Plagiarism in action
Hello.
Grrr... Plagiarism bugs me big time and I want to add my voice to those who have already said what a big 'no-no' it is. Quite apart from anything else, including legal implications, it's bloody lazy.
I'm currently researching for an article I'm in the middle of writing about the Alpha/Beta Male and I just came across the following two pages:
http://www.worthethic.com/the-alpha-male-syndrome.html
http://www.modernmalelifestyle.com/article/Alpha-Male-Syndrome-Good-Bad
We all get ideas and inspiration from others, but if we're going to create original, high quality content we really must use our own brains and form our own opinions.
If all we can come up with is a quick 'cut and paste' we are cheating, and if we have nothing new to say we should probably go and find something else to do.
There, I've said it. I'll get down off my high horse now. Haha!
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I agree there is no need to steal someone else's work , it is only cheating yourself and limiting your progression to...good post
I agree with you that plagiarism is a form of laziness for those with nothing unique to say. In college the professors gave an "F" for works which they thought to be "not original." Writing papers was always a matter of doing my own research, synthesizing and analyzing the information, and then formulating in my own words my thoughts and understanding of the material. This is not easy and does take time.
Exactly! I had the same experience here as a mature student at Uni. It really does get drummed into you at higher education, and rightly so,
Having worked in higher education the past 14 years, I can certainly add my support to what you've said. The internet has provided incredible amounts of content but it has also made it very simple to cut and paste. It's sad when people resort to doing this because it means they aren't utilizing their potential for thinking.
As an adjunct, I was always on the lookout for plagiarism - and it was surprisingly easy for me to spot. A student whose writing was . . . average, suddenly becomes Hemingway on his essay! Quick google search and . . . yeah, there it is. I gave Fs too - and said it right up front on the syllabus.
I almost said the same thing in my response. I teach mainly online, so everything is written. As you noted, it generally is very easy to spot.
One difficulty I faced in my last position was that in some other countries, it was considered to be a positive if you "researched" and found good content, then included it in your paper. Since the majority of my students lived and worked in other countries, we had to continually remind them that in the U.S. it is considered a "no-no".
I've used an online facility called Copyscape where, at little cost, you can check the extent of identical or similar copy across the web. The amount of duplicated content is astounding!
According to Google if you can't add anything of value then your post isn't worth listing. Only unique content will do for the search engines. I have some PLR articles but I wouldn't dream of using them for anything but research and inspiration. ~Marion
You got it off your chest. Thank you I find the same stuff when I am finding information to do my work
Ken
Very true. And If too many do too much of that we will see some form of regulation that would make our business even tougher.
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These writers should give their own summary of the topic, then reference whatever articles they find and give credit to the creator of the article? By doing that, no one cheats and folks are recognized for their work.