Academic Integrity comes of Age - How students check for plagiarism

In the modern age of word processing and unlimited digital resources, the practice of correctly citing material has begun to deteriorate. Potential sources have moved into digital libraries, and students have access to a plethora of previously written papers in any field with almost any subject. The technological revolution has strained the core principles that professional educators strive to instill in their students.

As a society we are at a turning point. We can cower from our moral goals in the face of adversity or press forward and create new solutions to the drawbacks of living in a digital age. When it comes down to it, stepping back from our efforts to cite sources for original thought and reward people for their creativity is not an option.

At one time, academic integrity was an unquestionable pillar of essay writing and content creation. When research required a library card and a lengthy time investment in hunting down relevant resources, academic integrity was in effect protected by the distinction of taking time out to specifically harvest source material for your paper. Library time, made it more difficult for a student to blur the lines between research and other day to day activities. At the same time, there was no available access to vast databases of papers. Cheating meant sourcing a paper from a closer associate. The anonymity of downloading a cookie-cutter essay from the web was unavailable. Plagiarizing from close associates also meant that the work was more likely to be previously read by the professor. Before computers, not only was academic integrity more paramount, the act of plagiarizing was in many ways more difficult. The digital age had a revolutionary impact on content creation in the education field. With the advent of word processing, spell checking began to shift to automated programs and essays could be printed or copied at the push of a button. The internet opened up a vast network of fully digitized resources. Library cards began to gather dust as student scoured to web for more specific and readily available resources. As web surfing became a part of nearly everyone's day to day activities, the distinction between researching and searching began to blur. This breakdown was further exacerbated by the growing social activities available online. Student began sharing information across social networks and the art of copy and pasting interesting information became second nature.

As technology began to offer up increasingly easy channels for plagiarism, the education community and the technical community searched for means to defend the long running standard of academic integrity. The issue was not merely that students no longer cared about citation. In many cases, students never intentionally engaged in plagiarism, overlooking their behavior as just another online activity. The education community pushed for renewed understandings of academic integrity and turned to technical solutions to uncover academic misdeeds. Software companies began to offer programs that were capable of tapping into large databases and online collections of resources to crosscheck papers for citation errors. These tools allowed educators to more effectively identify plagiarism issues and pinpoint the missing sources.

As plagiarism became more difficult to self identify, a growing need developed for students to scan their own work for citation issues prior to submitting papers. Despite their best intentions, many students overlooked certain sources as the sheer access to information produced more specific and independent sources for each essay. With the potential of expulsion, students looked for more effective way to ensure they were meeting standards of academic integrity. Recently, the same companies that initially offered professors solutions for identifying plagiarism have turned their efforts to students. New paper plagiarism checkers offer a simple answer to the requirement that student self enforce proper citation practices in their essay creation. With this new technology students can research and write their original papers and then double check their citation with a simple scan of the document. The new programs will help identify which, if any, sections are flagged for citation issues and help the student police themselves for proper citation techniques.

The internet age has opened a Pandora's box of potentially double edged technologies that can both help and hurt the education field. Ultimately, most educators would agree that more readily available access to information can only help advance education and understanding. As technology opened the door to undermine academic integrity, it also appears to have answered the call for protections against such evils. With an emphasis on citation and open access to plagiarism scanning tools, a new crop of students is prepared to meet the challenge of striving for academic integrity in a modern age.

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