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Ken Del Rossi
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school has started
again, and it’s
time to remind each other of those important classroom
credos that have governed our behavior since second
grade: “Don’t copy your neighbor’s
work.” “Say it in your own words.” “Cheaters
never win.”
Is it possible some of us weren’t paying attention
in second grade?
Plagiarism never really went
away, but it has gained momentum lately, fueled
by, well, I’m
not sure what. Laziness? Cluelessness? Improper
nutrition? We try to answer these and other
questions in a scrupulously researched article
(“Whose
Idea Was That?”)
by Ginny McCormick, who used her very own brain
and all the proper attributions.
Since I’m old-fashioned
about intellectual property rights and whatnot, I
thought I should
do a little poking around of my own to bone
up on plagiarism.
I learned some interesting facts. For example,
if you’re preparing a paper on Aristotle, you
really don’t have to bother with research and
writing sentences and such. You can just go
to aristotlepapers.com and download an essay
already written about the topic.
If you can’t find exactly the right thing,
the helpful folks at aristotlepapers.com would
be happy to write a paper to suit your needs
(for a
small fee).
There are hundreds of Internet
sites like this, with essays and papers on
subjects ranging
from Charlotte Brontë to the history of logic.
Evidently you can’t buy a paper on the application of logic, though, since such a paper might
equip would-be customers
with the capacity to think for themselves,
thereby dooming the business model.
One of these sites,
and I am not kidding, is
entirely devoted to papers about Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight, an anonymously written
poem that, according
to the home page, is often studied in college
medieval literature classes. The site explains
that this “online
resource” exists to help students “struggling
to write reports.” “We Sell Essays on
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight! Help is Here!” it
shouts. Over at Russianhistory.com, students
are assured that “The fall of the Soviet Union
doesn’t have to mean the collapse of your academic
career!” After all, they can get “SAME
DAY DELIVERY via
email or fax!!!” In teeny
tiny type at the bottom of the page, in a section
of text that includes zero exclamation points,
the Sir Gawain site points out that its service
is designed “only
to assist students in the preparation of their
own work.” You know, to avoid all the trouble
of thinking up ideas.
The complicated truth is that
plagiarism is
a powerful temptation that seduces good people
as well as bad. Which is why teaching students
to resist
it is both important and difficult.
I can remember
the first time somebody used my words without
my permission. It happened
almost 20 years ago and the perpetrator was
my boss, who
appropriated large sections from a newspaper
column I had written for a speech he gave
to the local Chamber
of Commerce. Sitting in the audience, I was
stunned to hear my own words coming back
at me.
I felt flattered, momentarily. But the next
day, when my boss still hadn’t acknowledged
my work or me, I began to seethe. What gave
him the right?
Now I realize I was being shortsighted.
What
I needed was a website. “Looking for a snappy
speech for that Rotary event? Help is here!!!”
Speaking
of websites, ours is new and improved. After
more than a year of planning and testing,
STANFORD online has been relaunched with
a fresh design and
more features. Take it for a spin. In addition
to the unabridged print edition, you will
find content not available elsewhere, ranging
from online-only
sidebars to audio snippets of faculty commentary.
You can submit a letter to the editor, search
past
issues and send us a change of address with
a few clicks.
About 1,700 people visit stanfordmag.org every
day, and STANFORD articles
are viewed online more than a million times
each year. Now
that the site
is both easier on the eyes and easier to
use, we hope those numbers will grow.  |
