According to www.pravda.com.ua sources, analysis of the Ukrainian Internet made by SputnikMedia.net showed that in October 2004, prior to the presidential elections, the Ukrainian Internet was heavily influenced by politics. 978 search enquiries were registered using the key word "Yushchenko" during the whole month, giving it the 17th place. TV 5th Channel ranked 22 (875 enquiries), and the key word "Yanukovych" ranked 33rd with 744 enquiries. Observers overwhelmingly noted that the key word "sex" was overridden by political issues, "erotica" was on the 30th place (776 enquiries) and "sex" on the 38th place with 602 enquiries. 

HOWEVER…
The lead key word in this list still belonged to the word "Referat" (term paper), with 8151 enquiries…
Even the "orange autumn euphoria" of the pre-election could not lead the plagiarist astray, who continued "working" silently. Perhaps, for this reason, we offer to our readers a comprehensive discussion of the issue of plagiarism in education and life

ORIGINAL SIN

"Where does one draw the line? The haze is so erratic and yet so prominently identifiable. Let me explain what I really mean by that. I have always wanted to write a book. Perhaps it will always remain a dream. The truth is, I read many and I find a bit of my story in each one that I finish and put away. I identify a character I wanted to write about in one and I find a scenario described in another exactly the way I would have written about. Except of course, I lost out on the race to write it first.
What does that have to do with my wanting to write a book? The truth is, I would hate to write something that would even remotely suggest that I have been breaching someone else's copyright. This leaves me with a rather constricted choice of words, plot and drama that have not been part of someone else's work. Perhaps I lack an adequate quantity of inspiration. or is it that whatever amount of inspiration we possess is never enough?
Literature is a trend that has undergone as much change in its form and texture, as have fabrics in design, content and fashion. It is the reflection of some truth and beauty which is in the world, but which remains unnoticed until brought to us by some sensitive human soul who has expressed it in words. It becomes thus a record of life.
The question that truly haunts the mind is whether the books we read now are original works of the writers' mind or mere effective lifting of ideas. Perhaps the more books we get to read, the more obvious the answers will become or will it make the view foggier than it is right now? It will surely take some time to figure that out, and perhaps by then I will also have figured out a way to write the book I have always wanted to write. A parting thought: will I come up with something original or will I simply excel in the fine art of plagiarism? 

- Sandhya Suri 

PLAGIARISM: A LITERARY HAZARD 

Recently, a senior journalist and editor of The Hindustan Times was caught red-handed by a fellow journalist for lifting an article published in an American paper a few months ago and dishing it out as his own without even bothering to substantially change the language. Result: the journalist was forced to resign amidst ignominy and the writer whose work was plagiarized was left rather amused. He was so used to his works being plagiarized all over the Internet that redemption came as a surprise!
…My first brush with plagiarism was several years ago when I was just a fledgling writer. One of my happiest days came when the third article I had written in my life made it as the lead story in the op-ed page of a leading national daily. I pranced around with a copy in my hand, flourishing it to anyone who would care to take a look, glowing at the sight of my by-line in bold. A week later, the same story appeared, poorly camouflaged, in the personal column of a highly respected journalist, more than twice my age. Could I have done anything about it, maybe approached him brandishing a copy of my published piece? Would my small voice been heard at all? Unlikely.
A few years down the line, another story of mine that had been published in a reputed journal, appeared in the Edit Page of a national daily, lifted almost word-by-word but filed by one of their own correspondents. This time, wiser and older, I shot off a letter to the editor of the paper with clippings of my article and the plagiarized piece, confident that the correspondent would be hauled up. I never received a reply. But the correspondent's by-line stopped appearing. Finally, I have won, I thought. My joy was short-lived. About six months later, the correspondent's name reappeared in the same paper. Had any action ever been taken against him? I would never know.
As long as there is originality in literature, there will be plagiarism. It's an evil that will remain simply because this world has more imitators than innovators. Particularly in a country where copyright laws are so lax, plagiarism is easily cloaked under "inspiration". Skeptics point out that the Internet has in fact increased chances for plagiarism because your work can be downloaded in any corner of the world without your knowledge.
True. But on the other hand, the Internet also provides a unique storehouse called the 'archives' and if plagiarism comes to light, at the click of the mouse, the original writer can fish out his work from the archives to prove its originality. Try this with the print medium, and you may end up sifting through dusty folders in some dingy warehouse of your publisher!

