The Law of Plagiarism:

College and university rules for student conduct sometimes say that plagiarism is an academic offense, not a legal offense. That statement is not correct.

Colleges, universities and professional entities certainly have the authority to punish plagiarists in various ways, including expulsion from the college or revoking a degree earned in part by plagiarism. But plagiarism is also a legal issue.

What is plagiarism? In minor cases, it can be the quotation of a sentence or two, without quotation marks and without a citation (e.g., footnote) to the true author.

In the most serious cases, a significant fraction of the entire work was written by someone else: the plagiarist removes the true author(s) names(s) and substitutes the plagiarist's name, perhaps does some re-formatting of the text, then submits the work for credit (e.g., term paper or essay) or as part of the requirements for a degree (e.g., thesis or dissertation), or even as a professional/personal concern (e.g., article, blog entry, news item, etc.). 

Plagiarism is a perennial temptation for students and an eternal challenge for teachers and writers, especially in the age of the Internet. An event during the summer of 2006, however, seemed almost a re-invention of plagiarism, at least to some who responded to it.

In June 2006 a message was emailed to fraternity and sorority chapters across the country advertising a new electronic repository for down-loadable college and university papers, as well as articles on various topics. The site was called "writing sucks" (link removed intentionally), and featured the slogan "Download your Workload." Members of the Alliance for Computers and Writing (ACW) listserve list fumed and argued about plagiarism in general and "Writing Sucks" in particular.

CheckForPlagiarism.net helps fight plagiarism in schools:

Alarming Statistics: 36% of undergraduates have admitted to plagiarizing written material, says 1997 Psychological Record study.

• 4 out of 5 high achievers surveyed in 1998 admitted to cheating on school work according to publishers of Who's Who Among American High School Students.

• More than half of those students said such cheating was "no big deal," and practically none got caught.

CheckForPlagiarism.net helps fight plagiarism in universities:

Alarming Statistics: 66% of 16,000 students from 31 prestigious U.S. universities have cheated at least once, says 1991 Rutgers University study.

• 12% of those reported themselves as regular cheaters. This means nearly seven out of ten students cheat, and at least one of those cheats all the time!

• Cheating on campus increased an estimated 744% from 1993 to 1997, says University of California-Berkley officials.