Let's talk about something called cyber-plagiarism. According to Kakkonen and Mozgovoy (2012), it's a digital way of cheating in school.
What is cyber-plagiarism? It's when someone takes whole electronic documents or parts of them from another person, like copying and pasting stuff, without giving credit to the original source. It's like using someone else's homework and pretending it's your own.
Other Names for It: People also call it "e-plagiarism," or "web plagiarism." It's when you get things from the internet and pretend you came up with them.
What's the Big Deal? The internet makes it easy to find and copy stuff, but it is also easier to catch cheaters. Still, some students think they can borrow things from the internet without saying where they got them from.
What's Being Talked About: When we discuss cyber-plagiarism, we look at two things:
1. Internet Influence: The internet makes cheating easier, but it also helps teachers catch cheaters.
2. Student Mindset: Some students think everything on the internet is fair use and that they can use whatever they want. They believe they can use it without saying that they found it online.
What Can We Do About It? Schools need to set up rules and policies to stop cyber-plagiarism. They have to make it clear that copying and pasting without giving credit is not good.
To summarize, cyber-plagiarism is like digital cheating. But with rules and awareness, we can ensure everything stays fair.
Imagine you have this friend who's good at writing stories. Now, imagine you're not so great at it, but you want to impress your teacher with an amazing story. What do you do? You ask your talented friend to write the story for you, but here's the catch: you get all the credit for it, and nobody knows your friend did all the hard work. That's what ghostwriting is!
Ghostwriting is when someone writes something, like a story or an article, for someone else, but that person gets all the credit for being the author. It's like being a secret writer.
There is another thing called plagiarism. Imagine you have a homework assignment, and you copy someone else's work without asking or giving them credit. That's plagiarism. It's not cool because you're pretending that the work is yours when it's actually someone else's.
There's a difference between ghostwriting and plagiarism! Ghostwriting is when someone writes for you, and you know it, but plagiarism is when you copy without permission.
There's also something called false authorship, which is pretending someone else wrote your work to make it seem more important. It's like saying Stephen King wrote your essay when he didn't. That's not honest, and it's considered tricking people.
At Bow Valley College, both ghostwriting and false authorship are considered bad. If someone else writes your assignment, and you say it's all yours, you could get in trouble for not being honest about your work.
It's always better to do your work and give credit to others if they help you out. If you want to learn more about ghostwriting and false authorship, here are some websites, news articles, and resources in the library that can help you understand these concepts better:
Imagine you have this video game that you really want to play, but you're stuck on a tough level. Instead of trying to beat it yourself, you find a cheat code online that helps you skip the level and move on. Essay or paper mills are a bit like those cheat codes, but for school assignments.
An essay or paper mill is like a website where you can buy ready-made homework or essays. It's kind of like paying someone else to do your work for you. You can either directly buy a whole assignment, or sometimes you pay a fee to get access and download it.
Here's the catch: even if you paid for that assignment, using it as your own is bad in school. Submitting work that you didn't do yourself is called academic dishonesty, and it can get you in serious trouble.
Most schools have special software that can find out if you used one of these cheat codes for your homework. Teachers can easily find out if your assignment is from an essay or paper mill. They look at things like how you write, the words you use, your grammar, and where you got your information. It's like having a superpower to catch cheaters!
It's not just about the risk of getting caught. Even if you somehow manage to trick the system, it's not fair to you because you're not really learning the stuff you're supposed to. Plus, if you get caught, the consequences can be pretty harsh—like failing the assignment, the entire class, or even getting kicked out of school.
If you want to know more about why using these online cheat codes is a bad idea, there are some websites, articles, and resources in the library that can help you understand the dangers of using essay or paper mills. It's always better to do your own work and learn from it!