{"id":53945,"date":"2020-09-09T01:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=53945"},"modified":"2020-09-08T13:17:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T20:17:21","slug":"masters-doctorate-is-plagiarism-increasing-at-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/masters-doctorate-is-plagiarism-increasing-at-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Masters, doctorate: is plagiarism increasing at university?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In March 2019, the world of journalism was shaken by a\u00a0case of plagiarism<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0: the former editor-in-chief of the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0was accused of having used passages from existing sources for\u00a0her book <\/a>\u00a0Merchants of Truth<\/em>\u00a0.\u00a0A year later, it was the turn of the French academic world to be shaken by a scandal: faced with proven evidence of plagiarism, the disciplinary section of the University of Paris-I-Panth\u00e9on-Sorbonne decided in July 2020 to\u00a0cancel a doctorate in law<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Beyond the issues specific to each profession or institution, these cases underline the growing porosity between quotation and copy-paste, and the risks of plagiarism at a time when the Internet facilitates document sharing.\u00a0As the sources just a click away multiply, how do you deal with this type of cheating?<\/p>\n

The problem of plagiarism arises for doctoral theses as well as for master’s theses, with repercussions which are not limited to the circle of higher education.\u00a0Recall that in February 2013, the Minister of Education in Germany resigned from her post after the revocation of her doctorate by the Heinrich Heine University,\u00a0for similar reasons<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0: \u201cHer departure was due to scandals for plagiarized work having brought down a German Minister of Defense, the Hungarian President and a Romanian Minister of Education \u201d, one can read in the\u00a0Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Gray areas<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A study<\/a>\u00a0conducted by David C. Ison in 2018 confirms that, while attitudes towards him vary from one culture to another, plagiarism is practiced in institutions around the world regardless of the field studied.\u00a0Student cheating can take many forms, ranging from cheat sheet to unauthorized collaboration and getting test subjects.\u00a0If, in some cases, students cheat without necessarily being aware of it, this is not the case for the copy and paste, which everyone agrees on the fact that it is plagiarism.<\/p>\n

In his\u00a0Little Book on Plagiarism<\/em><\/a>\u00a0, US judge Richard Posner notes that the problem is growing.\u00a0Through the many examples he offers, we understand that plagiarism is for him an ethical issue (falling under gray areas) rather than a legal (legal or illegal).\u00a0That said, it is perfectly possible that plagiarism is objectively fraud, in cases where a contract has been established, for journalists or students for example.<\/p>\n

For Deborah Rhode, professor of law at Stanford University, “the real question is whether readers have been cheated” (\u00a0Cheating, Ethics in Everyday Life<\/em><\/a>\u00a0) – so it is a question of disclosure.\u00a0The quotation between quotation marks or the mention of the ideas accompanied by the reference (“author (s), year, page”) is obviously the ideal mode of declaration.\u00a0But what about inspiration for students, who are all in all novices, on the subject of their thesis?\u00a0What about ideas from courses, conferences or seminars?<\/p>\n

We can see it clearly, if some cases are clear (the copy and paste without quotes or references), the territory of plagiarism is above all a vast shading of gray.\u00a0As proof of this, for example, are the details in which Princeton University enters on the question of\u00a0academic integrity<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0Their 40-page booklet devotes no less than 6 to detailed and concrete examples of plagiarism to explain to students what it is!<\/p>\n

Digital background<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The arrival of the Internet quickly became a major issue for the academic world, with institutions fearing an increase in cheating and plagiarism practices on the part of students.\u00a0How could they resist the temptation when a few clicks are enough?\u00a0Today, the studies carried out do not allow a formal decision on this evolution.\u00a0On the other hand, digital tools have made it easier to detect them.<\/p>\n

These studies make it possible to draw a “robot portrait” of the plagiarist:<\/p>\n