Plagiarism: a Controversial Issue

1393 Words6 Pages
Plagiarism: A Controversial Issue In discussions of plagiarism, one controversial issue has been whether plagiarism is an academic issue or an ethical issue. Susan D. Blum, the writer of the article, “Academic Integrity and Student Plagiarism: a Question of Education, Not Ethics,” argues that they, their teachers, need to teach and show their students what they are asking them to do in order to avoid plagiarism. Stanley Fish, the writer of, “Plagiarism Is Not a Big Moral Deal,” and, “The Ontology of Plagiarism: Part Two,” also agrees with Blum and contends that “Plagiarism is a breach of disciplinary decorum, not a breach of the moral universe.” In other words, people don’t avoid plagiarism because it is a sin but rather because they are following the rules. They both agree that the person who plagiarizes needs to be taught how to avoid this problem. My feelings on the issue are mixed. Although I do support Fish’s and Blum’s position that a person should be taught and shown how to avoid plagiarism by their teachers, I also believe that a person who plagiarizes should be punished for what they have done. Last year, in my English class, our final assignment was to give a farewell speech to the class describing our experiences in high school and our goals in the years to come ahead for after we graduate. We had about a week to write this assignment and as a few days passed I still couldn’t figure out how I even wanted to start my speech. So, like most do when they need some inspiration, I turned to the internet to see if I could find something similar to the assignment I was assigned. There were many articles on “How to Write a Good Speech,” or “Tips for Writing a Great Speech,” but there was a site where I actually found someone’s farewell speech from college that I read that helped get me started. The day before we were supposed to give our speech one of my friends

More about Plagiarism: a Controversial Issue

Open Document