OtherPress.

Room 1020 — 700 Royal Ave.
Douglas College

New Westminster, BC

V3L 5B2

TELEPHONE: 604.525.3542
WEBSITE: theotherpress.ca
EMAIL: editor@theotherpress.ca

STAFF LIST

Jacey Gibb
Editor-in-chief
Meditor@theotherpress.ca

Natalie Serafini
Assistant Editor
Massistant@theotherpress.ca

Angela Ho
Business Manager
Maccounting@theotherpress.ca

Chris Paik
Distribution Manager
Midistribution@theotherpress.ca

Cody Klyne
Layout Manager
Mlayout@theotherpress.ca

Joel McCarthy
Graphics Manager
Migraphics@theotherpress.ca

Ed Appleby
illustrator

Jony Roy
Social Media Coordinator

Patrick Vailancourt
News Editor
Minews@theotherpress.ca

Cheryl Minns

Arts Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca

Sophie Isbister
Life & Style Editor
Mlifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca

Elliot Chan
Opinions Editor
Mopinions@theotherpress.ca

Eric Wilkins
Sports Editor
Msports@theotherpress.ca

Courtnie Martin
Sports Reporter

Sharon Miki
Humour Editor
Mhumour@theotherpress.ca

Cazzy Lewchuk
Aidan Mouellic
Julia Siedlanowska
Staff Writers

Steven Cayer
Brittney MacDonald
Senior Columnists

Jaclyn Brown, Michael
Chmielewski, Allie Davison,
Angela Espinoza, Lindsey
Florio, Austin Landry, Jane
Lytvynenko, Ryan Volkman
Contributors

@ Word
@o0o

     
 

The copy and paste pandemic

 
   

Jacey Gibb
Editor-in-chief

, Meditor

) @theotherpress.ca

Plagiarize: take and use (the
thoughts, writings, inventions,
etc. of another person) as one’s
own

- Oxford Canadian Dictionary

don’t get it. I really don’t. It
seems silly that I even have to

wrong and offensively lazy.
Even before writing became
a serious part of my life, I’'d
never considered plagiarizing
someone else’s work as my
own—and it’s not like I’m
even a person of unwavering,
virtuous ethics. Maybe it was
the teachers I had growing up
or the role models I followed
who taught me that copying
someone else’s work was wrong.
I'd like to think it was just me
using my own brain though;
after all, who in their right mind
would take credit for someone
else’s work?

The reality is a lot of people.
It may seem overdramatic
to say that plagiarism is
rampant in this technological
Renaissance, but it truly is.
We have copious amounts of
information available to us at
astonishing conveniences and it
was inevitable that some people
would use this resource to take

© Gettoknow.us!

© The Other Press has been Douglas College’s student newspaper since 1976. Since 1978 we have
been an autonomous publication, independent of the student union. We area registered society
under the Society Act of British Columbia, governed by an eight-person board of directors
appointed by Wand from our staff. Our head office is located in the New Westminster campus.

© The Other Press is published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly
during the summer. We receive our funding froma student levy collected through

File (qq rat

Font Tools Table Window % Help

LETTITOR_27_FINAL dos [Compatibility Mode)

ay mae;-} 200 be |e

AaBbGeDy AaBeleDdE: Astcchdis Auibictdfe AabbCeDr

Heading

Sree

wom erg Mabide Tae

Lé hf

+ ApBbSeD

Sete Leerl 2

a.
A fhe
beet Taras
Mi fani- ‘Sa- =ai-
‘io Taine thope = Peture = Themes
1G - ee at mee &

 

SmartArt Reww
vas
a8 GB | Dl ath Es
mV B= |= |i phils
“mV
i & 7 i
r
Select All HA
Find .
Mart Dictation... fee
The copy and paste pandemic

: advantage of others. But just

: like eating Taco Bell for every

: meal of every day, just because
: you can do something doesn’t
: mean you should.

