A variety of things...

Going over my article in class yesterday gave me a better angle on my story. Although I already knew I wanted to focus on intentional plagiarism as a moral issue, I didn't know how to go about that in the best way. So my article ended up being much longer than I intended. I just had so much information that I wanted to put in it.

Now I'm really going to zone in on this as a moral issue. Personally, I don't think that plagiarism can ever be solved. Students are going to be lazy, no matter what. Plus, plagiarism is easier to do--but also much easier to catch. Some of the professors I talked to blame it on the internet. Back in the day, people didn't have access to fully-written papers so easily, Wikipedia, or other online sources to copy and paste. They actually had to sit down with a book and do the reading.

People seemed shocked yesterday at the quality and depth of my interviews yesterday. That made me proud. My article may have been long and in need of better organization, but I have all the information. I put in a lot of effort for this, and I proved to myself I can investigate and report. I think students need that confidence and reassurance in their work. I don't think a lot of students in that class feel confident contacting people they don't know and interviewing them. A lot of them just want to do the email-easy-way-out. I can sympathize with them, but they should know--you feel much more accomplished when you put in that extra push to get the good quotes. Then the story will just write itself. All you have to do is narrate it.

The issue doesn't disappear with reporters. I mentioned in an earlier post that a Telegram writer got fired for plagiarizing an article almost word for word from Sports Illustrated. But look at this: http://www.observer.com/2009/media/fortunes-barney-gimbel-leaves-magazine-amid-plagiarism-charge A Fortune writer resigned from his position because he was accused of plagiarism. His case isn't as bad as the writer from the Telegram. In fact, I see reporters paraphrase like this all the time, especially in the TV business. They'll get a wire or a press release, and simply re-phrase the wording much like Gimbel did in Fortune. It's an iffy issue, but it's clear that Gimbel didn't do the research and interviewing/investigation that he needed to do for an original article. Plus, the one he plagiarized from was written so long ago. I'm going to go with the assumption that he was too lazy to do the work himself. Since he didn't do the work and a deadline was coming up...he had to come up with something.

This class is pushing me. Sometimes I hate it. Sometimes I just get overly frustrated at how much work I have on my plate. But I have to wake up, and other students do too. Life is going to be frustrating with the amount of work that will always be piled up on my plate. I'm almost positive it will never be cleaned off.

This semester is just preparing me for that.