Plagiarism

History

Prior to the invention of the printing press, writers were encouraged to take and build on other people’s work, grounded in the Greek concept of mimesis or imitation. Using other people’s work was seen as complementing or paying homage to people and works that were seen as great in a given field. Spurred in part by the printing press and the protestant reformation, the growth of authorship as a profession started to change the way people viewed using borrowed material. Rather than focusing on mimesis as a standard of spreading and celebrating singular ideas and styles, notions of originality and individual thought became more central to the creative process. Starting in the 1700s, newly passed copyright laws made plagiarism an important issue for authors and publishers, and the use of borrowed material was not only discouraged, it was illegal. Plagiarism could increasingly affect an author’s ability to make a living and was therefore increasingly policed.

Despite copyright laws, plagiarism continued to be a growing problem at many colleges and universities. As universities began enrolling more students, the focus on oral presentation as a primary assessment of student achievement gave way to written work, and students saw plagiarism as a viable reaction to the increased writing loads. In addition, until the late 19th and early 20th century, there were no agreed upon standards for citing work, so much of the plagiarism that occurred was unintentional. Plagiarism continued to plague schools, news organizations, and other organizations throughout the 1900s, and with the advent of widespread Internet use in the 1990s, plagiarism was impacted by the ease and access of information.

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