On Plagiarism
by Mr. O'Leary
n the famous play, Cyrano De Bergerac, the hero Cyrano, feeling himself too ugly to deserve the woman he loves, finds solace in putting his feelings for her in another man's words. This was a willing act of plagiarism, but, like the more common use of plagiarism, it served neither himself nor the other man.
The idea of plagiarism is a mark of advanced culture. Where early societies reviled those who took one's personal property and used it as their own, sophisticated societies came to extend that disapproval to intellectual property as well–that is what people think, create and write. To take ideas, knowledge, concepts or creations of another and claim them as one's own, whether written or not, is intellectual fraud and reviled in academia everywhere.
They castrate the books of other men in order that with the fat of their works they may lard their own lean volumes. ~ Jovius
Recently, the Department Chair of Harvard's School of Pyschology resigned his position when a graduate student found that he had plariarized on his masters thesis 20 years earlier. He immediatey admitted to the deed and apologized for it.
Plagiarism is particularly wretched because it is always premeditated, always deceitful and always a result of intellectual laziness and character defieciency. It sickens me how often I encounter plagairism in my profession as a teacher. I have seen national honor society students casually copy another's homework, explaining, if asked, that they just didn't have time to do it. Such casual disregard for honor and cynicism for academic achievement is a sure sign of a society in decline. When we casually cheat, ask others for answers, and, to make ourselves feel better about ourselves, put it off as done by everyone and not really a bad thing to do, we acknowledge that personal integrity is the servant of expediency.
The work plagiarism comes from the Latin plagirius, which means a kidnapper. When a person takes the intellectual property of another, it is kidnapping that property and using it as his own. According the Brewer's Dictionary, "Martial applies the word to the kidnappers of other men’s brains." Apart from the harm that plagiarist do those they plagiarize, there is also harm done to the plagiarist. As Cyrano found out, relationships do not survive deceit easily. A person who presents the work, knowledge or ideas of others as his own is lying in a very strong way. It is difficult to trust someone who lies. Obviously, if a person lies, then others never know when he is lying and, for their own protection, must not put trust in what he says. When a person present others' work as his own, then one can never know is that person's thoughts are his own. As one would never willingly listen to a series of lies, why would one want to converse with someone who may be silently stealing their thoughts from others?
In spite of academia's disapproval, plagiarism seems to be rampant on our high school and college campuses. Indeed, the internet has hundreds of "cheatsites"–websites devoted to giving away or selling the work of others for the web surfer's own use. Papers on every conceivable subject are openly advertised for plagiarism. Academia has responded by creating web based services to detect plagiarism. Such sites as plagiarism.org and turnitin.com allow teachers and professors to upload sections of text and the site will attempt to find a match. It will then return the passage, the match and the probability that it was plagiarized.
Such measures may be fruitless however, because plagiarism seems to appeal to a strong human character flaw–that is getting something for nothing. Indeed the music to one of our national hymns seems to have been plagiarized from a popular British song.
Thomas R. Lounsbury, editor of the Yale Book of American Verse wrote in 1912 that "there is nothing more impudent in the history of plagiarism than our appropriation of God Save the King and dubbing it America. Such appropriations have not been uncommon with individuals; but it is apparently the first time that the act has been perpetrated by a people. It was bad enough to steal the tune; but to marry it to the feeble words which were set to it was adding insult to injury.
Most people, and virtually every plagiartist, feel that the problem isn't a big one and that no one is really hurt. People often get away with it, and the low chances of getting caught seems worth the risk. Yet, how many of us would want to trust our safety to an airline pilot who got through school by cheating? a lawyer? a doctor? When one's safety is on the line, most people would want a person of integrity upon whom to rely.
Plagiarism is seductive and addictive. Why should one work hard to research, think and create when so much has already been done? Once started, some students fail to see any plagiarism in what they do. Yet even paraphrasing the thoughts of others without giving them credit is plagiarism.
Paraphrase, therefore, without proper documentation, is theft, perhaps of the worst kind. Here, a person loses not a material possession, but something of what characterized him or her as an individual. Plagiarism is a serious violation of another person’s rights, whether the material stolen is great or small; it is not a matter of degree or intent. You know how much you would have had to say without someone else’s help; and you know how much you have added on your own. Your responsibility, when you put your name on a piece of work, is simply to distinguish between what is yours and what is not, and to credit those who have in any way contributed. (The Wake Forest Department of English Web Page)
Academia protects itself against plagiarism because ideas and knowledge are its heart and soul. Without respect for private ownership of ideas, our scholars would lose all integrity and writers and thinkers would lose the fruits of their labor. Yet, if humans are willing to cheat, we also are willing to recognize fairness as well, and, to be fair, we should not plagiarize.