Students and Plagiarism – A Vast and Growing Gulf of Ignorance

The culture of the Internet is leading bewildered students to more and more plagiarism, while the lazy habits of online research are making such thought-theft a new norm, according to an Aug. 1 New York Times article by Trip Gabriel. Some students are mistaking un-sourced Internet material for “common knowledge,” the writer says, and “many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed.” Gabriel’s examples include a student whose paper included purple cut-and-paste text from a website; the student wanted his writing tutor to help him change the text color to black. It’s an important issue for us to grapple with as academics and as prospective faculty members. Read the entire article at: The New York Times

-Tim Moran
President, HGSA