So what are your ethics?
Plagiarism, Fraud and Cheating
Media Ethics
Spring ‘06
Have you ever cheated in school or known anyone who has? If so, what did you do about it?
I never have. I’ve known someone who had and I didn’t stop them because it’s their choice to take that risk. It is also none of my business and I didn’t want to be a part of it or be included. The consequences are too great and it’s not worth the risk or rewards.
I never consciously have. Sometimes I do catch myself writing something and saying, “Hey! That sounds really good!” and then thinking about it, and going, “that’s because it’s already been written!” Then I hit the backspace button a bunch of times. I try to be as careful as I can when it comes to plagiarism and fraud because I pride myself on original ideas and thoughts, creations, etc.
I do not recall ever using those tactics.
I would say that I have probably committed fraud in embellishing things in papers. One I can remember is a speech about one of my best friends. I didn’t straight make anything up, but I did embellish events to make them sound more exciting. I did it because I knew my professor had no way of knowing, and I needed more to say for the speech.
I’ve made up or tweaked quotes from friends in stories for classes like media writing or news reporting. I’ll tell them if they make it into a story, but I probably wouldn’t do that for anything that would be published.
I have never plagiarized or taken anyone else’s work and quoted it as my own. It has been tempting but I never have. I have also not known anyone directly who did it. I have heard of people doing it, but haven’t done it myself.
I don’t think I ever have. I honestly can’t remember if I did or not 100%; but I am pretty sure I haven’t. I haven’t really written something that is newsworthy and yes, I have seen people cheat, copy stuff from the Web for papers. Well, I haven’t seen them do it, but they tell me. I guess I didn’t because I really didn’t care. It was none of my business. In my opinion and best interest, it is best to stay out of situations like that.
In this last two year, I have become a lot more aware of it. I feel as though I might have one time. It was for a news story on the events of polar days and I took almost word for word off the chamber of commerce webpage. I credited it to them, but I don’t know if I did it correctly because I feel like I used their very words.
I have never plagiarized or been fraudulent in any of my school work or anything else. I have known some of my friends to occasionally cheat or plagiarize, and I have discouraged them from continuing such acts. This has proven successful at times and not so successful at other times.
My freshman year of college, I wrote a paper that I used information from the Internet that I did not cite. I got in trouble for not citing it, so I have ever since. I can’t think of any other time that I would have plagiarized.
I have never plagiarized because I truly feel it is wrong, and I have never supported anyone who has. I usually try to talk them out of it, but I don’t report them if they follow through because they are my friends and I don’t want them to face the consequences. I have used fraud before and made things up when I’ve been short on time or needed to make it more interesting. I’m not too proud of it, but it’s true.
When I was a freshman here at BSU, I plagiarized a couple sentences of scientific information for an essay I wrote on evolution vs. creationism. I didn’t realize at the time that what I’d done was clearly plagiarism and I had to discuss the issue with my English professor.
I have never plagiarized, but I have used quotes and reworded phrases. I wouldn’t feel right plagiarizing or stealing someone’s work. And I have not known of anyone who has committed these acts. I don’t know if I’d turn someone in, since it is none of my business what others do, even if it is morally wrong.
I think everyone has to be honest. My problem is that I don’t know exactly where the line is. I’m sure I’ve forgotten to cite a source or left quotation marks off a few times. As far as blatantly copying and pasting work into my report or just making up so-called facts, no, I have not.
No, I have never used plagiarism or fraud in any form of writing or test-taking. I have had misleading information when writing articles for the Northern Student. However, I’ve always corrected it. Yes, I have known some people who have copied work off the Internet and used it as their own, and also people who have cheated on exams.
Yes, I have plagiarized and committed fraud. In high school, when I have had to write a paper that I didn’t know that much about and couldn’t find the information easily, I have copied word for word from the Internet. I have also made up information. For example, I made up answers to surveys if I didn’t get enough people to take it. Usually, this was because of deadlines -- when I was “crunched” for time. I never did it if I took the time to do the assignment.
I haven’t plagiarized or made things up, but I have come close. Usually it is an unconscious slant toward a wording and not taking the time to remember and cite where it came from. But coming from the household that I did, I always re-worded or cited. Tough not to.
I’ll admit that I have plagiarized and used fraud in writing a few papers. I have done it when I have a paper due and I know that the professor doesn’t read the papers. They just give you credit for turning it in. Then I feel I have to put more time into other school papers or projects and not worry about that one. I felt terrible every time.
In freshman year of high school, we were asked to do a dance in gym class. I choreographed the whole dance but I was gone the day we performed. The teacher had me write a ten-page paper on dancing. I worked my ass off researching Irish step-dancing. I actually wrote a really good paper. The teacher said there was no way I could have written the paper. He accused me of plagiarism. Instead of failing me, he just gave me a “D” on the paper, which, in turn, gave me a “B” in gym class.
If we are able to plagiarize ourselves, then I suppose I’m guilty as anone. I once reworked a ten-page research paper on “Apocolypse Now” that I’d written earlier for a film studies class. Other than that, I’ve never plagiarized outright.
I’ve never plagiarized or known anyone who has. If, for some reason, any of my papers did have it, it was unintentional and non one has confronted me about it.
I have on a couple of occasions, over the course of my 16+ years of education, had wandering eyes during an exam. I have never plagiarized any research for any papers. I have on many occasions seen other people cheat on exams with cheat sheets in high school and college. However, I have never tried to stop anyone.
I never have. I always cite my sources in papers because it’s not my work so I’m not about to take credit for it. I think it comes down to where your morals and values stand. I didn’t know the people who plagiarized, but I knew who they were and they got caught and failed.
I have never committed plagiarism or fraud on anything I have written, but I know a few people who have and got caught.
I, personally, have never plagiarized my writing/work, neither for the newspaper nor for my courses. I’ve been accused of plagiarism back in high school, but was able to prove that my writing was mine. I’ve known of one person on the NS staff who’s been accused of plagiarizing articles. He was, in fact, stealing other people’s work. That person was fired promptly.
I have never plagiarized. I have, though, used articles for papers saying the same thing -- just changing the words around. I guess that could be cheating? I do know of many students who cheat and plagiarize on papers. Some even copy and paste whole articles to a paper.
I have paraphrased others’ work for the purpose of information in papers. If that’s counted as fraud, then I guess I’m guilty. I’ve never copied anything word for word, but I’ve taken information and reworded it.
The only time I have ever cheated or plagiarized was during my freshman year in my physical science class. I used a person’s paper that was written the year before, but he also gave me permission to use it. Even now I’m not proud of it.
