Copyright Issues

In the copyright presentation, I learned that much of universities tuition goes toward funding for educational materials. I did not realize this before, and I began to think about how much money all of my readings for this semester have cost, since two of my classes use E-reserves. I had assumed that all educational use is fair use, but evidently many authors or publishing companies still reap the benefits of work published several years ago. Many professors and teachers also assume that anything is fair game.

Although this is nothing new, I have heard about college and high school students buying papers online or in person several times, which I would consider cheating and plagiarizing. It's also a copyright issue because these papers are usually not officially published. Also, some papers are posted online where anyone can take them. My view is that if you are paying money to go to college, it is pointlesss to pay someone to do the work for you because not only is it dishonest, but it also devalues your own knowledge and the knowledge of the professor. Some might say that this practice is harmless because the writer willfully gives out information that he or she is compensated. However, if the professor found out that the work was not done by the student, it would result in negative consequences. Statistics show that an alarming amount of college students admit to plagiarizing. Although it is not a federal crime like certain copyright violations, plagiarism is a serious violation at many educational institutions, such as Trinity, because it is a way of presenting someone else's work as your own.