Plagiarism Should Be Taken Seriously
But that doesn’t mean throwing accusations around like confetti
This article is not about plagiarism. In a way, it is about the kidnapping of plagiarism, which is where the term originally comes from.
Plagiarism itself is a thorny topic. It can be obvious or subtle, blatant or unintentional, and the law varies around the world. Anywhere that produces written material will have its own guidelines, and there are plenty of good sources of information on plagiarism. This article is not about plagiarism per se, it is about spurious accusations of plagiarism.
An online world makes it physically easier to steal someone else’s work — copy, paste and bingo — but also harder to get away with. Matching software can check against thousands of sources, not only looking in online libraries but comparing one student’s work against others in multiple institutions and against the answers turned out by homework factories.
However, matching software does not — indeed cannot — find plagiarism, and careless use of it leads to baseless accusations of what can be a serious crime.
Matching And Plagiarism Are Not The Same
During my years teaching new students the skills they would need to succeed in higher…
