The Pros And Cons Of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is borrowing someone's thoughts or concepts without acknowledging the source. It is illegal for a student to steal an author’s thoughts without permission. For example, Rebecca Moore Howard indicates that some students patchwork which means to quilt with a lot of resources from websites, books and other source on their essay without citations and references (as cited in Nall & Gherwash Aug 12, 2013). Even though students have written it in their own words, their writing needs citations and references because the source's information is not from their own ideas. They need sufficient paraphrasing by their own words with citations and references to avoid plagiarism (as cited in Nall & Gherwash Aug 12, 2013). George Brown and Centennial College each have academic honesty policy. While both school policies have a similar definition of plagiarism, they have a few differences in terms of the clarity and specify penalties.

Plagiarism is an increasing large issue on college campuses, a habit to most of the student. According to the article ‘’The Plagiarism Plague’’, the findings on the survey made to 50,000 students on more than 60 campuses was that 70 percent of the students admitted that they cheated. Half of the students surveyed admitted that one or more times made serious cheating on writing assignments, with 77 percent of the students surveyed said that cheating was not a serious issue.

The paper responds to this proposition with a thesis that understanding the ethical reasoning provided by students in defending plagiarism is crucial in preventing it in student populations. The reasons can provide the basis for specific action-orientated recommendations to reduce plagiarism and to design programs to encourage originality and

As a student, the aftereffects of plagiarism usually occur in a common sequence. The first consequence begins with a verbal warning (“Honor Code”, 2012) and the next offense can come in the form of a written warning. After written warnings are given the guilty party can be suspended. However, consequences of plagiarism can be even further reaching. Suspension or expulsion from the university, or academic institution where research was taken place, can occur. Beyond these outcomes, recommendations for punishment can include counseling and community service (“Recognizing and Avoiding Plagiarism”).

The word plagiarism is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the action of “...copy[ing] and pass[ing] off (the expression of ideas or words of another) as one’s own… without crediting the source”. In the Howard County Public School’s “Code of Conduct” the levels of severity for consequences regarding actions such as plagiarizing are thoroughly explained using levels. Level I resulting in the least harmful consequences for a student and Level V resulting in the harshest. In my experience with the Level system of punishment, I would place my punishment for plagiarism at Level IV which includes a referral and required parent notification. The outcome of my actions has also resulted in a lunch detention and a zero on the assignment. In this paper, I will be explaining the courses of punishment for academic dishonesty (exclusively plagiarism) at the top three colleges I wish to apply to following high school and what punishment I would have faced if I plagiarized my paper in those colleges. The colleges include University of Maryland, Florida State University, and the University of California, Irvine.

My goal is to demonstrate good academic practice, therefore integrity is a significant characteristic for me to exhibit in order to succeed academically. I believe that plagiarism replicates poor scholarly values and avoiding plagiarism is a reflection of good academic integrity. I have inquired the skills to comprehend the difference between plagiarism and non-plagiarism. Acknowledging the person whose concepts and words I have reproduced is the only effective way to avoid plagiarism. In addition, demonstrating integrity will help me to establish a great student-teacher rapport which may lead to me securing future employment by receiving reputable recommendations from my professors.

As one begins to grasp the concept of Schroth’s (2012) article The Plagiarism Plague, it is easy to identify the author’s dissatisfaction for plagiarism and the negative connotations he has for someone who is involved in this heinous offense. He initiates and summarizes his commentary with personal stories of how plagiarism has affected him. Schroth offers several solutions for the copyright issue that is upon us; he states, “the sanction for plagiarism must be at least an F on the paper, accompanied by a letter in the student's file to be consulted if it happens again, with the understanding that a second offense would mean expulsion.” Schroth was also sure to mention the collective approach necessary from all educators for his solution to be implemented. He believes the “policy will be effective only with leadership from the president and full cooperation from the faculty.” The writer goes on to explain how plagiarism has become an epidemic in this society and the effects of its prevalence thereof. Although plagiarism has become rampant in this society, it is still immoral and unethical. College students continue to plagiarize however, because they refuse to regard their education as a top priority and it has become culturally acceptable for people to falsify information without any serious penalties for their dishonesty.