- Antara Nanda

PLAGIARISM AND LITERATURE -- A DICHOTOMY 

Copying from one book is plagiarism while from two is research; thus goes the copyright formulation. Rabindranath Tagore in one of his essays forwarded two instances of copying in examinations: one who copies from a book brought inside the examination hall and the other who copied from the same book albeit from his 'head'. Tagore found hardly any basic difference in the two instances. If the former is repugnant, the latter is equally to be looked down upon.
Like all creativity, literature too is to be gauged in its temporality and spatiality. Equally the creator of it is to be judged in the same manner. Hence, society as reflected in literature is a society at a given time. The litterateur and his/her ideas is also governed by the same. There has to be, therefore, a sort of commonness and identicality in the ideas of literateurs in a certain epoch. Time and space may extend as long as the fundamental elements of the frame do not get distorted.
In my teenage, I wrote a novel--a fabulous and impetuous attempt driven by the urge and passion of my age. Out of shyness, I didn't show it to anybody except a close friend of mine. After a few days, I went to a movie and I was taken aback when I discovered that the plot of the movie was identical to that of my novel. The movie was based on a story of a noted writer; his story was written well before my adolescent creation. I dumped my novel simply for the fear of being branded a plagiarist. This is how creativity is thwarted by the prejudiced notion of plagiarism.
Mahabarata and Ramayana were developed from the prevailing oral literature scattered among the oran narrators. On the basis of the ongoing notion of plagiarism, Vedavyas and Maharishi Valmiki may well be stamped as plagiarists. Shakespeare took many of his plots from published historical and literary works and transformed the borrowed materials into works that were uniquely his own.
My point of departure from the ongoing notion of plagiarism vis-a-vis copyright laws is that there should be sufficient scope for creativity and originality. The current notion of plagiarism is mechanical and is applied mechanically. It obstructs creation; I am for a more lively notion.

- Tapan Das Gupta

PARTING WORDS   

Originality is fast becoming a rare commodity in today's world. For every innovation, and there are many, there are even more derivations. Popular culture is almost a paean to the achievements of those who went before.
Consider this: how many times have you seen a Bollywood movie with a scene lifted straight out of a Hollywood thriller? And how many times have you recognized a "new" song for what it really is; a rehashed, remixed, sorely abused version of an older composition? So why should literature be any different, you may ask? The answer lies in the very nature of the term. A piece of writing that lays claim to be an original work carries with it the essence of the writer's vision. Characters, situations and emotions that have been plucked out of thin air, and woven gossamer-like into the fabric of a narrative: these are the crux of civilization because they represent human's ability to think and look beyond his/her own self, to reach out of the surrounding circumstances.
To be fair, inspiration in literature cannot be ignored or maligned. We are all inspired by things we have read and seen, and our writings will undoubtedly reflect that. But it is important for all writers to stay true to their art, and others'.
Originality, in a nutshell, represents man's ability to dream. Stealing a dream, now that's unforgivable.

EDUCATION - AT WHAT COST?  

