Plagiarism - In all its Glory

Due to the advances in technology, even the most basic of things, such as essays, are being transformed. What was once a long, drawn out affair of research, quoting, and explaining evidence has become a much simpler task of searching and adding a hyperlink to a more “reliable and creditable” source. It is still up for debate on whether or not this is a better method than the latter.

When it is all said and done, I liked the essay regarding plagiarism. There is a lot to be said on the topic and it makes it even more real when a well-known professor and author ends up plagiarizing most of her information. But I am not so sure that I enjoyed the format. I am not much for reading online, over a computer screen. Not only that, this essay uses several hyperlinks to inform readers of more information on separate sites, which may or may not be a good thing.

Now, I am not saying this format is bad. In all honesty, I can see several benefits, and the essay flows smoothly. But the format is very unreliable. In more than one case when I attempted to click a hyperlink, it brought up computer errors and would not display the page. This could be due to my computer, but the author should keep that idea in mind; not everyone’s computer will work well with the hyperlink format, therefore not everyone will get the benefits of this method. Also, after time, the links the author has posted may run into disrepair and no longer work. What will his essay be then?

The claim argued here was very well discussed. The author used a lot of quotes and used the hyperlinks in a very supportive manner. He did not rely upon them totally, only used them as backup in case a reader wanted more in-depth information. I believe this is the best method for hyperlinks. If I understood it better, I would probably use the hyperlinks more, just for the simple fact that it allows readers to go to the source, instead of believing the author totally. If I were to question credibility, I could just click the source and see if I was being lied to or not. Hyperlinks help readers with their understanding, so in this case, they are good. The reader just has to keep in mind that with technology, being tricked becomes much easier. Just because one uses a hyperlink does not mean he or she is more creditable. The author could be using false hyperlinks on purpose, just so the reader will attribute the unresponsive page to a computer error, not a false creditable site.

With everything considered, this author does not misuse hyperlinks at all. All of the pages were informative, liked to well-known sites, and worked (for the most part). The argumentation was factual and the author used quotations outside of hyperlinks, supporting his argument. The best use of such was when he liked directly to the plagiarized paper in question. Readers could see directly that Ms. Goodwin paper was plagiarized. It helped to see that he was not just assuming, he knew what he was talking about. Plagiarism is a serious topic, much like that of censorship. It is a topic all college students should be aware of and wary of.