Why most college students dependent on the internet for their paper that a "cut and paste" becomes the norm?

Question

I am a new faculty member in one of the universities here in the Philippines. I was embarrasingly dismayed by the paper requirement submitted to me by my student are "cut and paste" directly from a website "word for word" and I say all of my 35 students! Both the contents and analysis were in "cut and paste" fashion.

Answer 1

That wasn't acceptable with library sources; why would it be from the internet? Schools need to revise their policies on plagiarism to meet the new technologies available. I know what you mean, though. I recently got a draft of a paper from a graduate student which used Wikipedia as a source for almost everything. I had to explain how the information on Wikipedia was compiled and insist that the individual go to the original sources. I also find that when I send a research assistant to the library to do some preliminary research for me on a topic I define, that if I fail to give extensive instructions on how to find appropriate sources, the student will often come back with a pile of commercial websites for me instead of academic journal articles. The explosion in the availability of "information" in recent years, especially the comingling of legitimate and illegitimate sources on the internet, has left students very confused, and even if they learned how to approach research earlier in their academic lives, the changes have left many completely unsure about how to do it now. We have a responsibility to guide these changes if we want appropriate outcomes.

Answer 2

As a high school teacher I face exactly the same thing, despite my very long and arduous lectures about how important it is to research and hand write information etc etc. When I was at school, there was no internet! Students don't see the value of books anymore. Not to mention the influx of non-English speaking background students who are pressured to plagiarise because of the language demands of school & university courses.

I think this is just the way the world has become. When we want something, we want it now. Fewer and fewer people 'work' for what they want, in fact the whole concept of 'work' has changed. The internet provides an immediate fix to everything!

It is so frustrating. We are becoming such an ignorant world.

Answer 3

As a recent college graduate, I myself was a participator of cut and paste parties, but I would never leave it word for word, but the reason i would engage in it and why most do, because it is time consuming to truly research a topic then write about it, especially if the topic is of boredom. There are a million and one things going on, on campus, students want to have fun and meet people, its not until they get into their last year or so when they want to settle down and do their own work.

-Roo!

Answer 4

Several reasons. 1) students everywhere (not just in the Philippines) are lazy, and this is a really easy way to write an essay, 2) they don't understand what plagiarism is and what the penalties are for it, and 3) they don't realize that you want to see some original thoughts, and not just repetition of facts.

Answer 5

as once a college student, i can certainly relate to those students. the Internet is the fastest way to access vast, useful (and useless) information that would not be as accessible in libraries. technology surely makes a student life a little easier especially in making research papers. However, it is up to the professor to make it clear to the students (as my professor did) the valid sources to be reflected in the bibliography, which may include credible websites. it can also help if you specify the number of literature needed: from books, journals, previous researches, etc. so that students will be forced to go to libraries and put their brains to work. Also, importance of intellectual property rights and issues of plagiarism must be discussed with the students to avoid the "verbatim" copying of articles.

if they still rely on the "cut and paste" fashion, you can always flunked them or give INC.

Answer 6

Why do they have to search for something that already exists??
I know that doing your own research make you really understand the whole subject better,,, but do they NEED to understand better, or have more time to do other things

Answer 7

don't know but I don't do it

people that do that are idiots and should drop out immediately, it's one thing to try to do it and not be able, but just to plagiarize work, game over