Consequences and Remedies for Plagiarism - Essay Example

Consequences and Remedies for Plagiarism Name University Consequences and Remedies for Plagiarism Introduction The issue of plagiarism has become a contentious topic over the recent years. This is because of the ever-growing amount of information available through the Internet and the relative ease with which students can access to this information. Despite its prevalence, students should never underestimate the severity of it potential consequences. It can jeopardize student's career, taint your reputation, and even compromise your career opportunities. The commonly accepted definition plagiarism is taking or ideas of another writer and using them without proper acknowledgment. In its simplest form, plagiarism is merely literary theft. In relation to tertiary education, students engage in the practice with the intent of gaining academic credit. This call for attention of academic institutions since student plagiarism appears is on the rise. This paper considers the consequences of plagiarism and ways of minimizing the practice tertiary education. Causes of Plagiarism Student plagiarize for a number of reasons mainly due to ignorance about plagiarism, pressure from parents to excel, lack of note taking skills and poor organization skills. First, students may engage in plagiarism due to pressure from family members, especially parents who want their children to attain high grades that can secure scholarships, entry into graduate school or jobs. The students may remain without options but devise a way of doing it despite their capabilities. In an article by Alexander Klein, “Why do they do it," he argues that when under too much stress, humans destroy themselves by lying to themselves (Blum, 2009). For some students, their main goal does not include learning and understanding. They only attend college to secure a certificate. This mentality affects the behavior of students because they only intend to complete the assignment or secure the certificate and this could mean engaging in any act, including plagiarism towards achieving their goals. The pressure can also come from teachers who expect their students to get high grades. Another cause of plagiarism is ignorance, which may result from failure of teachers to teach a student about plagiarism. In some cases, instructions given to students confuse them on whether the action amounts to plagiarism, especially for international students. For instance, student from outside the U.S. may know different rules and academic environment before they entered English academy (Blum, 2009). Additionally, the increased use of internet to find information has contributed to increased cases of plagiarism. The internet presents students with different kinds of information, which some copy without acknowledging the sources. Students can search information they need from various sources including Google and Wikipedia, as well as blogs and Twitter. These sources provide voluminous information without the author attributed. Consequently, students engage in plagiarism even without noticing. Last, some students may view the assignment, course, the conventions of academic documentation, or consequences of plagiarism as less important. Some students resort to shortcuts in a last-minute panic and copy paste everything from the internet without giving a second thought. An English teacher at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado narrated his experience after he discovered that one of the students had plagiarized (Blum, 2009). According to his experience, the some of the students who engaged in plagiarism assumed that their actions would not attract the attention of the teacher or did not bother about the consequences of the offense (Blum, 2009). Procrastination poses a threat to students, especially foreign students. Foreign students face many problems including a language barrier, which render them unable to comprehend the assignment, as well as the need to adapt to new environment. They may have limited time to complete their assignments, forcing them to copy. Consequences of Committing Plagiarism Plagiarism poses a major problem in all levels of education. The instances of plagiarism have increased over the recent years due to easy availability of resources on the internet that enables the student to locate course materials from which to copy and submit as their own. Consequently, there is more attention on the problem and most instructors at the tertiary education level ensure they put statement regarding the grave nature of plagiarism on course guidelines or syllabus. Additionally, it is worth noting that learning institutions have taken instances of plagiarism very seriously. Some of the common consequences of plagiarism in colleges include “disciplinary probation; disciplinary warning; temporary, indefinite, or permanent expulsion” (Cvetkovic, 2010). Academic dishonesty can easily ruin life of a student because plagiarism can result to expulsion. This implies that students who plagiarize even once risk expulsion from their college. This could have long-term implications on life because such students would find it difficult to find another college willing to admit them. Moreover, it would mean much wastage resources such as effort, money and time, particularly when the student was almost graduating from college. Almost all colleges consider plagiarism as a serious offence and punish culprits with great severity. For example, at Illinois State, the faculty puts much effort about the punishment for plagiarism at the tertiary level. Their Official Plagiarism Policy Statement says, “A minimum of one year of disciplinary probation is the standard precedent for such violations, in addition to appropriate educational sanctions” (Cvetkovic, 2010).In many cases, students found guilty of plagiarism in a specific assignment may fail their exams. In some cases, instructors may allow them