Students in elementary, junior high, secondary and post-secondary educational institutions are all toiling away despite the unseasonably warm weather we are enjoying in much of the West. I feel really bad for them.
There is a growing concern with plagiarism at all levels of education. Some of it is simple. If you copy someone else’s work and claim it as your own, that’s an academic offence and is punishable by getting a zero on that assignment, failing the class or expulsion.
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Because we live in a high-volume information age, the problem seems to be getting worse. The internet gives people access to more information, more quickly than ever before. You don’t even have to get out of your chair at school to access this pool of data. But several problems arise for students in this regard, problems they likely don’t even consider.
First, have regard for the information you are receiving. Some of it isn’t accurate, some is junk and some is outright lies. There is no automatic peer review system for content on the internet. For example, I wouldn’t quote Wikipedia as a scholarly source, although it contains a lot of information and can be entertaining.
Items supposedly published by colleges or institutes are not always what they seem as some of these institutes are shams set up and existing only on the internet. Students would be very wise to quote from scholarly sources that can be independently verified.
Whatever the source, you must credit it. I can’t understand current attitudes to the lifting of other people’s work and calling it your own. I know rap and hip-hop artists use existing songs on their own and cleverly call this sampling. It used to be called copying or cheating when I grew up.
Academia is not immune from this trend. There’s so much information out there that it’s hard to sort the wheat from the chaff and there seem to be little concern about giving credit. Students must attribute the source of work or ideas when they adopt it into their own work.
When I taught at the law college, failure to do so resulted in a failing grade for the assignment, with no marks assigned.
It applies both to concepts and actual words. I have seen many instances of students lifting entire packages out of texts, word for word and giving no credit.
It’s not your own work and to claim it is is just plain wrong. This is also true when the actual words aren’t repeated verbatim, but concepts and arguments are lifted and not attributed.
In addition to academic sanctions, there are serious potential legal consequences to such actions.
If an academic paper is published, the original author can sue and seek damages and profits.
Most authors’ work remains protected by copyright for an extended period. You cannot use copyrighted work without permission.
There is often a fee to be paid when permission is granted. This happens all the time in the world of journalism. Just because you’re not publishing it for thousands of people does not mean copyright is inapplicable. It is. Get permission, or attribute the source or both.
Make sure schoolchildren know that there are educational and legal ramifications to the improper use of someone else’s work.
Rick Danyliuk is a practising lawyer in Saskatoon with McDougall Gauley LLP. He also has experience in teaching and writing about legal issues. His columns are intended as general advice only. Individuals are encouraged to seek other opinions and/or personal counsel when dealing with legal matters.
