Of Plagiarism, Paper Mills, and the Harried Hurried Student

Maureen Hourigan starts off the essay by explaining that plagiarism has always been around. She describes a time when it was harder to get other people's words because there was no internet. Also, college students have always had many things to "juggle" in their lives and always wanted a way out of writing to make time for other things. Maureen introduces the argument about whether or not the ease of access to loads of information online has been the cause of more incidences of plagiarism. She then describes how several universities have a mission to stop plagiarism and how they do not want their school to be associated with it. Maureen describes how many academics are deciding to take action on plagiarism. The rules of plagiarism have been re-made according to the department of sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University.

Personally, I have never had a problem with plagiarism. I have never been so desperate for words and time to ever commit the act. However, I know that some people do find it hard to use their own words. I think students need to work on not having enough time to complete the assignment on their own. People who plagiarize should also practice writing more in general. I believe the key problem is the fact that people are starting to forget that writing can be fun and being creative with your words can make it feel that way.