Plagiarism in College Work

646 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: causes and effects of plagiarism

Plagiarism takes various forms. A student may cheat doing something as extreme as purchasing a paper, hiring someone to write a paper or turning in a paper freely provided by a friend. Many students unknowingly commit Plagiarism by failing to properly cite their sources crediting the authors. Still others cite, but plagiarize by coping much too much and writing far, far too little of their own synthesized thoughts and ideas. Students must be careful about copying too much. If a paper is mostly other writers’ material, that can be considered Plagiarism, even if the student credits their sources.

What Exactly is Plagiarism?

According to Purdue Owl, Plagiarism “is the uncredited use (both intentional and unintentional) of somebody else's words or ideas.” (Purdue University 2013) Chynette Nealy defines Plagiarism as “presenting someone's words or other creative products as one's own.” (Nealy 2011)

Why Do Students Plagiarize?

College students face a variety of pressures and have a variety of motives that lead to intentional Plagiarism and unknowing or unintentional acts of Plagiarism. Most students plagiarize because they are overwhelmed. Writing assignments require a lot of time and a long thought process which may be a reason students feel overwhelmed at times.

Plagiarism Detection

How do professors know when students plagiarize? One big give away is when poor or mediocre writing gives way to extremely sophisticated writing. It is clear that the same person did not author both. Another obvious clue to an instructor that a paper has been plagiarized through extensive copy an pasting is randomly formatted text perhaps still including blue hyperlinks and/or random text unrelated to the paper topic.

When a professor...

... middle of paper ...

... built in tools for making proper citations easier than ever. Word 2010 allows you to enter citations and manage sources through the References tab. You simply create a source with the correct information then enter the citation in the precise space.

What is The Impact of Plagiarism?

The impact of plagiarism can be a self-destructive for a student. On the other hand, plagiarism may cause an instructor to feel betrayed and disrespected by a student.

Bibliography

Estow, Sarah, Eva K. Lawrence, and Kathrynn A. Adams. "Practice Makes Perfect: Improving Students' Skills in Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism with a Themed Methods Course." ERIK, 2012: 4.

Nealy, Chynette. "Rethinking Plagiarism." ERIC, 2011: 5.

Purdue University. Overview and Contradictions. June 6, 2013. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/ (accessed Feburary 18, 2014).

Show More
Related

  • Plagiarism: The Big Picture

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are two types of plagiarism: accidental/unintentional plagiarism and intentional plagiarism. Plagiarising intentionally would be copying and pasting directly from a source without paraphrasing at all. The types of people that do this perhaps want to make themselves look knowledgeable and seem like they have a clue what is going on. On the other hand, they are just plain lazy and don’t want to put any effort into the work. Unintentional plagiarism is not deliberately copy-and-pasting like the examples above. Writers without much experience can be assumed to do this because they cannot figure out when they are plagiarising. Grammatical errors such as forgetting quotations if you are quoting directly from the source can ‘unintentionally’ turn itself into unoriginal work. Inexperienced writers may also have a lack of citations, or perhaps improper signal phrases and parenthetical citations. (The Owl of Purdue, The University of Wisconsin)

    Read More

  • Essay On Plagiarism

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    plagiarism is the act of passing off someone’s work as your own. So I think there is nothing good about plagiarism. It’s a form of intellectual fraud. Academic assignments are designed to help the student if the student ends up doing plagiarism then he is not learning anything all he doing copying someone else’s work as their own. I think for the sake of learning we must avoid plagiarism.

