xxxxx 1

xxxxx

xxxxx

Eng 102

24 Oct 2019

RR #9

The article “Bridging the Islands…” is a persuasive piece asking the readier to rethink

their definition and response to plagiarism. This article claims that plagiarism has devolved into

a connotation that does not fit its original meaning. The author cites another source that breaks

plagiarism down into 3 more fitting categories: Fraud, insufficient citation, and excessive

repetition. These three categories more explicitly describe what has happened when someone is

guilty of plagiarism. The article than describes the history of plagiarism and how the definition

has changed over time. Plagiarism used to be about respect for one’s work, as a writer would not

want to plagiarize because it was a sign of low skill. Now, plagiarism is the act of deliberately

stealing another person’s work for personal gain. The author argues we need to eliminate this

stigma in our culture so that we do not give off the appearance that words and ideas can be

owned.

I think that plagiarism has gotten way to serious. Every year for the last 6 years of my life

I have received a lesson multiple times a year about how bad plagiarism is and the consequences

we will face if we are caught doing it. The examples they showed us in these presentations were

ridiculous. It showed students who paraphrased, just as I did, getting caught for plagiarism. I

thought is was ridiculous how serious my teachers were about it. The words “plagiarism” and

“cheating” were synonymous. In my opinion, these things are completely different. Plagiarism is
 xxxxx 2

the usage of another person’s writing in your writing. Cheating is about intention. If you intend

to plagiarize, then you are cheating. If you plagiarize without intending too, that is acceptable but

unwanted. I think that the romantic definition of plagiarism serves as a more realistic form of the

concept than our modern definition.