A professor with a problem

One of my teachers used to always tell me "write what you know". Well, today I know that I am somewhat, no, actually, deeply disappointed in several of my students. In fact, I'm not just disappointed, I'm also slightly upset and even insulted.
Yesterday, as I was grading the research papers one of my classes had to write as part of their final grade, I discovered that six out of twenty students had chosen to plagiarize parts of their paper. Not just the one or two lazy students whom you will find in every class who think they can get away with a simple cut and paste their job. No, six. Almost a third of my students had used parts of other people's work without any kind of reference or citation. I realize this was a tough assignment, but this surpassed even my worst nightmare.
To an academic, plagiarism is as bad as cussing in church to a pastor. Or eating a snack right before dinner to your mom. Or cheating on your husband on your wedding night. It's not only wrong, it completely ignores the purpose of the activity at hand. In the case of academics that would be to carry out original research. I can't even begin to describe the blood, sweat and tears that go into producing an academic article of paper, not to mention the intense labor it takes to write a doctoral dissertation. Now I don't expect my students to produce either. However, to ask them to please write their own paper, while including a lengthy lecture on citation rules and the APA styleguide, should not be asking too much, right?
Well, it seems as though it is. And it's not as though the students made any effort to hide their plagiarism by changing a word or two. Nope. Apparently my students believe that if I read "my research will looks at the manor in which people interpret reality programs" on one page and then on the next page see a paragraph that starts with the words "This study, besides examining the ideological potential of reality shows, will also venture into the racial discourses offered by these texts", I won't think anything of it. Hmm.
And then the culprits didn't take the work from obscure articles and books either. In most cases, students copied sentences and paragraphs straight from the internet, and preferably from websites I told them not to use, such as wikipedia. It's somehow very insulting to my intelligence when students seem to assume that I don't know how to use google. And don't even get me started on wikipedia. Whoever decided that that was a trustworthy source of information..well, they definitely need a talking to.
Yesterday, as I was grading the papers, my heart just sank every time I would see a suspect sentence, and then see my suspicions be confirmed. I want all of my students to succeed, and I do my very best to create the conditions for them to do so. I lecture them about all the important aspects of conducting research. I spent at least one lecture talking about plagiarism. I asked them to hand in their first drafts, to come see me with any questions, to let me know if they had any problems. And then to have students merely assume they can get away with a complete disregard for the basic rules of academia almost feels like betrayal.
The worst part is that once I catch a student plagiarizing, there is very little I can do to guarantee their success. Our university's student handbook dictates a whole set of actions to take when students plagiarize. It includes such nasty penalties as failing them for the class, reporting them to the chair, dean, possibly even the president, and the possibility of academic probation. I dread having to talk to the dean on Monday, but my professional integrity does not allow me any other option.

But, honestly, how hard is it to write your own work? I just did it.