Plagiarism?

Hello everyone, another post by me again. Recently, my class has been involved in a case regarding plagiarism during our History lesson. We were given a worksheet on the facts of World War I. Some of my classmates made use of the Internet to search for some of the answers. Amazingly, they found a website with the exact same questions as those on the worksheet. Obviously, they took some of the answers from the website and handed up the worksheet after completion.

However, on the next History lesson, our History teacher Balan said that he believed that some of us had copied from the website and said that we were plagiarising and sent all of us each an email entitled "Academic Dishonesty". In the email, he stated that the entire class plagiarised and that he might take disciplinary actions against us. Thus, most of us also said that Balan was plagiarising as he did not cite the sources used for the worksheet.

You see, the definition of PLAGIARISM in the dictionary is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. However, the answers to the questions given are all facts, not opinions. Also, facts cannot be altered. Therefore, Balan's accusation that we plagiarised does not stand. Our consortium director also came to our class last Friday to talk to us about the situation and agreed with us that we were not in the wrong.

So, do you agree that my class was wrongly accused or do you have other opinions? Please comment. Bye.

Posted on Term 1 Week 5