Exploring Plagiarism: An English 101 Essay on Academic Integrity

This essay explores the concept of plagiarism, questioning its relevance in the contemporary digital age. It argues that while plagiarism is considered an act of cheating and is heavily emphasized in academic settings, it may be outdated outside of the classroom. The essay highlights the difficulty of producing entirely original work in a hyper-connected world, where exposure to similar stimuli can lead to similar thoughts and expressions. It also touches on the concept of 'generation plagiarism,' where students may plagiarize due to increased competition and stress, focusing on grades rather than learning. While acknowledging the serious problems caused by plagiarism in academia, the essay suggests that it is less of a concern in the professional world, where information is obtained from various sources and it is difficult to credit everyone. The essay concludes that plagiarism is primarily a concern within the classroom, with significant implications for students' academic careers.

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Plagiarism Within and Beyond the Classroom
One of the famous debates that are discussed in not only the academic field but also
outside of it is the concept of plagiarism. There have been incidents where people have lost jobs
or had to make a public apology for performing plagiarism (Pecorari and Petrić 270). Since
plagiarism is an act that is called cheating, intellectual property or copyright theft, it is
considered to be something terrible and focused highly in the academic area. However the
question arises here is, if it is a relevant concept today or it is only relevant in schools, college
and universities. The essay aims to argue on the topic that plagiarism is outdated in the
contemporary era.
Plagiarism is considered as an act of cheating, and it destroys the practice of scientific
research. People do not credit the author who has actually presented and developed the
knowledge. Yet, plagiarism is an outdated and outmoded concept with its significance only in the
classrooms. The reason it is old-fashioned and obsolete is for in the digitalised decade it is hard
to produce something that will not have any similarities with any other materials worldwide. In
the hyper-connected world, it is very likely to be exposed to similar stimuli that leads towards
the same thoughts that even be expressed in a similar way (Eaton). The rapid increase in
technology has made it possible for humans to obtain information from tons of methods

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including social media, podcasts, online news portal and many more. It is not surprising that all
the abundant reading may echo as own thought forgetting the source of it. It is by default human
nature and cannot be avoided as asked by the plagiarism rules. Every human being is a plagiarist
to some extent on an unconscious level. Humans naturally create models and learn from them.
Any outside source is a source of knowledge for the human mind which is not recorded on an
unconscious level. Therefore, the entire concept of plagiarism is specific, not practical to perform
in the present era by every person (Glendinning).
On surveys conducted on students, many have agreed to the fact that they copied from
other sources to do their own assignments. The concept of generation plagiarism plays a vital
role here. Plagiarism is certainly outdated and a primary concern for academic professionals
only. It is such as it is the generation plagiarism where students are presenting papers that are
plagiarised. In the discussion of plagiarism, the highlighted factor is vague. On asking the
student the reason they present plagiarised paper are associated majorly with the education
system in itself. Although the answer to the question, is all plagiarism really wrong?’ Is highly
influenced by their familiarity with digital text, to a great extent it is associated with the
education system as well (Ho 2474). Due to increased competition and stress, students are found
finding more ways to get their assignments done in simpler ways. The important concern of the
student is not learning but grades, career goals, morality, originality and many more. Also, in the
digitalised period, copying and pasting have become convenient which helps students finish the
assignments faster without actually learning. The generation plagiarism is the way in the current
era plagiarism has become extraordinarily simple. However, apart from the academic
professional, it is not a concern to any other field. As students are missing their opportunity and

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the matter of concern is not plagiarism but student’s scope to learning. Therefore, plagiarism is
outdated, and it matters more in the classroom than the outside world.
Many students do not grasp the information and yet use it in their academic papers. The
internet age today have certainly made possible gathering information across the globe in no time
and no or little money, however, it has also brought concepts such as intellectual property,
originality and copyright under assault. It has become one of the serious problem faced by
professors today. Digital technology has made possible copying and pasting much easier than
before. The internet is redefining the ways students understand the concepts of the singularity
and authorship of any image or text. It’s therefore, a generation where the media and intellectual
property do not have the same gravity (Hollins 884). The singular effort of an author creates an
original work that is rooted in Enlightenment ideas. However, undergraduates are less interested
in cultivating unique and authentic identity. It is the fault of the internet as it has transformed the
concepts of intellectual property, originality and copyright. The digital technology is making the
task of copying and pasting so much easier that student sees the advantages of using the copy-
and-paste method. Students without being aware freely borrow the information and do not credit
the people who have truly invested themselves in developing the information (Hallin). Along
with advancement in technology, the other reason it occurs is for students to leave the high
school unprepared for the intellectual rigours that exist in college writing. However, noticing the
serious problem caused by plagiarism, it can still be argued that it is outdated but not in the
academic field and it is an essential competent of the educational field. The concern is not close
to the professional world and does not require such attention. In the world outside, information is
obtained every day through various sources. The digital technology has provided the opportunity
of reaching every place physically or virtually. This helps in gaining information instantly, and

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there cannot be any guarantee that only one person is able to reach the place of
information.However, within the academic circle, it is significant to give credit to the person
who has invested time, energy and effort in order to generate the specific information. the act of
plagiarism violets he honor code and will get the student suspended. It is an act of trust violation
and performing plagiarism do not help in learning. However, all these information are only
relevant in the academic field. Outside the classroom when every area releases information, it is
hard to give credit to everyone. Also, human mind is built in a way that is constantly learning
and obtaining information. It is often an unconscious act which therefore, should not be a factor
of calling someone thief (Papadopoulos, Roy and Pachet).
As discussed above, one of the famous debates that are discussed in not only the
academic field but also outside of it is the concept of plagiarism. The act of plagiarism has been
called the act of stealing. However, with discussion done above, it can be stated that plagiarism
is only confined with the classroom as it certainly has serious side effects. When students
perform plagiarism, it has several disadvantages for their career. However, outside the class
room it is irrelevant.

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Work cited:
Eaton, Sarah E., et al. "Academic Integrity Online: Developing Support Mechanisms for Online
Graduate Students to Understand Plagiarism: Research Project Brief." (2017).
Glendinning, Irene. "Responses to student plagiarism in higher education across
Europe." International Journal for Educational Integrity 10.1 (2014).
Hallin, Marc. From Mahalanobis to Bregman via Monge and Kantorovich towards a “General
Generalised Distance”. No. 2018-12. ULB--Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2018.
Ho, J. K. K. "On plagiarism-dissolving: A research note." European Academic Research 1.11
(2014): 4274-4290.
Hollins, Timothy J., et al. "Social influences on unconscious plagiarism and anti-
plagiarism." Memory 24.7 (2016): 884-902.
Papadopoulos, Alexandre, Pierre Roy, and François Pachet. "Avoiding plagiarism in Markov
sequence generation." Twenty-Eighth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 2014.
Pecorari, Diane, and Bojana Petrić. "Plagiarism in second-language writing." Language
Teaching 47.3 (2014): 269-302.