Internet Cheating Is Still Cheating

I find the apparent lack of concern or ethics among those who use plagiarized term papers especially disturbing. Several years ago, I operated a word processing service for college students in the San Francisco area. Many students were honest and wrote their own papers. Their lack of grammar and spelling ability were sad to see, especially when they had completed more than 12 years of schooling and should have been better prepared. But even more disturbing were the students who would call me to see if I “had a paper on (subject) kicking around.” They expected me to provide them with that paper, writing it up with their names on it.

I have done some teaching and I know if I had a class that required written papers, the students would be told the first day of class that if I found a plagiarized paper, that student would receive an automatic “F,” not for the paper but for the entire course, and I would be asking the dean for the student’s dismissal. If someone isn’t willing to do the work, he or she has no business in college, taking up space from those willing to do the needed work.

As a word processor, I helped a number of students with master’s theses and doctoral dissertations and I know full well the amount of time required for honest research and organization of those papers. There was no way that I was going to supply those words to someone too lazy and unethical to do his or her own research. There is nothing wrong with using the Internet as a research tool, much as one might use a library. There is definitely something wrong with the idea of obtaining someone else’s work and palming it off as one’s own. I hope all teachers will review written work carefully and challenge any they think has been improperly obtained. Our whole system of ethics seems to be going down the tubes and Internet plagiarism seems to be just another sorry example.