How can I make sure that I don't plagiarize online information?
Is is possible to locate the source(s) of a plagiarized or purchased paper?
By using text-index search engines, instructors can often locate the online source of plagiarized material. In addition, instructors have access to new detection programs to help them ferret out online plagiarism. Glatt Plagiarism Services, for example, provides software that lets instructors quickly trace sources of plagiarism by comparing students' texts with numerous free and marketable collections of papers. Instructors at many colleges and universities now routinely use such detection programs. For an interesting article on the subject, read Doreen Iudica Vigue's "Educators Fighting a Web of Deceit."
I've heard that it's possible for Web designers and the owners of institutional Web pages to trace illegal copying of copyrighted images, graphics, and music. Is that true?
Yes, it is possible for the owners of online materials to trace illegal copying. By embedding digital watermarks in graphics, images, music, and texts, owners of copyrighted materials can trace the location of illegal downloading. Several companies provide digital watermarking systems. For example, Digimarc.com, a leading developer of digital watermarking technologies, provides technical services that allow digital data to be imperceptibly embedded in visual content such as movies or photographs and valuable documents such as financial instruments, passports, and event tickets. These technologies are used in a wide variety of applications, including the deterrence of counterfeiting, piracy and other unauthorized uses.
How can I make sure that I don't plagiarize online information?
First, carefully read Chapter 3 in Online! There you will find advice on how to cite online sources in both print and hypertext documents. To see what teachers are reading to help you avoid plagiarism, read Lisa Hinchliffe's "Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism: Preventing, Detecting and Tracking Online Plagiarism."
Last revised February 15, 2000
Copyright © 2000 by
Bedford / St. Martin's
