The Penalties for Plagiarism Are Too Harsh - Essay Example

Plagiarism is in itself not against the law but it is considered as academic dishonesty and is dealt with seriously in almost all collages in the developed world. Copyright violations are the most serious manifestation of plagiarism .It occurs when a work which is restricted by copyright is either used or distributed without the consent of the copyright holder. The most usual punishment handed out to students who are guilt of plagiarism is a score of zero or a failing grade in the assignment concerned.

However other punishments are also meted out. This includes suspensions from the course for a stipulated period, expulsion from the college or even in some cases revoking the degree of the student completely or in part. The punishment meted out depends on the history of the student and the degree to which plagiarism has been done. Clearly the punishments stated above can destroy the whole academic career of the student. A failing grade in the final exam can be as good as revoking the degree of the student.

These punishments grow harsher as the student goes in to higher learning institutes. The first factor against the punishments for plagiarism is that they are arbitrary and do not follow any fixed pattern. Students are completely at the mercy of the teacher concerned. Imagine a rule of law in which your punishment simply depends on the judge concerned and follows no fixed rules. Someone may get with murder while other person may be hanged for a simple robbery. A plagiarism tariff has been devised in UK to bring about some standardization in punishments and remove the inconsistencies .

This plagiarism tariff uses a sliding scale which takes into account the amount of plagiarism , history of student , level of study and value of assignment in order to decide punishment (Grove). However a study conducted by Jon Scott and Jo Badge which investigated the use of this tariff found it to be inconsistent, arbitrary and treats all cases in a similar manner (Badge and Jon). Treating all cases alike is another problem with plagiarism punishments. It doesn’t matter whether a single line or an entire work was copied; everyone is given the same punishment.

This creates a sense of fear among the students. Lack of knowledge of law is not a reason for not following it. The same goes for plagiarism. Colleges are supposed to be learning institutes but they prefer to treat students as criminals. Innocent cases for plagiarism where the student was not even aware that he had plagiarized are treated in the same way repeat offenders are treated. American colleges are full of diversity with students coming from different parts of the world. Plagiarism is not taken seriously in developing countries.

These students usually face a rude shock when they are suspended or failed for plagiarism which they committed unintentionally (Palmer). Students are not only penalized for plagiarizing published work, but they are also punished for what is known as collusion. Collusion means students discussing an individual assignment and presenting the same ideas in their papers (Pecorari). Collusion as an offense is not only ridiculous but even discourages learning. If every student was to learn on his own, there would be no use of regular colleges.

Everyone can learn through correspondence. In a college, students not only learn by attending lectures but learning by discussion among each other