Introduction and First Chapter of My Word!

I did not think that gender and sense of alienation are some of the factors that would make a person more likely to cheat. The author makes an interesting comparison when she compares plagiarism in college to a big spider in a web of factors (p.3). I did not notice, until reading Susan Blum’s observation of how college students are in a hurry because of different factors. Thinking about what the author said, it can be said that this generation of students read and write more, it is just that some of the reading and writing is more for entertainment. It is just that a lot of the writings are in the form of internet communications, and do not match up to the standards teachers have.

It was really fascinating to read about how the information was gathered for this book, and what the author did with the information gathered. Reading about how much paper the transcribed conversations take up was a shock to me. It was interesting to read about how hard she tried to keep the identity of the participants of the study anonymous. I liked how the author went off, explaining why she changed the name of the school where the study took place.

I guess plagiarism happens a lot, in society. The definition of the word differs from person to person, and the actions taken against a student really depends on how the teacher’s opinion of how serious the offense is. I find it odd how students will be penalized if they are ‘caught’ plagiarizing, and yet people are allowed to publish things in academic journals that may have been plagiarized, but there is no action taken to reprimand them (and the thought that so many journals are essentially the same. . .). The author points out that plagiarism is something that has been taking place for a long time, it is just that there seems to be a spike in plagiarism now.

I agree the Susan Blum; plagiarism is a confusing issue (p.21). The introduction and first chapter really opens up a lot of questions to me. There were a few places where the author made references to things that are ‘common knowledge’. But what is common knowledge? Like plagiarism, what common knowledge is differs from person to person. Would using an odd fact without citing it be seen as plagiarism? If so, how should it be cited (student’s memory?)?