The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 172, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 5, 2006 Page: 3 of 10
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October 5, 2006
THE J-TAC
Page 3
Keys to the Right
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The continuing saga of plagiarism
■ 'Plagiarism is the number one sin in academia/ says professor
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GASTON
McDORMAN
Admit it,
you've thought
about doing it.
It's late, awfully
late, and your
paper is due in the
morning. Why
not just log on to
the Internet, find .
some information
regarding your
paper, and copy
arid paste? Tfiere, paper's done, now
you can go to sleep and stop stressing.
You thought about it, but you didn't do
it,
Those little things called morals
and ethics kicked in and told you that
maybe this isn't such a good idea,. It
would be an easy' way out, but that
English professor is probably pretty
smart and can scan your paper and
come to a simple conclusion that your
vocabulary probably doesn't possess
some of the words or phrases that you
stole from that academic essay you
found on www.google.com. Not only
that, but that professor can also type
in a single line from your paper on
the same search engine, and find out
whether or not those words belong \o
someone else.
So why do students even try it? Ev-
ery professor clearly states in their syl-
labus the severe punishment that can be
dealt at the event of student plagiarism.
A simple failure of the course is the
lightest sentence a student can receive
if caught plagiarizing. Yet, plagiarism
continues in universities, ad absurdum.
When asked why students do this,
the answers are varied. Dr. Dodson, an
English professor at Tarleton, believes
ifs a combination of laziness, insecurity,
and tfiismanagement of time. Dr. Ship-
man, head of the English department,
on the other hand, believes that some
students simply don't feel that the par-,
ticular course they cheat in is relevant
in what they will do in the real world ,
(i.e. once they get out of college), so
they take the easy rout. Both of these
are presumably correct. Whatever the
cause of plagiarism, the bottom line is
that it is Wrong. Plagiarism is, "The
number one sin in academia," Dodson
added.
Although the probability of stop-
ping plagiarism is rather grim, there are
measures that have been taken to try
and inform students of how to avoid
plagiarism. As Mr. Tober, English
professor, added, the freshman Eng-
lish courses that students are required
to take are tailored to help them form
their own opinions and ideas and put
them in their own writing. 'Tober also
mentioned that certain prompts are
structured so that ifs unlikely there is
anything out there for students to pass
off as their own. ^
Is there a problem with plagiarism
at Tarleton? The answer: sure." How-
ever, it would be naive to think that it
only occurs at this campus. Plagiarism
is a plague at colleges as well as high
schools anywhere students are asked to
turn in a research paper. The only rem-
edy is that of teachers and professors
catching students, and hoping those
stiidents serve as an example to others.
As Dodson said, plagiarism is with-
: out a doubt the worst thing a student
could do. Not only is it cheating, but
ifs stealing as well. I don't feel that
there is any number of combinations
to give students a cop-out for cheating.
Laziness is the only answer. There is
no doubt that most students wait until
the last possible minute to finish up, or
even start projects that require a lot of
time. It is this bind that throws a sense
of panic into students. Some rise above
it, others look for the easy way out. Un-
fortunately, that easy way out, usually
means an embarrassing and shameful
way out of the class.
Gaston MfDorman is a Staff Writer for the
J-TAC He is a Senior English Major
The Pope and his comments
D'LEESA
KEYS
Recently, the Is-
lamic world has
caught fire over
some comments
made by Pope
Benedict XVI re-
garding the Is-
lamic faith. In
early September,
the pontiff was
speaking at the
University of Re-
. gensburg in his home country of Germa-
ny,. Benedicts summarized a 14th century
writing by Byzantine Emperor Manuel
: Paleologus II that stated that the teachings
of the prophet Mohammed were "spread
;by the sword" and were "evil and inhu-
. man."
The pope has apologized and stated
; that the text "does not reflect my person-
. al opinion." Apparently ifs not enough.
While some leaders such as Mohammed
Mahdi Akef, leader of the Egyptian politi-
cal group the Muslim Brotherhood, have
accepted the Holy Father's apology, others,
have not. Hard-line Shiite cleric Ahmad
Khatami of Iran has even launched the
conspiracy theory that the pope and Presi-
dent Bush are "uniting in order to repeat
the Crusades/' As if Khatami's beloved
leader Mahmod Ahmadinejad isn't trying
to repeat the Holocaust with his nuclear
program.
Throughout all of this chaos over what
seems to be nothing, I have to wonder, why
haven't the moderate Muslims in the world
apologized for all the violence caused by a
few who have perverted Islam's teachings?
The victims of such violence want more
th£tn just the ambiguous "we are outraged
at this conduct" speech, they want an apol-
ogy with the promise that they will do all
in their power to prevent such acts from
happening again. The moderate Muslims
excessive amount of silence makes me
wonder if they are afraid that speaking out
wUJeqosi;them their necks, or do they agree
or even endorse such violence carried out
by the extremists?
