Plagiarism

As you have already seen from your assignment from the week, there seems to be a continuing problem with plagiarism - either intentional or otherwise. So, I decided to use this week's blog entry to give you my thoughts on the subject. Here goes...

When you plagiarize, you are stealing the work of another and presenting it as your own. Regardless of your reasoning for doing so, it is wrong. Not only do you not give credit where credit is due, but you also hurt yourself and others in the process.

When I give you an assignment, my goal if for you to learn as much as possible about the assigned topic. In a perfect world, you would not only complete the assignment, you would become so wrapped up in the subject that you would want to learn as much about it as possible. After all, this is your chosen career path. But I realize that we don't live in a perfect world, and as such I simply expect you to complete the assignment. (See my previous post On Work and Work Ethic for more on going the extra mile.)

When you complete the assignment, however, I expect the finished product to be your work, not the work of someone else that you are passing off as your own. What does that mean? It means that if you get your information from someone else then you have to cite your source. There are only two times that you do not have to cite sources and that is when the information is your own thought or when it is common knowledge. It's pretty easy to figure out when it's your own thought; but how do you know if it is common knowledge? Easy. If you were to ask ten people a question about a topic and a large majority of them (say eight or nine) could answer it off the top of their heads, then it would be common knowledge. Otherwise, it isn't and you need to cite your source. So, as you can see, there aren't many instances where you are going to write something, especially about a technical topic, and not cite your sources.

But what if I paraphrase the material, you ask? Read the paragraph above! Even if you paraphrase the material you still need to cite your source. Simply moving the words around in a sentence or changing a word here and there doesn't change the fact that the information came from someone else and thus needs to be cited.

So, how does it hurt you and others? The obvious answer is that you get in trouble if you get caught. The less obvious answer is where your plagiarism begins to have a snowball effect.

Let's look at a hypothetical but likely situation involving Bob and Jessica, two average students who decide that it is easier to plagiarize and/or cheat (which is essentially what plagiarism is) their way through college. Let's say that Bob and Jessica's instructors don't catch their plagiarism and/or cheating or choose to do nothing about it. Graduation night comes and you, Bob, and Jessica all proudly walk across the stage and receive your diplomas from Edgecombe Community College.

Two weeks later, Bob gets a job with the Widget Co. His employment last for about six months, just long enough for Bob's boss to figure out that Bob doesn't have a clue what he's doing. And why doesn't he have a clue? Because instead of actually doing the work he was assigned in college, he plagiarized and/or cheated his way through and graduated without the knowledge and skills he needed to succeed in the workplace. Now, not only has Bob been fired from his job, but he has to explain to all of his potential employers why he doesn't work at the Widget Co. anymore.

As luck would have it, Jessica hears about the IT opening at the Widget Co. and applies for the job. After reviewing her college transcripts and seeing her good grades, she's hired to fill Bob's old position. This time it only takes the boss three months to figure out that Jessica is clueless when it comes to IT work. And that's not the only thing that the boss has figured out. He's also spotted a couple of commonalities between his last two employees - not only were they unprepared to do the job, but they were both graduates of ECC.

Now it's time for your big break. After nine months of searching for a job, you finally hear about the perfect opportunity. The Widget Co. is looking for an IT person. Great news, or so you think. You apply for the job and supply a copy of your college transcript as requested in the application instructions. You wait and wait, never hearing back from them. When you finally call, you are told that the position has already been filled. But how could that happen? You had a degree in IT studies and a perfect 4.0 GPA - even better than Bob or Jessica. Why didn't you at least get an interview?

It looks like plagiarism has finally found it's second victim. You see, Bob and Jessica's old boss got tired of taking chances on ECC graduates. After hiring two that had IT degrees from ECC but didn't know what they were doing, he came to the conclusion that that was the norm for ECC graduates. He figured that if he hired another one he'd be firing them in a matter of months too. So, he picked a graduate from another school and you didn't even get an interview.

But that's not where it stops. You see, the IT manager at the Widget Co. is friends with the IT managers at other local companies. And when you apply there, those managers call their friend at the Widget company and the conversation goes something like this...

"Have you ever hired one of ECC's IT graduates?"
"Yeah, I've hired two; and neither of them knew anything about IT."
"Wow, I had heard they had a great program."
"Yeah, I had too. But I've been burned twice. I'll never hire another one."
"That bad, huh?" Well, I guess I can toss this application I got today from one of their graduates. I need someone who knows what they're doing."

So, not only do you get passed up for the job at the Widget Co., but it doesn't look like your chances at Whackit World, Inc. are looking much better either.

The bad thing is that it doesn't just happen to you, it happens to all of the other people who walked across that stage that night. And to those who came before you and to those who will come after. And it's not just IT jobs either. You see the IT manager knows a woman who works in the banking industry who is married to a guy who works in the criminal justice field who plays golf with a man who owns a day care center... and they all talk to each other. And they talk about things like hiring good employees and firing bad ones. It doesn't take long before an ECC degree isn't worth the paper it is printed on thanks to Bob and Jessica.

And when students can't get a job with a diploma from our institution they start going somewhere that has a more respected reputation. And when the students stop coming, the classes don't make. And when the classes don't make, I don't have a job.

Not only do I suffer as an instructor, but I get double whammied because I'm an ECC graduate too! And I'm still waiting for an apology from all the Bob's and Jessica's that have tarnished the value of my degree.