Plagiarism. Surprising to learn a new less severe definition of plagiarism is emerging which covers a broader spectrum of intellectual curiosity and discipline. Ignore what the official definition of plagiarism is for a moment and consider a medical student who has the difficulty on quoting an article which cites another study. The article mentions a single study which supports ABC treatment may be a cure to XYZ. The student paraphrases the article and states ABC cures XYZ but only cites the article, not the original study which more accurately explains the conclusion. Under the new interpretation of plagiarism, the student exercised weak scholarship and also weak intellectual curiosity. The student’s failure to acknowledge the appropriate source and laziness to not accurately describe the meaning derived from the source was seen as inexperience and lack of training on some academic rigor.
Many faculty find students using ‘filler’ material to complete assignments. Students blame faculty for stated requirements such as, ‘The paper must be five pages in length.’ Conclusion was made that faculty need to take a portion of their instruction to students to make sure they understand about intellectual curiosity, scholarship and caring about what they are writing. Particularly in required courses, faculty found students often ‘don’t care’. The extension of the definition of plagiarism is meant to include dedication to the field of selected study, recognizing appropriate sources, stating conclusions accurately from the sources found, and portraying scholarship from the works as originally intended.
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