Home OpinionCommentCopy paste republic of Lebanon

Copy paste republic of Lebanon

by Jasmina Najjar

“Plagiarism is the ‘wrongful appropriation’ and ‘stealing and publication’ of another author’s ‘language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions’ and the representation of them as one’s own original work … Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics. It is subject to sanctions like penalties, suspension, and even expulsion. Plagiarism is not a crime per se but in academia and industry, it is a serious ethical offense, and cases of plagiarism can constitute copyright infringement” (Wikipedia). The above is obviously quoted from Wikipedia and has been appropriately cited — a process miraculously accomplished in under five seconds. And yet we live in a culture where the above could have been copied and pasted from Wikipedia verbatim without being acknowledged in any way. The general attitude is: hey, who cares? Quote marks, in-text citation and a reference list are too much of a hassle. And besides, who is going to

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6 comments

Sara Harakeh May 22, 2014 - 12:52 PM

This is so true, finally someone is addressing this issue. I agree with part about plagiarism especially in Universities. I am a student in the Lebanese University majoring in English Literature and I am graduating this semester. For the past three years that I have spent in my University I can grantee that more than 50% of the students use plagiarism in their researches and exams. Sometimes even 100% of their researches and exams are plagiarized. This is really irritating and unfair to have students graduating from their own original work and others because of plagiarism. This affects negatively the level of students graduating and the level of the future generation’s teachers.
I think the best effective way to stop this issue is by using programs like the one’s used abroad that scan the paper to indicate if there’s any sign of plagiarism.
What is really sad about this is that some professors know about this issue and consider students who use plagiarism as ” hard working students”. Some of them even prefer plagiarized researches because it seems to them as ” better and more trusted”.
When it comes to the part about piracy of movies, music and books I do not agree completely. One should take in mind the wages in Lebanon which is obviously low and does not allow more than 80% of the population in Lebanon to buy music albums and movies legally from the internet, not mentioning Virgin Megastore’s ridiculous expensive prices!.
I am not defending piracy and saying that it should go unpunished, but let us face it if it was not for piracy most of the celebrities wouldn’t be famous as they are now. Although about the part of local talents and movies, I totally agree for the situation here is different.

Jasmina Najjar May 22, 2014 - 2:10 PM

Glad you liked the article. Yes this is a serious issue. Many universities here use Turnitin and other software to detect plagiarism…but this alone isn’t enough to address this issue. The problem is deeply rooted in many contributing factors.

I brought up piracy not to tackle the issue of piracy (that’s a whole other can of worms) but since it reveals a lot about the cultural context and possible contributing factors.

Zinnia May 22, 2014 - 2:32 PM

Jazz, I love your ideas. The problem is there, but like everything else, it is just swept under the carpet, and people simply go on doing it. More people like you should open the eyes to the violations that are constantly carried out here. Good job!

Jasmina Najjar May 22, 2014 - 4:31 PM

Thanks Zinnia!

Ibrahim Farah May 29, 2014 - 9:17 AM

Hey Jansmine, I was expecting to see you in the last hike, we shared your article at our library website http://www.balamand.edu.lb/Library/Main/Pages/default.aspx

Best,
Ibrahim Farah

Jasmina Najjar May 29, 2014 - 4:01 PM

Hi Ibrahim,
Hope all is well!
Thanks so much for sharing the article!

I sadly couldn’t make it to the hike…next hike for sure! :)

Best,

Jasmina

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