Plagiarism has become a major issue among university students around the world. Academic misconduct has been a concern to those teaching at the universities. Hence, to prevent this from occurring the educational bodies have implemented measures to avoid plagiarism. Presently, the newly recruited students are informed of the consequences of plagiarism and that stern action is in place (Ashworth, Bannister, & Thorne,1997,p.1). However, plagiarism can be divided into two parts: deliberate and inadvertent. Presented here are the reasons why student plagiarism is considered quite high at western universities, even though many of the university students do not mean to cheat. There are three reasons as follows: (1) lack of clear understanding about the concept; (2) lack of knowledge about citation and referencing skills; and (3) poor time management. The first focus is on definitions of plagiarism and the differences between two types of plagiarism, reasons for inadvertent plagiarism, and lastly why international students have became the most plagiarising students in western universities.
Plagiarism is one type of academic misconduct which is treated seriously in today’s universities. Plagiarism is defined as ” literary theft, stealing ( by copying ) the words or ideas of someone else and passing them off as one’s own without crediting the source”(Handa & Power, n.d., p.66). For example, use of any material which is taken from any sources, such as books, electric journals, the Internet, or from other people’s work comprises plagiarism. There are two types of plagiarism: (1) deliberate (intention to cheat); (2) inadvertent (no intention to cheat). If students do it on purpose or intend to cheat, it means that the students have cheated...
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The better educated you are, the better off you are socially, and economically. Having a degree is, in general, a good indicator of your level of education. To get it some students study very hard. Others, on the contrary, prefer to take some shortcuts that seem to be easier for them. Those, not so much interested in acquiring a solid education, simply want to plagiarize to pass their classes, to get that degree. Plagiarism spreads out through any level of our education system. It even extends beyond that limit to reach almost any aspect of our society. With the internet revolution, this problem becomes more acute. “The web has provided global access to an unfathomable cornucopia of term papers, essays, and other scholarly works, right there out in the open for purchase or outright theft” (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 160). This paper will discuss the different types of plagiarism. Before getting deeper into that discussion, we will start by explaining the word plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the copying of another individual’s writings and ideas. Plagiarism is an idea that has been constructed by society. It revolves around society’s ideas of intellectual and private property. It is considered to be a form of cheating. Often times in elementary schools and high schools, plagiarism is discussed as bad but is not actually prevented. Teachers often do not detect plagiarism and even when they do, sometimes it is ignored. The student is then rewarded with a good grade, ingraining within the student that it is acceptable to plagiarize. Plagiarism affects the ways an individual develops as a person and as a writer.
In today’s academic world many students are challenged when it comes to writing, or so they think. Many of them believe that they can go on the internet and use whatever is needed for the paper they are writing. Maybe it is a lack of knowledge or confidence that they are capable of expressing themselves on paper. The majority of the time many students procrastinate until the last minute to write a paper. There are few thing students need to learn about plagiarism such as what is plagiarism, how to cite sources correctly, methods of detecting plagiarism, and what academic punishment they face when caught.
Academic honesty is defined as the use of one's own work, this includes thoughts, materials and workings, in the endeavours of writing papers, taking exams (online or campus based), and other assessable material (Harder, 2014). Academic integrity is the ethical policy of academia. This includes values such as prevention of plagiarism; upholding a high academic standard; honesty and rigour in research (Kirk, 1996). Plagiarism is one of many dishonesties that occurs and is the most common. In 2010, Johanson published an article that stated there may be a correlation with the recent abundance of technology and the rise of student dishonesty. "Access to high-technology has made cheating more convenient, flexible, and efficient…”(Johanson, 2010)
They show their view of plagiarism clearly in their documents through the use of terms such as “without hesitation” and “will not be tolerated” (Student code of conduct and discipline, 2015, p. 6; 9. Academic Honesty, n.d.). Many college students try to find out the ways how to avoid being accused of committing a serious academic offence as much as they can. Putting their own name on someone else’s works and getting good grades, some of them might succeed cleverly, but it is nothing but dishonesty. Both colleges warn students the consequences of plagiarism strongly, saying it can bring negative
In the first place, writing at any level is a challenge. It is a process that requires active thinking as well as creativity. Equally important, is the drive to understand what is necessary to inform the reader when using someone else’s work. In his findings, Gabriel begins with examples of students that committed plagiarism in colleges both unknowingly and intentionally. After exploring the opinions of writing tutors and officials in these situations, he suggests that many students fail to realize that plagiarism is a crime (Gabriel). He relies on the expert opinions of educators who deal with these situations on a daily basis. One such opinion mentioned, is that of Teresa Fishman, the director for the Center of Academic Integrity at Clemson University (Gabriel). She stated, “It’s possible to believe this information is just out there for anyone to take” (qtd. in Plagiarism Lines). This is said in reference to how easy technology has made “copying” and “pasting” of information according to Gabriel. He visits both sides of the fence, so to speak, concerning the views...
