# of Words: 489

A recent article in Times Higher Education discusses a.ariff that academics in the UK are proposing that can lay out a system of penalties for college students that plagiarize. The Tarriff proposal, that is posted in full on PlagiarismAdvice.org, states that the current penalties for plagiarism vary too much from to college around the world.

"Studies in this field have found high levels of inconsistency in the penalties universities use to penalize students who are found guilty of copying, with wide variations between, as well as within, institutions." The result of this system within the academic universe brings up the plausibility of a similar universal system of punishment for plagiarism within other sectors, such as publishing and research.

Exactly like with other kinds of theft, the legal penalties for the crime vary depending on the severity. Going into a store and stealing a bunch of gum is a danger compared with stealing a vehicle. Most cases of plagiarism are considered misdemeanors, punishable by penalties at anywhere between $100 and $50, 000 - and up to one year in jail. Plagiarism may be considered a felony under federal and state legislation. If a plagiarist duplicates and earns over $2, 500 from copyrighted material, she or he could encounter to $250, 000 in fines and up to ten years in jail. Although the legal ramifications of plagiarism are spelled out, the true outcome of cases of plagiarism within industries like publishing and research are not always so obvious.

Many recent cases of newspaper plagiarism finish with the offender'resigning from their position at the company. For the publisher, it's usually best to make the story go to prevent the reputation of the company from being harmed. What if a universal system of penalties was created within these industries? The system may spell out punishment - even determining which crimes would be.ushed toward criminal prosecution. Though this seems like a sound concept, the effectiveness of the approach - bring penalty to the forefront of the plagiarism issue - is debatable. The situation falls within the realm of punishment vs. Prevention.

Instead of spending resources to push penalties and punishments within these industries, the resources can be allocated towards preventing plagiarism from happening all together. Plagiarism prevention may occur two ways: education and technology. The first step to preventing plagiarism would be to educate folks about what plagiarism is, and why it's wrong and how to properly cite sources. The second step to prevent plagiarism would be to utilize detection software that may correctly weed out cases of copy content prior to distribution. This effectively prevents any harm from being done because the plagiarized content never gets beyond a provider's walls. A two-fold approach will be best: going towards a more universal system of plagiarism penalties within industries while doubling up the attempt by preventing plagiarism before it happens by education and technology. Attwood, Rebecca "Plagiarism tariff: let the punishment fit the demerit points" TLS Education Ltd. 17 June 2010.

Related Papers

Plagiarism: The Big Picture

BuzzFeed has built a business on coordinating the internet's confusing spectacle into listicles easily comprehended by the most numbed office workers. The website's approach to each of content as building blocks for listings puts it in an embarrassing position in relation to internet etiquette and journalistic integrity. Internet culture wonks have been hashing over an article by Slate's Farhad Manjoo that shown BuzzFeed's popular lists are often not first flashes of genius that was viral. The......Read More

Plagiarism and the Deterioration of Ethical Values

Lewis Carroll, in his book, Through the Looking Glass, has Humpty Dumpty smugly intone,.henever I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean, less and nothing more.' This seems to be the case whenever the topics of improvement and innovation have been discussed. Improvement indicates whatever the one who desires it to occur wants it to mean. It could mean doing what's being done now to a larger degree of detail or speed or efficiency. In other words,.o what you're doing.nly better.' It......Read More

Plagiarism

You do not need to be writing for very long to see how widespread plagiarism and other content theft are on the Internet. New authors believe that people will just find their articles useful, and enjoy reading them; instead, unscrupulous folks steal articles all the time. Thieves take charge, in which none is expected, by replacing your name with theirs, on your written work. What are Some Ways That People Steal Articles? . How do they steal? Some people use software programs called article......Read More

Related Topics