Plagiarism: Why It Happens, How to Prevent It - Assignment Example

Unlike a few years ago, lecturers are today implementing more stringent measures to discourage students from indulging in plagiarism. They making efforts to sensitize students on the dangers associated with plagiarism and the repercussions one risks facing if found plagiarizing. As a result of this, many students in my other classes are vigilant and abide by the rules of plagiarism (Gilmore 73). There are a number of indicators that confirm this assertion. For instance, most lecturers insist that students turn in their assignments through Turnitin.

The Turnitin system detects any form of plagiarism in a paper and rejects papers that have high percentages of plagiarism. The fact that most students do well in the class assignment is an implication that they avoid plagiarism because it is only those assignments forwarded through Turnitin that are marked (Gilmore 73). b) What should be the punishment for students who indulge in plagiarism?Despite the fact that stern measures are being implemented to discourage plagiarism amongst students, there are some students who still engage in this act.

Such students ought to be punished accordingly because they are undermining the quality of education that has gone down considerably in the past few years. First of all, students who still plagiarize their work in spite of the widespread campaign against the malice should not be awarded marks for their plagiarized assignments. This is because they do not deserve the marks. Culprits should not be left at that. Their cases should be forwarded to the school’s disciplinary committee for further disciplinary actions.

They should perhaps be suspended from school for some time (Gilmore 97). c) Should the punishment change depend on the context and degree of plagiarism?The punishment should be universal for students who plagiarize content above fifty percent of the entire assignment. However, percentages below 50% can be treated fairly and perhaps be awarded zero marks but their perpetrators should be exempted from suspension. There have been concerns about whether punishment should change in the event that the plagiarized materials are used in research articles and not smaller class assignments and homework papers.

It is noteworthy that the dangers of plagiarism do not change whether it is done on small assignments or course dissertations; provided its percentage is alarming. For this reason, plagiarism percentages above 50% should receive equal punishment inconsiderate of the paper volume (Gilmore 160). d) What measures can academic institutions take to limit plagiarism? Academic institutions can implement a number of strategies to curb plagiarism in the future. For instance, the professor can curb plagiarism by insisting that students must turn in two copies of their assignments.

One should be forwarded in hard copy while another in soft copy through emails. The emailed copy can then be easily run through plagiarism-checker software. Tutors and instructors can also prevent plagiarism in the future by giving out assignments that promote originality and deject plagiarism. Examples of such assignments are those that require responses in the first person. Assignments with several parts compel students to look for many sources thereby reducing their likelihood to plagiarize assignments.

This too can be used as a strategy to curtail plagiarism (Gilmore 187). ConclusionPlagiarism surely has no place in academic writing. This act undermines the quality of education and contributes to the production of incompetent graduates into the labor market. As a result of this, it must be shunned through whatever means.