Not a sugar rush, but close.

I've nabbed an essay for plagiarism. More are to follow, I'd bet.

"Big deal," you may say. I agree. I can't say for sure that plagiarism is on the rise, but it's definitely as prevalent now as it's always been. Perhaps it's easier to do, but does that mean it's happening more often? I'll leave that to the researchers.

Anyhoo! Off topic! I get such a rush when I discover a plagiarized essay; I should be outraged, but instead my eyes widen and my pulse increases, because I can't wait to write a big fat zero on the last page. This particular essay spelled trouble from the beginning. The topic was global warming--nothing more whittled-down, just global warming. I quick-checked the Works Cited page, and this student had written three separate entries for the exact same article.

Came to discover she took large chunks of text from two Web pages and copied and pasted--no citation, no credit, no attribution. A large part of defining plagiarism is whether or not the student intends to mislead, and I'm pretty certain that's the case here. Whether she intended to or not, though, she's still guilty. Did I cover this in class? You bet. Did she hear it? Who knows.

I did the Macaulay Culkin Home Alone fist-pump a few minutes ago. I need serious help.

Anyone else out there who feels not outrage but elation when confronted with the p-word?