Your own personal ethics

: on plagiarism aside, the whole

: thing is also pretty illegal. As

: in against the law. When you

: take someone else’s words

: and claim them as your own,

: without giving them the proper
: credit, people get angry. Just

: ask Elizabeth Meriwether,
mention something so evidently : “creator” of the show New Girl,

: who's currently lawsuit-deep

: with a pair of screenwriters

: who claim she plagiarized

: the show’s concept from their

: pilot Square One. As if the

: similarities between the two

: shows weren't damning enough,
: Fox reportedly offered the

: writers a $10,000 settlement as

: soon as the lawsuit was filed.

: Because that’s what innocent

: people do: they offer thousands
: of dollars to make something

: go away. I won't even get into

: the PR shitstorm that is Shia

: LaBeouf’s recent plagiarism

: antics, but you have to give him
: points for originality (the whole
: skywriting part, I mean).

Let’s bring the plagiarism

: war back to our own home turf,
: though. Anyone who’s taken a

: first-year course (which I would
: assume is most of you) has

: undoubtedly been subjected

: to the concept of academic

: dishonesty. It’s not like people

I don't get it. | really don't. It seems silly that 1 even have to mention something so evidently wrong and
offensively lazy. Even before writing became a serious part of my life, I'd never considered plagiarizing
someone else's work as my own—and it's not like I'm even a person of unwavering, virtuous ethics. Maybe
it was the teachers I had grawing up or the role models I followed who taught me that copying someone
else’s work was wrong. I'd like to think it was just me using my own brain though; after all, who in their
tight mind would take credit for someone else's work?

: are somehow oblivious to what
: plagiarism is. I remember there
: being days where I would have

: back-to-back introductory

: classes and there would be

: the same section on the

: syllabus about what academic

: dishonesty is, why it’s bad, and
: what the consequences are. I

: remember thinking how distant :
: the environment of cheating

: seemed to me. If] would never
: do anything like that, why

: would someone else?

Even the Other Press has

: seen its share of people trying

: to plagiarize. Someone was

: fired right around the time I

: started because they'd been

: taking articles from online and
: purposing them as their own.

: It seems odd to have one of the
: main roles of Assistant Editor

: be to check for plagiarism

: but it’s impossibly important.

: During my own time as

: Assistant Editor last year, I can
: recall at least three writers who
: attempted plagiarism and every
: time it was the same claim of

: ignorance that gave them a

: free pass. You ever need a dose
: of awkward in your day? Try

: sitting down a fellow writer

: and asking them to stop taking
: credit for someone else’s work.

An unfortunate fact of life

is that for every profession,

: there are people in that field

: who are willing to steal other

: people’s work. What motivated
: me to write about the topic this

tutition fees every semester at registration, and from local and national advertising yA

revenue. The Other Press is a member of the Canadian University Press (CUP), a
syndicate of student newspapers that includes papers from all across Canada.

© The Other Press reserves the right to choose what we will publish, and we will not publish material

that is hateful, obscene, or condones or promotes illegal activities. Submissions may be edited
for clarity and brevity if necessary. All images used are copyright to their respective owners.

 

: week was an email I received

: from the Canadian University

: Press (CUP) about someone

: plagiarizing from an online

: CUP article. The writer took

: sections from the online version
: and incorporated them into a

: new piece. Were the sections

: substantive? Not really, and

that’s not the point. The writer

: (someone with many articles

: to their name) knowingly took
: the words of someone else

: and didn’t give them credit

: for it. As much as you want to

: believe some people are truly

: unaware of what plagiarism is,

: they know what they’re doing

: when they hit copy and then

: follow up with a paste. I have

: zero sympathies for anyone

: who plagiarizes and I have even
: fewer sympathies for those who
: get caught.

Let me boil this whole

: topic down into one digestible

: message: don’t fucking

: plagiarize. It’s wrong; it’s

: illegal; and you're taking

: credit for something another

: person actually worked for. If

: the thought of originality is

: something you grapple with,

: then maybe youre in the wrong

: field.

So it goes,

Tracey Gibb

Editor-in-chief

SA aA Cele iCy Korte)

@ www.facebook.com/DouglasOtherPress
| www.twitter.com/theotherpress