Lack of knowledge is the main factor leading to plagiarism

The confusion about what constitutes 'plagiarism' - not bad intentions - is the main cause of plagiarism at the graduate level, according to an expert on this problem of concern. 237th meeting of the American Medical Association (ACS). Dr. George M. Bodner, currently working at ACS Disciplinary Council, is currently the largest scientific association in the world, in the list of scientists participating in the issue of 'plagiarism'. .

Their presentation is part of the ACS solution to propagate to the scientific community about ethics in chemistry. Bodner is a professor of chemistry at Purdue University.

With the title 'Plagiarism: The nature of the problem? What can we do?' Symposium with the participation of 8 speakers on March 22. In his speech, Bodner described an attempt to understand the 'plagiarism' problem called LANGURE of Land Grant University.

Bodner works with the project, a national partnership of 8 universities, an individual organization, a national consortium responsible for conducting research, and an open source software group. LANGURE has the participation of more than 130 faculties and researchers to develop a moral teaching model for science, engineering and other doctoral candidates. It provides graduate students across the United States a reliable source of ethical issues. Bodner is adapting his classroom teaching method to a direct form that can be combined with the LANGURE program. This program uses practical examples to explain the nature of plagiarism for his students.

The confusion about what constitutes 'plagiarism' - not bad intentions - is the main cause of plagiarism at the graduate level (Photo: mobipocket.irexnet.com)

The confusion about what constitutes plagiarism may stem from the university training process. Bodner said: 'Certainly something happens at the university level. We do not require students to write a lot and do not heal what students write and therefore, students are not properly trained and easily fall into the plagiarism trap. '

Thomas Holme, another speaker at the conference, has simple advice for students on how to avoid plagiarism. Holme, a professor at Iowa State University, said: 'I often tell students that if there are more than four of the best words you should quote'.

Bodner also pointed out the absence of a statistical system of plagiarism cases. Therefore, it is almost impossible to grasp the scale of the problem and whether it tends to increase. Internet is a tool for students to access large amounts of information and documents that can be used for plagiarism. In contrast, search engines also allow professors and lecturers to detect unauthorized use of text or speech by others.

The problem of unauthorized use of written material is not simply that of students and plagiarism, Holme said in the report at the conference. Holme, who runs the ACS Assay Academy, said teachers sometimes go over the limit with unauthorized use of copyright tests.

Holme explains: 'When someone posts a copy of the questionnaire to the Internet or asks some questions from a questionnaire with their own copy and test, it is also a violation of copyright law. '.