2014 03:28:20 pm

I didn't know that original ideas that people have are considered intellectual property and are under copyright laws. It's easy to avoid plagiarism by just simply citing the source. Technology has really affected plagiarism because it makes it 10 times easier to just copy and paste someone else's work and use it as your own. Technology has made students work ethic go down because these days it's so easy to just find something on the internet and use it as your own. Students get really lazy throughout high school and the internet encourages that laziness. There are many types of plagiarism but there are also many ways to prevent it. If a person has the slightest thought about part of their essay that could potentially be plagiarized all they have to do it cite the source and it will no longer be considered plagiarism.

Cole

3/12/2014 12:52:13 pm

I also didn't know that people could put copyrights on things like that. It's scary how easy it is to accidentally plagiarize something and be accused of it. High school students have gotten really lazy as technology has advanced. It's really bad and I'm guilty of it myself.

Tori McCaslin

3/14/2014 04:04:36 pm

Like Cole, I also didn't realize that you could put a copyright on "intellectual property." I certainly have plagiarized on accident. I know that the Copy and Paste method is plagiarizing but I didn't know that rewording was. High School students are becoming more and more lazy as time passes and technology advances, like Cole said.

Alyssa Saggio

3/14/2014 04:15:48 pm

Hey Devin, nice response! It is definite that technology makes plagiarism much more convenient for students. Especially because us teenagers are so lazy and easily procrastinate on everything because we know we'll always have one reliable resource: Google. There are many ways to prevent plagiarism, as you stated. However, I feel as though it cannot be prevented in some instances. What if you type the same, or even similar, ideas that another person has and are accused of plagiarism. I find this to be very scary. I feel as though I cannot even write my original thoughts now without a chance that it has already been said.

Alyssa Saggio

3/11/2014 01:19:00 am

After reading more on plagiarism, I realized that there were a few concepts of this term that I didn't fully understand. For instance, I had no clue that plagiarism meant any person could copy "too many" ideas, even when cited. Also, I wasn't aware that there are just so many types of plagiarism; I thought plagiarism was just plagiarism without any little names or meanings. Technology as a whole makes students lazy and unoriginal. With all of our cell phones, laptops, and even T.V.'s, it is hard enough for us students to find the focus and sit down to do work. And so, I'm lead to believe that technology does in fact cause more students to plagiarize. Because so many books are digitized along with the fact that the Internet is available to almost all students, many feel as though they can always use a search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing) and find an answer in a matter of seconds. Although there are students who use the Internet to broaden their research, some take it too far and do not give credit where credit is due (to the real authors). In my opinion, technology contributes to the deteriorating work ethic of students as well. I, personally, am sometimes guilty of procrastination due to the fact that I know if I cannot personally find the answers on my own, I can ask a friend on their opinion or pick up my Iphone and google the question. In this case technology is way too accessible; although I would never steel another's ideas, I know there are tons of students in the world who would. I know how serious this act can be, and I now know that if I am writing an essay or paper, I have resources to help me determine whether or not I should cite my own sources.

Brian Burke

3/11/2014 08:34:07 am

Plagiarism is a much bigger deal than I had thought. Never would I have known that teachers and professors go to this extent to see if a student copied off another source. I did not know that it was possible to plagiarize a persons idea either. According to the link it is possible to match certain text from a document to a website. This means that if your idea resembles the one of another person, then you are copying their work. Colleges can take it to a whole other level of strict. I suppose it is necessary to go to such an extent nowadays since students work ethics are terrible. I believe every High School student had or accidentally has plagiarized their writing at least a few times. It seems that it is increasingly harder to get away with as technology advances. Perhaps this technology will force students to not take ideas from websites unless they are completely untraceable to the plagiarism websites online.

Kasey Gallagher

3/14/2014 07:24:20 am

I think its really scary that its possible to match text from a document to a website. I never realized it was so easy for teacher's to check. The fact that I could think the same thing as someone and say my thoughts differently but get in trouble for plagiarism just because my thoughts are like theirs seems really unfair.

Alyson

3/11/2014 09:35:58 am

All these years I have been accidentally plagarizing and I didn't even know it. By taking information from a website and putting it in your own words without citation is plagiarism. Also plagiarism is so serious of an offense that you can even be kicked out of a university for it at the collegiate level. The advancement of technology has made it so much easier to not only plagiarize but, to be caught plagiarizing. It's so easy to copy and paste someone else's work into your paper. It's also that easy for a professor or teacher to copy and paste "your" work into google and, if you copy and pasted into your paper the source you go it from will come right up.

