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trying and failing), (3) under pressure (those who cannot find the time due to com-
peting commitments), and (4) the unrepentant (those who do not care). Our findings
suggest that most students fall either into the first and third categories. Most edu-
cators feel that plagiarism is not an indicator of a broader moral decline in their
students' ethics; instead, they interpret this behavior as the inevitable outcome of
the intense pressure to succeed academically. The student most likely to cheat this
way, according to our educators, is one who is struggling. He will likely resort to
this tactic toward the end of the academic term, when opportunities to raise his grade
by legitimate means diminish.
Other educators understand the rise in plagiarism as indicative of a broader social
shift in what in fact constitutes plagiarism. One educator identifies an increase in the
“grey and greyer area” of distinction between the inadvertent appropriation of some-
one else's work due to improper, absent citations, or a misunderstanding around
ownership issues, and outright plagiarism. A “little” plagiarism is seen as accept-
able by his students, or not even identified as such. Similarly, students who “snatch
a line or two” from someone else's work, or download music without paying for it
shrug it off and dismiss charges of stealing or plagiarism. “Students aren't sure what
crosses the line between cheating and plagiarism,” says the director of a science
department.
Part of the student confusion around plagiarism from online sources, according
to our educators, stems from the ease of accessing information. Students in the past
were not able to access other people's term papers or free copies of music with
the click of a mouse; before the advent of word processing, the practice of cutting
and pasting text into a document did not exist. The Internet and NDM allow users to
access an enormous array of information, including articles, blog posts, and informal
writing on virtually every subject, and that the computer functions as both a portal
to the Internet and the platform for paper composition makes copying and pasting
information from online sources into one's assignment extremely simple. It can be
difficult for a young person to understand that just because an article, for instance,
may not cite an author or require a fee to access does not mean that it is “there for
the taking,” with no responsibilities or strings attached. “It's so easy to do, just copy
and paste,” a college-level piano instructor reports.
While the Internet provides students easy access to relevant course materials ripe
for appropriation, it provides comprehensive access to their teachers as well. Many
of the educators we spoke with report that their institutions utilize sophisticated soft-
ware such as Turnitin.com for detecting whether a suspect passage has an antecedent
online. One educator says that his school encourages students to check their own
papers for improper citations using Turnitin, allowing students to learn in advance
of turning in an assignment how their teacher will interpret the submission.
Schools try to stem the tide of plagiarism through outreach and education,
including group discussions around copyright issues, workshops on definitions of
plagiarism, tutoring on how to vet and credit Internet sources appropriately, and
conveying general expectations with respect to honesty and ethical behavior. Yet,
some educators sense an uphill battle against a culture that encourages and implic-
itly supports plagiarist practices. “In the dorms, at the beginning of the school year,
