On Thursday October 6, 2000, I went around the cafeteria during sixth period lunch with a pen and a piece of paper with two questions on it. The first was, �Did you ever plagiarize off the Internet?� If you answered no, the second was, �Would you ever consider plagiarizing off the Internet?�
One hundred twenty students answered the question. Amazingly, 80 out of the 120 students answered no, and the remaining 50 students answered yes to the first question. For the second question, 40 answered yes and 40 answered no.
A lot of the students were hesitant to answer the question, because of the fear of getting found out. After a little bit of coaxing many students were more willing to contribute but insisted on having their name withheld.
What many students don�t understand is that plagiarism is a very big issue, and can be a crime; as well as, defeating the entire purpose of learning. If a student is caught plagiarizing he/she can be suspended or even get arrested.