Kerith Woodyard, assistant professor of rhetoric and public communication, finds perfectly-written paragraphs in papers otherwise riddled with errors.

Woodyard looks at papers uploaded to Blackboard where, depending on the class, all submissions are checked through a database of various source material.

“If there are any matches, it would give me a report that indicates that it also checks student submissions against previous submissions from other courses and student submissions against submissions at other schools,” Woodyard said.

While going through a paper, Woodyard would do something as simple as a Google search for a particular sentence or phrase.

Plagiarism can take many forms, including not citing sources or copying and pasting another’s work without citing the source. Some students do not think about the consequences of plagiarism, but with today’s technology, plagiarism is becoming easier to catch.

Latania Franklin, senior sociology criminology major, said that no one should ever take another person’s work to claim as their own.

“I think every college student is tempted,” Franklin said.

Michael Day, professor of English and director of the First Year Composition program, said plagiarism is an extremely serious form of academic misconduct.

“Plagiarism is no worse a problem at NIU than at any other college or university,” Day said in an email.

Bill Cassidy, associate professor of communication, said the issue is students don’t understand the basic definition of plagiarism. Cassidy said students think if something is on the Internet then it’s okay to completely copy it.

According to NIU’s 2011-12 Undergraduate Catalog, if a student copies information from any source without identification or acknowledgement, it is considered plagiarism.

“I just go to all my resources [and] check all my resources before I start doing anything,” said Mashiah Williams , junior child development major. “And when I do write my papers, I cite my sources before I finish doing what I’m doing on my paper.”

Day recommends that students should give themselves time to work on their writing assignment in advance and research and keep track of the sources used. Day said any students having trouble with citing and quotations should talk to their professor or visit the University Writing Center, in the lower level of Stevenson Towers South, or the satellite center in theKerith Woodyard, assistant professor of rhetoric and public communication, finds perfectly-written paragraphs in papers otherwise riddled with errors.

Woodyard looks at papers uploaded to Blackboard where, depending on the class, all submissions are checked through a database of various source material.

“If there are any matches, it would give me a report that indicates that it also checks student submissions against previous submissions from other courses and student submissions against submissions at other schools,” Woodyard said.

While going through a paper, Woodyard would do something as simple as a Google search for a particular sentence or phrase.

Plagiarism can take many forms, including not citing sources or copying and pasting another’s work without citing the source. Some students do not think about the consequences of plagiarism, but with today’s technology, plagiarism is becoming easier to catch.

Latania Franklin, senior sociology criminology major, said that no one should ever take another person’s work to claim as their own.

“I think every college student is tempted,” Franklin said.

Michael Day, associate professor of English and director of the First Year Composition program, said plagiarism is an extremely serious form of academic misconduct.

“Plagiarism is no worse a problem at NIU than at any other college or university,” Day said in an email.

Bill Cassidy, associate professor of communication, said the issue is students don’t understand the basic definition of plagiarism. Cassidy said students think if something is on the Internet then it’s okay to completely copy it.

According to NIU’s 2011-12 Undergraduate Catalog, if a student copies information from any source without identification or acknowledgement, it is considered plagiarism.

“I just go to all my resources [and] check all my resources before I start doing anything,” said Mashiah Williams , junior child development major. “And when I do write my papers, I cite my sources before I finish doing what I’m doing on my paper.”

Day recommends that students should give themselves time to work on their writing assignment in advance and research and keep track of the sources used. Day said any students having trouble with citing and quotations should talk to their professor or visit the University Writing Center, in the lower level of Stevenson Towers South, or the satellite center in the Founders Memorial Library Room 302.

Editor’s Note: Day Editor Jessica Wells contributed to this article.

Founders Memorial Library Room 302.

Editor’s Note: Day Editor Jessica Wells contributed to this article.