Cole

3/12/2014 12:59:23 pm

I think I've plagiarized too on accident. I didn't start citing until last year. I have to remember to cite things all the time in college because it would definitely suck to get kicked out for accidentally plagiarizing. My dad would probably be pretty mad. I also never realized how easy it is for teachers to see if you're cheating. I mean i knew they could do it, but i didn't realize it was that easy. I wonder if Mrs. Erdman does that…?

Devin Blattner

3/14/2014 10:44:47 am

Yeah...colleges do not take plagiarizing as a joke. They will kick you out right away. It's a major offense and I still believe that people don't take it too seriously. I think all of our parents would be furious if we got kicked out of college for plagiarizing.

Kasey Gallagher

3/14/2014 07:19:56 am

I feel the same way when it comes to accidentally plagiarizing! I always knew copy paste was plagiarism but I had no idea that putting it in your own words without citation was too until we read the article.

Alyssa Saggio

3/14/2014 04:11:34 pm

Alyson, I'm with you on the "plagiarizing by accident." Doing my research on plagiarism really opened up my eyes. I cannot believe how serious the effects are in colleges/universities. It's pretty scary that it may even happen without a person realizing what is actually going on. In addition, I never really considered how simple you really made it seem: teachers can just copy and paste your own writing in Google and determine whether or not a person plagiarized.I definitely have to be more aware!

Tori McCaslin

3/11/2014 11:04:53 am

I used to only think that plagiarism was when you copied a sentence word for word from another source, it was only recently that I realized that plagiarism is much more. I had no idea that you can take a few of the same ideas from a source and it is still plagiarism. Also that if you take technology into consideration, it is much easer to plagiarize on accident. Students today are lazier and with the use of cell phones and the internet, it is much easier to plagiarize. Copy and Pasting is a very well known term to any student in my generation. Anyone can use Google or Bing and type in a homework question. A few seconds later, the answer just pops up. Even if you change the wording around a little and move some commas around, you are still plagiarizing. I think that students need to cite where they get all their information from more often. I do think that technology contributes to plagiarism. It is much easier to google an assignment and get the answer rather than to read and do the work on your own.

Brian Burke

3/14/2014 05:40:37 am

he example you used regarding google was well said. I agree too that the work ethic of students nowadays is poor. It is so easy to just google or Bing an idea. In turn that may make students seem lazier. I also believe that the laziness has an effect on the citation as well. Not only do students look for short cuts around citing work, students do not want to spend extra time citing sources. In turn they may have plagiarized and failed.

Kasey Gallagher

3/11/2014 11:10:19 am

After reading all the information on plagiarism, I think I may have been plagiarizing without even knowing I was! I always thought plagiarism when you copy pasted but I was really surprised to read that even other people's ideas are considered plagiarism, not just their exact words. I always thought it was okay to use other people's ideas as long as you kind of shaped it in to your own idea and didn't copy their words. I was also really surprised to learn about the copyright laws on people's ideas, thoughts, and words. I think it was really helpful to read through all the information because I feel like a lot of high schoolers plagiarize without realizing it. There's a lot of ways to use someone's work in your own work by simply giving them credit through citations, the use of quotation marks, etc. I think technology makes students lazy and it makes it a lot easier for us to plagiarize. All of the information we could ever need to write a paper or find an answer to a homework question is available at the click of a button. Some students will change a few words around and add some of their own information, but its also possible for students to just completely copy someone else's work and try to pass it off as their own.

Brian Burke

3/14/2014 05:36:12 am

I agree with the statement that you have been plagiarizing for years. I am also guilty if that is the case. I believe that the extent professors would go to is somewhat silly. Students are supposed to gain and use information that was said by others. If using an idea because you agree with it is considered plagiarizing I believe everyone is guilty. No one likes to use citation in every outside example in a piece of writing.

Tori McCaslin

3/14/2014 03:57:34 pm

I agree with what Brian said in his response as well. I have also been accidentally plagiarizing on my homework and papers. I never knew that you had to site every single fact that you use form the internet. I would re-word the answers that I read. I had no idea that even taking the same idea was plagiarism. I think that everyone is guilty this at some point in their life.

Devin Blattner

3/11/2014 03:22:15 pm

For one of my replies I am going to respond to everyone and not just one person. I feel like we all were under the same impression about what plagiarizing really was. We all thought that it was copying a sentence word for word but after doing our research we realized that we were plagiarizing even if we switched up phrases. In order to not plagiarize all we have to do it cite the information that we found so then it won't be considered 'stealing'.

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Module 7 - But I swear it's my own work

Mrs. Erdman

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