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Do grade schoolers know that plagiarism is wrong?

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

A column by Dave Schlencker on 27 March 09 observed:

Condemning plagiarism is an easy saber to rattle. It's not a journalism thing; it's a common-sense thing. Grade-schoolers know better. And with the Internet, plagiarism is not only easy to do, it is easy to expose.

Less than ONE WEEK earlier, on 22 March 09, at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Salt Lake City, Professor George M. Bodner observed: Confusion about what constitutes plagiarism ? not malicious intent ? is the leading cause of plagiarism at the graduate school level.

IPBiz notes that, unless grade-schoolers lose their ethical compass on the way to grad school, Schlencker and Bodner both can't be right.

Schlenker also mentioned "unintentional" plagiarism, a theme well-discussed during the Poshard affair at SIU:

When I read Lee casually dismiss her alleged plagiarism as unintentional, I thought of the many real journalists who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. This is a brutal time for the fourth estate, and it's a real bad time to defend fundamental sins.

**See also

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2009/03/awards-to-ocala-magazine-rescinded.html

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2009/03/confusion-origin-of-most-plagiarism.html

Full post as published by IPBiz on March 27, 2009 (boomark / email).