Bill Marsh (2007) explained, “If one plagiarizes one violates a major rule pertaining to the use and incorporation of textual sources. Plagiarists commit acts of petty larceny, trying to steal or pass off the words or ideas of another as if they were their own” (p. 31). Furthermore, individuals who take full credit and fail to respect someone else’s work will hinder the honesty and reputation of educational programs as well as their future professions. Educational programs should care about plagiarism because these programs set the foundation of the particular study the students need for their future profession, which would entail the integration of moral behavior. Academic honesty is essential for the educational programs to ensure that what is learned and used for research is properly given proper credit to the individual’s work or ideas.
The dissemination of literature or information is an essential part of a student or professional career. The consequences of plagiarism can utterly destroy both the academic and professional quality of being honest and having strong moral
In order to properly learn more about plagiarism, it is important to appreciate the process of distribution and creation of ideas in the university. All knowledge is developed from preceding knowledge. As we read, revise, execute, research, and collect perspectives, we are building on other people’s thoughts. While drawing on other peoples thoughts and ideas, we manage to develop our own. In this base therefore, students should not shy away from using the work of others. Instead, they should learn how to avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism is something students are constantly faced with throughout their academic career. They are tempted with the obvious pressures that come with being a student and sometimes are not strong enough to fight away that urge. Plagiarism is defined as “an act of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author”, (Dictionary.com). When students feel trapped, they turn to easy ways out such as plagiarism. Plagiarism can come in different forms, for instance, letting a friend copy your paper, copying from the internet, and not citing sources properly.
Plagiarism, or the unaccredited use of another's work or ideas, has become more and more of a problem in recent times than it was in the past. According to statistics found in a survey conducted by the Free Press, 58% of high school students let someone copy their work in 1969, but by 1989 this number had risen to 97%. The expansion of the World Wide Web and the number of people accessing the Web on a regular basis has caused an epidemic of plagiarism in this country, especially among students. This is a serious problem that must be addressed because many students feel that if they are not getting in trouble for cheating, than it is okay.
Cheating on academic work is a serious issue that most students admit to doing at some point in their academic career. Elite students are surprisingly the culprits of cheating, but hide it well. (Romm, para 5) Cheating is such a large issue that “70% of students from a sample of 1,800 from nine campuses said they had cheated at least once during their college careers.” (Schneider, para 9) Students cheat on academic work because of different, ongoing pressures in their lives. Understanding the student’s motives and pressures are essential to preventing cheating from occurring in the future. Students cheat for different reasons specific to them regarding their priorities, pressures and because of how easy it has become. Even though eliminating cheating will not happen, there are actions that educational professionals can and should take to prevent most of it from happening so often. Therefor cheating problems are minimized and have a positive impact on the student’s education and understanding of concepts.
Plagiarism is a very serious topic to be dealt with, due to the fact that it can damage one’s future very severely. It is done often by students in high school and other institutes such as universities and colleges. People plagiarize intentionally and sometimes even unintentionally. The people who plagiarize intentionally are people who don’t really care about their future and career. The people who plagiarize unintentionally are people who do not cite their work properly and completely. Most people that plagiarize do not get a good mark and most likely have to face consequences such as failure, suspension or the chance of being expelled. In conclusion it is believed that one should not put his/her future at risk and try to expand their mind through the process of critical thinking independently, so they do not have to make the mistake of plagiarizing.
Plagiarism is something that is not respected, condoned, or accepted in any part of the education process. Not only does it steal someone else’s work, but it robs students of the learning experience they can gain from assignments. Plagiarism is immoral and unethical. According to the dictionary, plagiarism is “The submission of material authored by another person being represented as a student’s own work,” whether that material is paraphrased, completely copied or fragmentally copied. Basically, plagiarism is “to take ideas or writings from another and pass them off as one’s own” (Webster’s New World Dictionary). Plagiarism has been around since humanities first words were written, making it is easy for students to turn to it. Students will
Plagiarism is a serious offense and a growing trend in our society today. Some may associate plagiarism with the idea of taking someone else’s writing and making it their own. In fact plagiarism involves anything that is copied or taken and said to be of your own work. Dictionary.com defines plagiarism as “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, as by not crediting the author”. In fact this definition covers all types of cheating and misrepresentation of ones own work. There are many numbers and statistics that can be found on the amount of individuals that have admitted to cheating. Perhaps the most astounding number is one that was reported by Moeck in 2002 aloft of 40% of higher education students commit academic dishonesty. This number I’m sure has grown since this report and will continue to grow with the development of the Internet. There are a number of ideas and strategies that can be employed in order to stop this ever-growing phenomenon. As teachers and adults, we are responsible for stopping this trend and educating students about the consequences and dangers of plagiarism. I believe there are a variety of reasons individuals plagiarize. First, students are insecure with their own ability; they don’t believe they can do the work therefore they take others. Second, students believe they can get away with the act because they know others who have plagiarized, and there were not any consequences. Lastly, students are uneducated on what plagiarism is and do not know the consequences of their actions if they commit an act. These ideas will be the focus of the position taken on plagiarism in today’s academic society.