to retake the tests with a reduced grade. Colleges usually require faculty members to report any violation of plagiarism policy to enable the institution maintain a record of offenses and consequences. Second and subsequent offenses or significant violations can lead cause a student to fail in the course. Westmont College, for example, has three level of plagiarism described in its policy: “minimal, substantial, and complete” (Cvetkovic, 2010). Such penalties may demoralize or discourage some students from continuing with their higher education, something that could affect their future success in the job market or pursuing further education. Another consequence of plagiarism is that it can hurt the students as well as classmates. Good research and writing involve a multitude of skills, including taking notes, evaluating sources, selecting appropriate quotations, paraphrasing, and acknowledging ideas and words of others. Student who plagiarize fail to learn these skills, which can make life in college and beyond difficult without them (Posner, 2007). Obviously, students who plagiarize also hurt others, including their classmates and the college they attend. At the very least, submitting work that contains plagiarism is unfair to students who submit quality work. It also compromises the integrity of the grading system. Even if it goes undetected, plagiarism violates the implied contract of the college environment, which require students and instructors to work together towards ensuring that students gain knowledge and skills that will enable them realize their potential. The cure of plagiarism Most plagiarism cases emanate from those who never intended to do anything wrong. However, this does not make it right because the school can still expel such students. Colleges throughout the globe have become concerned with strategies of minimizing and responding appropriately to student plagiarism and other forms of cheating. While there is no solution to plagiarism, instructors should focus discouraging and reducing cheating activities. This requires the use of a proactive approach rather than a reactive approach in reducing academic dishonesty. There are many ways of minimizing plagiarism in classes. First, colleges should make it their priority to ensure that students learn about plagiarism and it consequences. This would deter students from attempting academic dishonesty when completing assignments. Instructors should also treat a paper as a process and not a product. Requiring students to submit their term papers at the end of the semester or course without monitoring their progress create the opportunity of cheating. Towards the end of the semester and faced with limited time, students who have not started researching their papers may pursue easier alternatives (Posner, 2007). Writing a paper is a continuous process that requires continuous supervision and progress monitoring. Involvement of instructors in the process minimizes chances of cheating, such as copying or buying papers since students need to demonstrate progress on a continuing basis. Instructors can also assign students to group activities. Research has found that working in a group with members selected by the instructor has a ‘deterrent” effect of cheaters (Cvetkovic, 2010). Indeed, a single member of a group would not attempt cheating if all members are watching. Instructors should also select learning material of appropriate reading level. Giving students too difficult learning materials can encourage plagiarism because the students do not understand the material and resort to copying the whole material simply because they do not comprehend. Additionally, English speakers of other languages may also find course materials difficult to comprehend. This may encourage such students to copy or buy papers because they do not understand class instructions. Teachers can also design question that require discussion rather than rote memorization. Instructors should avoid multi-choice questions and instead encourage students to relate class lessons with life experiences and reiterate in their own words. Students may find it difficult to duplicate a personal essay. Instructors should raise awareness among students by communication what plagiarism is and because not tolerating it. It would prove naïve to assume that every student understand what plagiarism is despite the fact that they come from diverse backgrounds, some of which do not recognize copying intellectual properties without author’s consent as a wrongful act (Posner, 2007). The instructor holds the responsibility of telling the students what is acceptable and unacceptable, to discuss consequences, and institute appropriate actions when a violation occurs. Last, instructors can assign different questions to different students to deter copying or cheating. Conclusion Plagiarism is a serious problem to tertiary education that calls for immediate attention to minimize and respond appropriately to student's fund in the act. Its consequences vary from mild to serious ones, which include expulsion from college rendering the student unable to find another college. It is for this reason that accentuates the need for effective guidelines for reducing plagiarism. Instructors should ensure students keep a journal of their progress of how they complete a term paper from the beginning to the end. They should also have sources where they borrow ideas with highlighted area from where they borrow specific concepts or ideas. References: Blum, S. D. (2009). My word! Plagiarism and college culture. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Cvetkovic, V. B., & Anderson, K. E. (2010). Stop plagiarism: A guide to understanding and prevention. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers. Penn State University. (2014). G-9 Academic integrity statement. Penn State. Retrieved from Posner, R. A. (2007). The little book of plagiarism. New York: Pantheon Books. Read More