When I was in high school, plagiarism was merely frowned upon. Everyone knew that you should not do it, that each person should do their own work. In spite of this, the measures taken by administration to thwart plagiarism were measley at best. However, fast forward a couple years, and the mere mention of the word plagiarism strikes fear in the eyes of many college students. The penalties are steep. Even inadvertent and unintentional plagiarism can result in academic probation, or worse: expulsion. Why is this? W I believe that the answer is deeply rooted in traditional American culture. In order to find the reasoning, one must take a look at individualistic and competitive themes that are so prevalent and fundamental in American society.
Ask an American student if they are unique, and they will probably respond with a resounding yes. After all, how could they not? They have been told they are special, that they are unique, for as long as they can remember. And, to an extent, they are. Each person is capable of formulating their own ideas, and, consequently, American colleges look for unique, original outputs from students. In primary school, it would never occur to a student that they should not use other people’s work. They color other people’s art and copy other people’s words down. In secondary school, they begin to learn that they are to do their own work and come up with their own ideas. Penalties are levied and anti-plagiarism lessons begin. At the university level, the stakes are increased to the point of expulsion for multiple
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Instead, I think it is important to recognize our background as Americans, and how this background contributes to our interactions. Colleges are looking to foster individual reasoning, and this at least contributes to the strict guards against plagiarism. Our biases as a culture are reflected in the administration at American colleges, and students should be aware of
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 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.
Being a college student is hard. College requires plenty of work. Some students have other things to do besides going to school; some of them need to work in order to pay for their tuition. When school isn’t the only thing students have to worry about, they might get behind in their classes, but they can’t fail them so they have to find out a way to stay on both their job and school. A large amount of students are pushed into cheating; they do it so often that suddenly it becomes a habit. Nowadays, plagiarism is extremely popular. Students don’t like using their brain anymore; they just copy and paste. To avoid plagiarism, students should do their own work; learn how to cite in a proper form, and understand that plagiarism can result in
In the article, Rethinking Plagiarism in the Digital Age, written by Lea Calvert Evering and Gary Moorman they discuss the idea of plagiarism, why do students plagiarize and what is the best method besides punishment to teach students not to plagiarize. In the beginning of the article Lea Calvert Evering and Gary Moorman claims that the concept of plagiarism to be “based on a capitalist view of property and ownership” (Evering & Moorman 35). The authors believe that we should reconsider and modify what we consider plagiarism because this idea is being challenged by this generation involving technology. According to this article, plagiarism is practiced among students in American secondary school and higher education. It states, “In a survey of 2,294 high school juniors...McCabe...found that 34% submitted their own work that was copied word
Arizona State University (ASU) is dealing with a case of plagiarism, Presenting someone else’s words or ideas without acknowledging where those words and ideas were located, (Ann Raimes, 2013, pg 153) against one of its professors. This is the third time the professor has been accused of using others ideas as his own without citing his source. Should this professor have a job? Let’s take a look at the three accounts and decide if they were a misunderstanding or just plain plagiarism.
Moreover, the survey suggests that the reason why international students stay together is because they have different cultural values from Americans. In her blog “The Truth: Americans Reveal What They Really Think of International Students,” Jessica Stahl, who works for Voice of America, reports from an American student's answer that “There's always a group of two or more in my classes and they rarely try to talk to us...” Christine from Texas A&M University answers “I sometimes do not share the same values or norms as international students do, nor the same culture.” This reveals one important point, which is that because of not sharing the same values and culture, it is very hard for international and American students to bridge the communication gap between them. Furthermore, it is not only Americans that think so, but also international students. One international student answers in the blog that “Most of the international students in my social environment are from Asian countries and thus they are brought up in a similar culture to me and I find it easier to communicate with them not because we have similar ideas but we are used to live our lives in a more similar way compared to Americans.” (“The Truth: Americans”). Thus,
In a society so hell-bent on making a name for yourself, why do we rely so heavily on the thoughts and ideas of others? High school essay and college thesis writers are expected to use quotes and outside resources to back up their theories. This defeats the purpose of individuality and self-thinking, which is so pressured on people in our capitalist society. How is one to be the next Shakespeare, when all that is expected from him is to quote Shakespeare. The social norm is to use other’s information to gather your own thoughts and ideas. Students should be asked to come up with their own thoughts and ideas instead of quoting others. As the great Braden Carroll once said: “Quotes should be created not restated.”
When it comes to trying to know the United States standpoint about plagiarism, you have to preliminary recognize two generally kept United States ethnic standards: individualism as well as straight forward communication. The cultural importance of individualism calls for university students to regard the rights of people as their concepts acquired simply by evidently identifying another’s concepts from one’s individual as well as using a proven approach for the process. Individualists likewise anticipate university students in no way discuss information in a test or possibly talk about the subjects with the help of friends that may be required to take the test another time. Another cultural importance within U.S.A. is straightforward communication.
Several Australian students fear that they may plagiarize their essays. They believe that in a bid to finish their essay quickly, they may accidentally lift some content from other sources without giving credit. Such students feel that professional essay help from a reputed Australian
Both America and Korea schools are famous for education systems, so problems related to plagiarism are frequently encountered issues. For this reason, questions of consequences of plagiarism have been often come to the fore, so I want to compare and contrast similarities and differences of two countries’ outcomes of plagiarism. Both of two countries have strict outcomes for plagiarism, but America has more proper and structured consequences of plagiarism. Even though schools in Korea have policies giving punishment of plagiarism, they do not really examine students’ assignments or works, however, schools in America carry out policies by trying to catch plagiarism in practice, which means that schools in America has more rigorous disciplines
The question is why plagiarism causes so much fear in most of the students who write papers?
With globalization and people’s living quality advancing dramatically, every year, American universities welcome tens of thousands of international students from all over the world. The land of freedom and justice has opened its doors to those who seek new options and better opportunities and sometimes it asks for certain changes and adjustments fir those who come to study aboard. When these international students pursues higher education in US, fulfilling their life experience and learning something new from American culture, they too bring with them elements of international experience to an American university. Taking up a considerable portion of student population in the university, international students face difficulties to
The American college student is in trouble. From the time students are in high school, they are demonstrating poor study skills, procrastination, and a disinterest in doing homework. Overall, students carry these bad habits into college, where professors see them as lazy, disrespectful, irresponsible, and, worst of all, anti-intellectualism. According to Miller, a writer for The Boston Globe, “[Her] C, D, and F students…..are almost exclusively American.” This suggests that many American students are lazier than many international students. Anti-intellectualism is the attitude of not caring about ones studies and not recognizing the value of learning. There are a number of causes of anti-intellectual attitude of many college students today, such as an over-reliance on cellphones, social media, grade inflation, and a lack of family support. These attitudes result in negative consequences not only for student in college today (who fail to complete assignments, attend classes, and even graduate.) but also for these adults later in life, who will discover they don’t have adequate qualifications for jobs.