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Historians attribute the origin of the term plagiarism in its current sense to the first-century AD poet Martial, who stated that it was shameful for another poet to publicly read Martial's poems as if they were his own. The word he used was plagiarus, which normally referred to someone who kidnapped a freed person and then enslaved him or her. Martial may or may not have been claiming ownership, but he was decrying the assigning of ownership to someone else, as in the modern sense of plagiarism.

The embedding of the belief into the modern Western psyche that an individual may own ideas and words may emanate from the Enlightenment and the rise of individualism. The separation of the created from the creator enabled the ascribing of ideas to the individual instead of the divine. The emergence of the printing press enabled the greater dissemination of these ideas, which had both economic and reputational consequences. The Statute of Anne of 1710 in Britain is considered the first copyright law attributing ownership and monopoly rights to authors. Since then, although copyright laws have changed, the right of an author of a piece of literature or artwork to be identified as the author has remained constant and is the dominant Western paradigm in which the concept of plagiarism resides. Consequently, many use the term theft to describe plagiarism, not in a legal sense, but as a metaphor to emphasize there is a "rightful" owner to form and a lowly social status to those who do not acknowledge that owner.

Academia treats plagiarism seriously for two reasons. First, it devalues a profession based on honesty, and second, it undermines the fabric of advancement where recognition is through publication and citation.

Failure to properly acknowledge another academic is regarded as cheating someone out of that which is rightfully his or hers. Lack of acknowledgment may slow advancement and have financial implications for the individual and institution. Academics found to have plagiarized at any point of their career may find their careers cut short, as did Vice Chancellor (President) of Monash University Professor David Robinson.

Expectations are that students will operate within the academic paradigm by learning and obeying referencing conventions. Failure to do so affects not just the individual but the worth of the degree in the eyes of employers. Hence, the plagiarism of a few has social consequences for many.

The Center for Academic Integrity, on the basis of self-reporting by 50,000 U.S. students, reported that half of them plagiarize in written assignments each year. Others estimate the plagiarizing of written assignments at 10 percent. Although many perceive plagiarism to be on the increase, its actuality awaits documentation from longitudinal studies.

Countering students cutting and pasting from the World Wide Web or purchasing papers from paper mills are search engines and specially designed antiplagiarism software. This software can detect even paraphrasing, not just wholesale copying.

Approaches to plagiarism include regulation and punishment, persuasion, and social change. Some academics are reluctant to follow up on possible plagiarism because of the personal cost to them in time and increased stress; others use the detection software as a deterrent, even having students use it before submitting papers. Most academics attempt to persuade through using their position of authority and educational skills. Some institutions try to change the values of the students through, for example, honor codes.

Plagiarism in the West rests on the assumptions that individuals can and do own their own words and content. This assumption remains strong despite philosophies such as deconstructionalism and relativism that tend to break down the assumption of absolute ownership of a work.

In many non-Western cultures, people find value in their relationships and position in society rather than in their expression of self. In such collectivist cultures, plagiarism is not recognized as a social wrong. Students from these cultures studying in Western institutions sometimes fail to grasp the significance to the Western academic of acknowledging the source of particular words or ideas. In addition, they may be reluctant to paraphrase or include their own ideas in a piece of writing, for this may be considered conceited. The globalization of education is, therefore, challenging the assumptions on which plagiarism rests.

References:

1) Callahan, David. 2005. The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead. New York: Harcourt.

2) McLeeme, Scott. 2004. "What Is Plagiarism? Special Report" Chronicle of Higher Education, December 17.

3) Scollon, Ron. 1995. "Plagiarism and Ideology: Identity in Intercultural Discourse." Language in Society 24:1-28.

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