In the modern age of word processing and unlimited digital resources, the practice of correctly citing material has begun to deteriorate. Potential sources have moved into digital libraries, and students have access to a plethora of previously written papers in any field with almost any subject. The technological revolution has strained the core principles that professional educators strive to instill in their students. As a society we are at a turning point. We can cower from our moral goals in the face of adversity or press forward and create new solutions to the drawbacks of living in a digital age. When it comes down to it, stepping back from our efforts to cite sources for original thought and reward people for their creativity is not an option.
At one time, academic integrity was an unquestionable pillar of essay writing and content creation. When research required a library card and a lengthy time investment in hunting down relevant resources, academic integrity was in effect protected by the distinction of taking time out to specifically harvest source material for your paper. Library time, made it more difficult for a student to blur the lines between research and other day to day activities. At the same time, there was no available access to vast databases of papers. Cheating meant sourcing a paper from a closer associate. The anonymity of downloading a cookie-cutter essay from the web was unavailable. Plagiarizing from close associates also meant that the work was more likely to be previously read by the professor. Before computers, not only was academic integrity more paramount, the act of plagiarizing was in many ways more difficult.
The digital age had a revolutionary impact on content creation in the education field. With the advent of word processing, spell checking began to shift to automated programs and essays could be printed or copied at the push of a button. The internet opened up a vast network of fully digitized resources. Library cards began to gather dust as student scoured to web for more specific and readily available resources. As web surfing became a part of nearly everyone’s day to day activities, the distinction between researching and searching began to blur. This breakdown was further exacerbated by the growing social activities available online. Student began sharing information across social networks and the art of copy and pasting interesting information became second nature.
As technology began to offer up increasingly easy channels for plagiarism, the education community and the technical community searched for means to defend the long running standard of academic integrity. The issue was not merely that students no longer cared about citation. In many cases, students never intentionally engaged in plagiarism, overlooking their behavior as just another online activity. The education community pushed for renewed understandings of academic integrity and turned to technical solutions to uncover academic misdeeds. Software companies began to offer programs that were capable of tapping into large databases and online collections of resources to crosscheck papers for citation errors. These tools allowed educators to more effectively identify plagiarism issues and pinpoint the missing sources.
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