Plagiarism in High School: A Survey

Whenever I introduce the subject of plagiarism to a writing class, I'm assailed by memories of my days in grades 5 through 12 when I wrote reports by copying information from the relevant World Book or Encyclopedia Americana article. Rather than chastise me, my teachers rewarded my efforts; one biology teacher complimented me by asking to keep the paper into which I had painstakingly copied details about the physiological systems of a representative from each phylum. As a result, I believed that length and relevance were the only criteria of acceptable scholarship. The request of my senior English teacher that I paraphrase and document my paper on Salinger did not disturb my belief; such a request, I thought, was just peculiar to English teachers. I continued to copy with an untroubled conscience unless asked to do otherwise.