iThenticate Blog

Today, copying and computer programming seem like two concepts that might be blurred together. 

Stanley Fish of the New York Times wrote an interesting article earlier this month titled “Plagiarism is Not a Big Moral Deal.” Fish argues that the rules of plagiarism are not something people inherently learn from a very early age. 

In the world of scholarly journals, the peer review process has been a longstanding bastion of academic sanctity. 

The University of Virginia recently stripped Fred D. Smith of his doctorate in education.  Last year, iThenticate was utilized by a reporter from the Journal News to break a story on Smith, the ex-Pocantico Hills superintendent who plagiarized much of his UVA dissertation.

Smith’s plagiarism saga began in November 2009, when he suddenly resigned as the Pocantico Hills superintendent after it was discovered that he had copied newsletters from a Massachusetts elementary school principal. The Journal News then partnered with iThenticate to discover that large portions of Smith’s dissertation from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education were also plagiarized.  From the Journal News: “…iThenticate, found numerous passages that matched academic publications predating his. The most notable similarities were with a paper by Jerri Ann Whitehurst Hall, now a high school principal in Rutland, Georgia.”

The New York Times recently published a piece that discussed today’s younger generation and their views on plagiarism.  The article analyzes several perspectives on plagiarism, coming from college students to teachers to parents. 

A recent article from Times Higher Education discusses a new ‘Tariff’ that academics in the UK are proposing that will lay out a universal system of penalties for university students that plagiarize.  

Poetry is a literary form that depends on unique content.  Poems are distinguished on various levels of theme, verse, form and rhyme, with the end goal of leaving a reader with a message or emotional response to the written language. 

A recent report about the University of Nottingham states that instances of plagiarism within the school have risen nearly 700% since 2004.  The records filed through the Freedom of Information act seem to highlight an alarming increase in students submitting plagiarized work.

The University of Nottingham, however, argues that the perceived statistic is not due to an increase in plagiarism, but rather an increase in plagiarism detection capabilities. 

Article by Darcy Laszewski

There is no doubt that a new generation of kids are growing up with the internet as a centerpiece of their lives. Whether it be on Twitter or Facebook, teenagers are expressing themselves more and more via the internet.