Internet Plagiarism

Once a small child came across a good piece of poetry with really good rhymes. Around the same time, all the students in his school were asked to submit an article or a poem that was to be published in the school magazine. The kid got an idea of writing down the same poem and submitting it as his own. Most of his friends in the class did the same thing by scanning through an array of newspapers and magazines. On reading the poem submitted by the child, the class teacher turned it down saying that the child's imagination was not developed enough to write such a fantastic poem. Most of his friends passed through this plagiarism test, but he could not. That day the child was very unhappy, but now as a grown-up, he understands it was a serious academic offense and a crime.

Today, plagiarism means committing a literary theft. Internet plagiarism is a decade-old phenomena that started with some students accessing Internet for information and directly submitting the same data as their own.

The expression of ideas which evolves or develops within oneself is considered to be an individual's intellectual property. These ideas need to be protected by copyright laws. All forms of expressions to be covered under Copyright Protection Act have to be recorded in some form, like computer files, books, CDs, etc.

With the advent of Internet, plagiarism has become quite easy and cost-effective for those people who wish to get things done by short-cut methods. Thus, the first question that comes to one's mind is, how is Internet plagiarism different from other forms of plagiarism. Internet plagiarism refers to copying ideas, information and materials for academic or other purposes from different websites, with or without rephrasing the sentences. The information available on the website is covered under copyright law. In case, an Internet user utilizes the information or an idea and gives due credit to the author, website or a source, then it is not considered as plagiarism. Internet plagiarism is rapidly becoming a subject of concern for many educators, research scientists, strategists, writers and professors all over the world.

These days, students are highly ambitious and have a zeal to be successful in their life. Some have developed a false belief that their own skills are inadequate and whatever they download from the net is of good quality, while for some it's a passion. Students may feign ignorance, that they are not aware that they are plagiarizing content. Since the information is readily available on the Internet, they forget to differentiate between common knowledge and original ideas that are intellectual property of others. Another cause for the prevalence of the 'cut and paste' mentality among students could be laziness. Postponing the work till the deadline arrives is also another reason why plagiarism flourishes. Even culture has its role to play, as some people in certain sections of society feel that the use of known work is a sign of being educated.

Many organizations all over the world are developing 'originality' checking tools to detect plagiarism or have already developed good softwares and websites as tools. Originality matters a lot and its importance is going to constantly increase with overlapping, intricate and complex societies.

Before the arrival of the Internet, copying content or information required a lot of effort. First, the person had to find appropriate and beneficial piece of work from limited channels and resources. The geographical location of the person made it difficult to have access to all the available resources, as all the books were not available in every library; while the number of libraries was even less. The person had to visit a nearby library, search for the appropriate material and then write down all the required information. The possibility of detection of plagiarism was also maximum as these resources were well-documented and professionally written.

Now, things have become quite easy and efficient for students who gloat on instant praise. Thousands of articles and data are available with the help of Internet search engines within few seconds. The individual who plagiarizes knows how to use the computer, word processing tools, Internet and search engine tools. Search engines are helpful in tracking the source of the data, but have their own limitations and an individual can manipulate certain keywords, which makes the tracking of plagiarism difficult. Internet being robust, makes it difficult for others to detect the plagiarized content.

Plagiarism may help an individual up to a certain level; but to be successful, he needs to be creative and hard working. This habit of plagiarizing may take him in a wrong direction and he would only earn dubious distinction. People should be educated through seminars and formal campaigns on this subject. A chapter on plagiarism needs to be included in different disciplines of education like arts, medical science, engineering, etc. Above all, an individual should be inculcated with proper knowledge on plagiarism, thus enhancing and nurturing the quality of creative work.