According to the district’s high school teachers, plagiarism is an issue that is on the rise. More and more students are “stealing” written works from other sources and claiming it as their own. Teachers now have to conscientiously preen through student’s assignments in search of plagiarized material.

“I see plagiarism more with the underclassmen, because I think that the upperclassmen learn as they go through the years. However, when I notice that kids do plagiarize, it’s usually because they don’t have time to complete something and it’s a quick copy and paste. Unfortunately some people, but not all, think that’s the answer,” said Language Arts and French teacher Staci Haag.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, plagiarism is defined as “the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person.” Similarly, the district’s student handbook defines plagiarism as a form of cheating that will result in a failing grade.

“If it sounds too good, then it probably is. And, if I catch you, it’s an automatic zero,” said History teacher Vince Tucker.

The process of “catching” at student differs from teacher to teacher within the high school, but many name websites like TurnItIn.com and HotBot.com as popular tools. These websites contain advanced search engines that can find exact sentences and word fragments that a student may or may not have plagiarized.

“We’ve had less plagiarism issues because of TurnItIn.com. We still have quite a few but it has made kids more conscientious to really think about their word choice,” said Haag.

Both teachers agree that there are serious repercussions to plagiarizing, detriments that could profoundly affect a student’s future.

“What I worry about is that if students get away with plagiarism, if they’ve gotten it through the hoops and gotten away with it, they could get kicked out of college. That’s why we do what we can to catch them, and to help them to avoid putting themselves in a bad situation in college,” said Haag.

Tucker concurs, stating that if one never learns how to do the work, then he or she will “never be able to do the work.”

Some students, on the other hand, believe that plagiarism isn’t “as terrible as it may seem.”

“Yeah, plagiarism may not be allowed, but just because we’re copying something doesn’t mean we’re not learning. We still pick up some information through our copying, and we usually do it as a last resort when we forgot our assignment or had no time to do it. It’s not like we plagiarize just for the fun of it. Besides, a lot of our assignments make us read certain material and then re-write what we read, so a few of our words are obviously going to match up,” said an anonymous student source.

Other students feel differently, claiming that plagiarism is a form of cheating, and plagiarizers should be punished accordingly.

“Teachers should be able to trust us students,” said Junior Alyson Grudem.

Regardless of the conflicting opinions, the high school’s teachers will continue to follow the student handbook’s rules and continue to try to deter students from plagiarism.