| Plagiarism
General Definition
Plagiarism
refers to the practice of taking words or ideas from someone else and
representing them as your own. Plagiarism occurs most frequently in the
adult world when someone takes a story or story idea from someone else
and tries to use it as his or her own. In recent years, there have been
famous cases where newspaper reporters and college professors have been
fired when it was learned that they had used material from other sources
without permission or without identifying the source.
Plagiarism in Online Education in General
In online education, the most common kinds of plagiarism occur when
students copy materials from another source, often an online source, and
submit it as their own work. Sometimes two students who know each other
will copy work from one to the other. In either case, the students are
cheating, and there will be penalties for it.
Plagiarism in World Language Online Education Classes
Advances in technology have created a new source of plagiarism for online
education students in world languages. Some web sites contain translating
software that enables students to submit work in English and have it translated
to a target language. Much of that translation actually works, but the
technology is not perfect, meaning that some significant mistranslations
will almost always occur. Sometimes these sites produce pure nonsense.
Turning in such a translation is just another form of plagiarism, and
it is cheating. Teachers can usually tell when students do this,
because of the characteristic "feel" of computer translations
and the errors that occur. Frequently two students from opposite sides
of the country will submit identical pieces, which is a dead giveaway
for the teacher. It is possible that students will get away with this
from time to time, but eventually they are usually caught.
Penalties for Plagiarism
Individual teachers may choose to have their own systems, but students
caught using any form of plagiarism can generally expect to receive at
minimum a zero on the assignment. An individual teacher may may use
more severe penalties. In some cases, the student's home school may wish
to be involved and may add additional penalties.
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