Purdue University News Service
1132 Engineering Adminstration Bldg.
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1132
(765) 494-2096, [email protected]
August 1998
WEB WEAVES NEW CONCERNS ABOUT PLAGIARISM
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ó The World Wide Web is the home for
millions of pages of information on every topic that the human mind has
been able to conceive. It also is a home for plagiarism.
Stuart Offenbach, a professor of psychology at Purdue University and a
national expert in dealing with academic misconduct, says: "The area of
professional misconduct has actually changed quite a bit over the past two,
two and a half years. The Internet is a whole order of magnitude of a new
kind of problem."
Offenbach and others are pointing to the Web as one reason for an
increase in plagiarism. "Now to be a good plagiarist it helps to also be a
technician and know how to use a computer," he says. "While it's true for
words, it's also true for data and photographs. As of now there is no good
form of electronic protection to prevent someone from just copying what's
on your Web site. With a mouse and a few clicks, you can write the
classics."
Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and
thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own work,
according to the Random House Dictionary of the English Language.
Offenbach says that as a psychologist, he understands why plagiarism is
considered such a large offense in academia and journalism. "It helps if you
look at the roots of the word plagiarism," he says. "It means a kidnapping.
To the author, it's the equivalent of stealing a child; there's nothing more
precious for a writer than his or her own words. It gives you that same
sinking feeling as when you walk into your house and find that someone has
broken in and stolen a family heirloom that can't be replaced. The emotional
impact is devastating to the person who was plagiarized."
Offenbach says the emotional impact for those who are the victims of
plagiarism continues when they accuse the plagiarist. "This is an ethical
matter, and perhaps a civil legal matter, but there will be no grand jury
investigation," he says. "So the accuser has to be the victim and the
prosecutor, too, and this takes a large emotional toll."
An on-line plagiarist may get away with the ethical infraction for a while,
but Offenbach says that he or she eventually will be found out. "People read
everything in their own field, and if plagiarized material is put on the Web,
at some point the author will notice," he says.
CONTACT: Stuart Offenbach, (765) 494-6223;
www.psych.purdue.edu/~sio/home.html
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