 The appropriation of credit for one person's writing by another is a phenomenon that has probably been around for as long as literature, art, and mental activity have won respect and prestige in society. Plagiarism has existed throughout the history of science and art. At all times plagiarists have been held in derision by both they authors themselves and society. Nevertheless, despite moral censure and legal safeguards on copyrights, plagiarism not only continues to exist, but lately seems to be showing alarming expansionist tendencies. 
The biggest factor behind this expansion is definitely the recent increase in the amount of information circulating in society. This is, in turn, a result of scientific and technological progress, especially the development of computer technologies including data resources, and, most importantly, the Internet. In Ukraine alone, the current number of Internet users increased 1.5 times to 3.8 million people in 2003. According to the data collected by the State Committee on Communication and Informatization of Ukraine, the percentage of Ukrainians using the Internet rose from 5% last year to 8% this year. The number of web-sites in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet (all domains ending with .ua) increased by 4.25% to 28.8 thousand. More and more people can afford to have a computer with a modem in their home. Naturally, the next step is connecting to the Internet. 
Using the computer to process, transmit, and copy of texts decreases the amount of time and energy spent collecting and preparing of materials. This definitely sparks interest among a certain segment of society - students. Today's youth can quickly find lots of necessary materials, chose the best pieces of information, combine these pieces together, and give the result a new name. In fact, they've got the process down to a science. 
Therefore, it should not be surprising that the use of these methods has become widespread in the educational system. Computerization has undoubtedly helped automate the educational process, assisted students to find data in their independent work, and aided scientific and research activity. But all the advantages of computer equipment can also be used to harm the aims of education - it can discredit traditional pedagogical methods, and at the end impair the process of making students into qualified specialists.
In the educational sphere, there has always existed an illegal market of paid services which provide written work (term papers, undergraduate thesis, test papers, and qualification projects) for lazy or incompetent students. With the development of computer technologies and the appearance of Internet this business received a powerful boost. Electronic databases are becoming increasingly sophisticated, (even intergovernmental), document scanning is becoming widely used, E-mail already is widely used, search engines are everywhere, and sophisticated texts processing for grammar and spelling is available. Now, the provision of written work for money is no longer considered immoral - businesses in this market are coming out of the underground. Advertisements about the paid preparation of written work for students are openly spread by both private persons and commercial structures. Even more troubling, the number of school and university employees engaged in this business is also increasing. Students often receive these pamphlets even at the doors of their alma mater. The price of qualification project in Ukraine is about $200 (it can differ depending on the complexity of the task), a bachelor's project - approximately $100, a term paper - $50. After making the payment, the client often receives a piece of work which is very well written and mounted. But the objective the teacher desires is not gained. The new "author" is often completely uninterested in the pieces of work written on his or her behalf. 
Unfortunately, plagiarism and the accompanying businesses are becoming more widespread in applications for doctorate degrees. This is especially true in the preparation and defense of humanities theses. Of course, since this work is significantly more complex than than of students, the prices of are also much higher. 
The existence of websites with student work on all conceivable subjects is no secret to anybody. Both students and teachers know about them. Anonymous authors offer whole packages of services even for those who want to get doctor's degree. Providers of these services claim access to more than 20 thousand recently updated dissertations. This problem even extends beyond the paid preparation of dissertations to the very defense of the dissertation before the Higher Verification Committee of Ukraine, which considers advanced scientific workmanship. For a set price, a client will receive the necessary quantity of publications, ostensible opponents, "friendly" special council, text of speeches in defense, and even answers to questions which might be asked by those present on the committee. 
It is therefore greatly impressive that in this environment, so many freshmen nevertheless go to libraries and conscientiously handle teachers' tasks. Yet these attitudes can fade away quickly, especially if the honest students find that their groupmates who downloaded everything from the Internet, never studied anything, and never even saw the teacher received the same or even higher grades. "Why did I stay up all night last night studying everything?" - Such questions can be often heard near lecture rooms after exams or credits. 
For the last two or three years the quantity of the university entrants who avoid the nerve-wracking process of entering university on common terms, and instead agree to study on a contract basis has increased. So how much does a university degree cost these students? The algorithm for calculated the price of an education is pretty easy: the planning-financial department in the university accounting section calculates expenses for each student, then a special commission (the chief accountant, a representative from the rector's office (usually a vice-rector of financial and economical or scientific work) and the head of the planning-financial department) considers this estimate, and either introduce or don't introduce proposals to charge a different amount. Once the suggested sum is calculated, the proposal goes to the rector's office, where it is made official policy by being given the rector's signature. The subjective factors that influence the cost of studies depend on the price for the particular profession in other higher educational establishments. The set price of education is reconsidered either once a year or once a semester, depending whether students pay for the education once a year or once a semester. Costs may go up for if the price of public utilities rises, by Presidential decree on a rise in professors' wages, and many other reasons. This is because the only stable source of financing for Ukrainian higher educational establishments is income from students. 
So why don't students (even paying students) want to study? Why do teachers occasionally find two different essays, terms papers, or bachelor's projects with different names but almost the same content? It may, perhaps be true that many of them are too busy working to pay the costs of their education, and don't really have time to write, for instance, a term paper they probably won't ever use in future life. Perhaps it is also true that their not-so-inexpensive university degree doesn't help them very much when they try to get a job, anyway. In many organizations, potential employees aren't even asked about their educational experience, let alone factoring it into determining salaries. 
Ultimately, the contents of the papers are the same because the information moves in a circle: I downloaded a file and placed it on a site; somebody copies my work, gives it a new title and again places it on the same site. Unfortunately, today's Ukrainian youth hold the following sad conviction: I know that which I studied (little as it may be), I work for that which they pay me (little as that may be). On the other hand, there are a certain number of children of privileged parents who are able to study abroad on their parents' money. If they come back again, their parents provide them with high paid jobs (regardless of whether or not they know anything). Very often they are the ones running the businesses. It is only the rare student that breaks out of this system by winning a foreign scholarship or grant based on merit.