Education officials throughout the country are agitating for legislation to limit this Internet scourge, which many regard as equal only to the plague of pornography. Sixteen states have already passed statutes against computer-aided plagiarism, according to The Washington Post . Yet teachers and officials themselves, not students, may be most responsible for the growth of plagiarism in schools and on campuses, by not anticipating and preparing for it, not recognizing it, or excusing it when they do uncover it. Consider the case of one new assistant professor, reported by him first in The Chronicle of Higher Education . Clearly, he did not understand his own possible contribution to the plagiarism.
More disturbing questions arise when teachers at every level discount plagiarism in general.
I have had colleagues defend clear instances of plagiarism by arguing that the student simply didn't understand how to use footnotes or quotation marks. Teachers and students have learned to repeat the common excuse offered to defend plagiarism in newspapers and magazines, that the culprit got confused by his voluminous notes. But sources, analogues, parallels, adaptations do not constitute theft of identically expressed works. Most teachers and administrators agree that those who misrepresent ownership of any property commit an illegal act. At many colleges, plagiarism results in expulsion.