2 Combating Plagiarism Consistent instruction for the ethical use of this information has been missing from the pedagogy we use to teach students. Digital information lives on a computer screen. This abstract quality creates so many variables to consider that instruction is now essential in order to reduce plagiarism. THE ONLINE COMMUNITY The Internet has created a global community of information seekers. We have the freedom to read whatever we want with everyone else in the world. Defined online communities thrive, with people from all over the world connecting through the computer about shared interests like health, sports, and music. Of course, at the center of this community feeling are sharing information and a feeling of common ownership (Fritz 1999 Scan- lon and Neuman 2002, 374). However, this feeling of “connection” and community is superficial. Technology creates a barrier between people. This is where plagiarism often begins during the academic use of informa- tion. The fact that we do not actually know the authors of the information makes it feel less personal and less egregious when a few sentences are copied and pasted without a citation. PLAGIARISM PERCEPTIONS It is impossible to quantify plagiarism in classrooms today. Students are understandably reluctant to accurately self-report, even with formal research studies that guarantee anonymity (Scanlon and Neuman 2002, 378 Ma et al. 2007, 81 Sisti 2007, 228). There have been studies at the uni- versity level but far fewer with secondary school students. Students come to high school and college with little to no practical knowledge about pla- giarism. They also bring the bad habits and erroneous information about plagiarism learned since elementary school (Davis 1994, 55). Many students believe that accountability and consequences for copying and pasting from the Internet are unlikely. Technology causes a critical rela- tionship barrier between the author and the digital information consumer. Along with unlimited access, this makes cut and paste an easy, private action. Copy and paste cannot be prevented. While there are well-­ p ublicized cases of plagiarism that have been in the news, for many, this is too far removed from the average young adult’s life to have any meaning. At the high school level, students may believe that the consequences for plagiarism will not apply to them if they have never heard of it happening to anyone else. For people who are growing up with unlimited information access, there is an understandable tendency to treat it casually (Tomaiuolo 2007, 19). They know which teachers are unknowledgeable about technology.
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