With reference to my blog entry on Application Essays, I would also like to suggest reading the following article.
PLAGIARISM PROBLEM: ARE STUDENTS ENTIRELY TO BLAME?
“Aside from the ‘all-or-nothing cheater’, the type most likely to buy a whole paper online, Renard (1999,
p. 38) also identifies the ‘sneaky cheater’, the student who knows what plagiarism is, but works hard to
avoid detection. These students cut-and-paste from a variety of sources on the web and possibly from
other students’ papers with a view to manufacturing an answer. They might also attempt to cover their
tracks through the provision of incomplete or inaccurate bibliographic details in their list of references.
Then there is the ‘unintentional cheater’, the type who simply does not know any better. These students
typically insert slabs of unattributed text in their essays and, when challenged, claim ignorance of the
system.
What each of these three types of plagiarist has in common is a lack of empathy for the academic
enterprise. Call it ‘cyber-sloth’ (Carnie, 2001), Internet-inspired indolence, or plain, old-fashioned
laziness, if a ready-made answer to a question cannot be found online then, for some, it simply cannot be
worth having. The development of an educated opinion, a lively inquiring mind, a creative impulse –
these things are missing. As this author once read in a student’s email signature: ‘Clay’s Conclusion:
Creativity is great, but plagiarism is faster’.”