Almost all colleges enforce policy when students commit plagiarism. With regard to plagiarism, two authors’ arguments differ. One of authors, Emma Teitel, a student in Dalhousie University, argued that the punishment of plagiarism is un-fare. She was punished for plagiarism in her third year. She claimed that she just made a technical mistake on her essay and did not intentionally plagiarize from another author’s work (Teitel, November 8, 2011). On the other hand, according to Todd Pettigrew, a professor in Kings University, colleges should make a rule clearly for plagiarized assignments depending on the number of offenses. For example, for student who commits plagiarism the second time should get a stronger punishment than the first offense.

Academic dishonesty such as plagiarism has been a major factor in education that has affected students’ success and academic achievements in recent years. Plagiarism according to Park (2003) is the act of appropriating or copying another person’s work and passing them on as one’s idea without acknowledging the original source. Park (2003) noted that plagiarism is a growing problem and has been a misuse of the writings of another author, their ideas, hypothesis, theories, research findings and interpretations. Furthermore studies by Chao, Wilhelm and Neureuther (2009) emphasised that

Plagiarism, by almost every light, is a serious problem deserving of time, attention and care. However, its prevention is a complex, difficult question, complicated by excessive sloth and lack of action from administrators. The article “A Question of Honor”, written by William Chace, a professor and concerned citizen, is effective at reaching its intended audience. Largely, the intended audience is students, professors, and administrators who are concerned with plagiarism and wish to stop it. Consequently the purpose of the article, the prevention of plagiarism, is addressed. The article was originally published in American Scholar in the Spring 2012 issue. It can be located in the Ethics in Higher Education, edited by Nancy Henke et al. Chace’s thesis suggests that plagiarism can be prevented by the culture associated with the university. The article was originally put in an academic journal, making its audience somewhat easier to determine. As well, the article uses appeals to scholarly professionals. The text spends a good portion of the prologue establishing the claim that there is a chronic problem of plagiarism present in this culture. In the body text of the article, Chace first of all presents counterarguments to the idea that cheating is an acceptable way to learn how to write, then spends the majority of the article describing how to prevent cheating. This is effective for the genre, a persuasive article in an

The Internet age has caused academic institutions and students to rethink academic integrity. College and university administrators have created new policies, codes of conduct, and training programs to counteract the negative impact of the Internet. Several online resources have been created to allow students to check for plagiarism yet the problem persists. Academic dishonesty in all forms was not created by the Internet, but has always existed. Students can employ several strategies to avoid academic dishonesty. Academic integrity or dishonesty remains the choice of each individual student

Universities have measures to prevent and catch students who have plagiarised their essays, however on a rare occasions plagiarism is unfortunately undetected. In such a circumstances, the student receives a high mark and passes the subject without gaining the knowledge in that field. According to Jude Carroll there are no solutions to fully prevent plagiarism, however with the plagiarism on the rise the universities are implementing methods to minimise it. “We will never prevent students from colluding, plagiarising and breaking the rules but we can deter them by putting in place a range of activities and procedures, each on its own unable to make much difference, but in combination, able to change the way everyone deals with

Plagiarism is using someone else’s work, words, production, researches and ideas without the approval or the acknowledgment of the writer or producer, and claiming the credit for himself. Many reasons and factors are attributed for the use of plagiarism and could be cultural, historical, linguistic, environmental and educational background. Plagiarism is a form of an academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, and a digital cheating. It is declared to be an unacceptable legal act and institutional regulations. And universities, schools, and instructors do not only need to decrease plagiarism, but they must also affect positively on students writings, increase the understanding of how to use digital technology to facilitate their academic writing.

Plagiarism is the process of taking some one else work or ideas and showing it as their own works (Oxford Dictionaries). The purpose of this study is to understand 6 different ethical reasons used by student to overcome with plagiarism and with help of these ethical reason, faculties can bring a solution to stop or prevent plagiarism. Where as unethical behavior can also lead to worries in school or colleges, so there is need to correct it so that it has positive impact on organizational ethics. Although, after reading this journal article, it was clearly seen that mostly used ethical reasons are Deontology, Situational Ethics and Machiavellianism to overcome with the problem of Plagiarism (Ashworth and Bannister, 1997).

According to our readings, "the type of plagiarism deliberate or unintentional has an impact upon the perception of the offence for both faculty and students" (Academic Integrity 2011). This is an important distinction to some people, although the act of plagiarism remains unacceptable no matter why it is done.