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.