    Read More

  • Plagiarism Essay

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Concept Of Plagiarism

    1738 Words  | 4 Pages

    As stated before, one would become familiar with plagiarism in middle school, when a teacher assigns a student to write a paper. Mostly at that time it would be said, do not copy, or paste someone else words into your papers, use your own words. Or use citations in the paper. A student is told what the consequence of doing it, which is a failing grade. As a person gets further in their educational level, the use of plagiarism is more detailed and have different consequences of

    Read More

  • Summary Of How Dumb Do They Think We Are

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Johnathan Malesic, in his article “How Dumb Do They Think We Are?” students think that professors are ignorant at not being able to tell if their paper is plagiarized or not. Some students believe that they can get away with plagiarizing a paper, but they do not realize that professors know how to search and locate authors’ work online and identify a plagiarized essay. In the beginning, Malesic talks about how he was completely insulted when he found his first plagiarized paper, but little did he know that this would surely happen again. Other teachers had told him that this would not be the final time; as a matter of fact, they said to expect it to happen almost every time he assigned a paper. Sure enough they were right. He mentions how he wishes that students would use their taught knowledge to do their papers and put an author’s work into their own words. He ends the article with how he believes that a person who plagiarizes a paper is not really a student at all (87).

    Read More

  • Plagiarism

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is plagiarism? Obviously the word must be of some importance as I know it can greatly change ones future. From what I know, plagiarism can happen by careless mistakes, being uneducated of what plagiarism really means or just on purpose to save time for themselves. Some writers may not know the actual detail of how you give another writer full credit of their work. Another could be that some students are lazy, worried or in a rush to finish a paper and think plagiarizing is the best solution at that time for them. Mainly, I think this would happen in high school and colleges. Students in these areas are so busy which could make the idea plagiarizing a way to save them a little time to worry and finish another project up. I know, for me during High School, I was so busy working and keeping up my grades with trying to have a normal life plus all the pressure

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Plagiarism Lines Blur For Students In The Digital Age

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, this defeats the whole purpose of school. If students are plagiarizing to get by, not only is there no creativity and originality, but it would not benefit them going on in the real world. It will not teach them how to use their brain to think critically on what they are doing. Depending on the severity of the plagiarism, consequences can vary. Some of these consequences could be getting kicked out of college, losing your position at a corporation or institution and possibly running into the risk of finding employment

    Read More

  • Plagiarism Essay

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    All in all, plagiarism is bad and ethics are changed for the worse in the world today. It is time for the world to look at itself and see where its ethics are and if they are right or wrong. Change needs to be made and people need to reevaluate their ethics. If a change in ethics are made, then the world will become a better place.

    Read More

  • How to Avoid Plagiarism

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Case Study Of Academic Integrity (Case 5)

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are lot of contributing factors can lead to plagiarism. Such as the weak of moral awareness does not make notice the seriousness of the consequence of plagiarism. (Gunnel & Rosander , 2009), and the lack of writing skills. For example, some international students do not have the advantage of writing when they came to other country to study, even a few of people don’t know how to use citation in their paper. (Monica & Quinn, 2000). Moreover, time limitation is also an important factor in plagiarism. (McCuen, 2008). Generally, the professor post assignment will base on time period, and this is lead to students have big pressure on their assignment. Based on this reason, some of students choose plagiarism. However, most of the time, it is not intentional for these students to plagiarize. (McCuen, 2008). In case #5, Anna plagiarize not on purpose because she not realized her behavior is plagiarism. Thus she got shocked when her professor asks to meet with

    Read More

  • Plagiarism: A Very Serious Offense

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many reasons why students choose to plagiarize. These students in general are students that seem to procrastinate or do the easiest thing possible which is to just copy something from someone who has already done their research on the subject.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Plagiarism

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Plagiarism Essay

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    As students of high school and college, and even in the professional world, we are asked to research and write on subjects that are seen to be important. The research that we are asked to do, has been done many times in the past, which means people are bound to use others’ ideas and words with no recognition, sometimes without even knowing it. This leads to plagiarism, which is something many people have heard of, but never learned the true definition and the harm it can create. Schools and society need to be more proactive in explaining what plagiarism is, how to write correctly in order to prevent it, and teach the consequences plagiarism has.

    Read More

  • Plagiarism Position Paper

    1870 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Plagiarism in College Work

Open Document