Muslims of the world if you want
the pope to say he's sorry, you should do
so. Say you're sorry for the churches that
were burned down in the Palestinian ter-
ritories by extremists. Say you're sorry for
the monster in Mogadishu who shot a nun
in the back while she was praying. Say
you're sorry for Abu Musab al-Zaraqwi,
arid the countless American and Iraqi lives
he and his jihad buddies took.' Say you're
sorry for the sicko who killed 17 sailors on
the U.S.S. Cole in 2000. Say you're sorry
for the Hezbollah radicals who killed 200
Marines while they slept in their Beirut
barracks in 1983. Say you're sorry for the
radical Palestinian groups who h^ve made
life a living hell for innocent Israelis. Say
you're sorry for Osama bin Laden and his
19 little monsters that killed 3,000 people;
on September 11th. Say you are sincerely
sorry; only then will your get the apology
you deserve. ^
D'Leesa keys is a Staff Writer for the J-TAC.
She is a junior communications major.
AKHIL
KADIDAL
Letter from the Editor
It's that time again. That time
when a particular four-letter
word crops up in every college
studenfs vocabulary.
Tests (although I have another
four-letter word for that). Ifs that
miserable part of the semester
when it causes everyone to break
into a sweat of rash studying,
and causes all slackers out there
to abandon their effortless para-
dises, and actually get down to
work.
Let's fade it, between going to classes and all our ac-
tivities, who has time for that sort of thing?
But professors seem to think otherwise. "Here's how
much I know," they seem to be saying, "now lets see if
you know half of what I know/' Then, a long, blank look
inevitably dawns on your face, as you try to figure out
the difference between an oxymoron, and a real one,
For most, the culmination of stress builds up to a
brain-numbing crescendo before & test, and then when
it over, they can heave a sigh of relief and get back to
whafs really important. But no wait, you can't, because
then we have papers to worry about .
If there was a way out of this quagmire, who wouldn't
want it? If there was an easier way to get through school-
work without breaking a sw£at, aren't we morally obli-.
gated to take it? Sure, a little extra work never hurt any-
body, but who did it help either? But whoa, what are we
talking about here? , ,
According to a recent national survey published in
Education Week, 54 percent of students admitted to pla-
giarizing from the internet.
But if there was one easy way to get through col-
lege, ifs by cheating on tests and plagiarizing on papers.
The chances that you might be caught are almost to nil.
As one Stanford professor told Tech Web News, "Who
wants to sit around looking for web sites trying to find
out if a paper is plagiarized or not... pretty soon you're a
private investigator." But, there one major problem with
doing that sort of stuff: yeah, you guessed it; ifs is mor-
ally wrong. - ' ,
* But, I'm all up for an easy way to get through col-
lege. The answer has to be put there somewhere. For the
moment though, the only way I see how, is to actually
listen up in class, and maybe retain some of that knovvl-
edge'percolating down froiri the words of your profes-
sors and teachers. - " "
If not, there's another easy way to get through col-
lege, and that means packing your bags, filling up the '
drop-form cards, and making your way off campus* ■
Corrections & Clarifications
There were several corrections to be noted in last .week's
issue of the J-TAC: '
* On Page i of the headline titled, "New Journalism De^
partment formed" is incorrect. It should read "new Cq-
m^hications Department formed." * -
* . On Page 5, In the Fall premiers article, the show times
for the The O.C are incorrectly stated, The show actu-
ally premieres on Nov. 2, which is a Thursday at 8 pan.,
not on Wed. Nov. 15th at 8 p.m. ,
* On Page the story on the sexual assault, is incorrect-
ly headlined as "Alleged Sexual Assault on Campus
grounds confirmed" The,assault has not been con-
firmed. Details from Tarleton Police are still pending,
We at the J-TAC want to hear from you. We take letters to the editor, guest columns,
complaints and movie reviews. We want to know whats on yoijir mind.
/ 1 , *
f1 i ■ 11 ■ I ' m "" "j " '' ' 1
The
J-TAC
Managing Editor,
Akhii Kadidaf
Associate Managing Editor
"^rik Walsh
Sports Editor
Mike Cedeno
Photographers &
.... Staff Writers
Cliff Bramiett
Ashley Cagie
Harrison/Fleming
D'Leesa Keys
Gaston McDorman
Francisco Reyes
Mandi Roberts
Lydla Ward
Advertising Manager
Chelsea Story
Advertising Assistant
* Rach'ei Rtewe
Student Publications
Director
Jirn Looby
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J-TAC, Written permission
must be granted for repro-
ductlon of any portion of The
J-TAC.
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exception of University holidays
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 172, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 5, 2006, newspaper, October 5, 2006; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth142137/m1/3/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.