I write this post with reference to the article titled 'Tokyo University to crack down on plagiarism in thesis' on www.asiaone.com.sg. The article reports the Tokyo University increasing its efforts to clamp down on plagiarism after discovering that an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Engineering plagiarised around 40% of his thesis. This is certainly a shocking exposé, and I cannot help but wonder if there were others just like that assistant professor, who breezed through their university examinations plagiarising others.
Plagiarism stems creativity and innovation. If plagiarism is allowed to go unchecked within academic institutions such as the Tokyo University, one of the most prestigious universities in Asia, the meaning of education would be lost, with universities turning into degree factories for frauds and liars, also cheating those who truly want to learn and make something of themselves with their education.
Plagiarism is no stranger to Singapore's academic institutions, every school has encountered a fair share of plagiarism in its time. I believe the root cause of plagiarism in Singapore is the lack of information about it. Students probably do not know that they are plagiarising when they do their research on the internet, wantonly copying and pasting bits and pieces from here and there, because they do not know that the information on the internet has copyrights as well, believing that the information on the internet is simply for public use. Perhaps institution should lecture students at an early age about the importance of creating original work, and to cite appropriately when borrowing information from sources.
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