It is common knowledge that all college students are not completely honest in their studies in achieving their degree. It has been a growing problem from even the early 1900's and how college students cheat has changed from simple cheat sheets to emailing test answers, purchasing term papers or taking pictures (Simkin & McLeod, 2009). This problem is concerning to institutions in a few ways and how it can transfer from college to the workplace. One study looked at trying to understand why college students would cheat rather than if they do it or not or how they do it. Academic integrity is sacrificed to glamorized college student actions for the sake gaining that true college life experience which affects student’s perception towards cheating. …show more content…
Once the graduate student is caught cheating or lying at work, and it is learned where the graduate student obtained their degree, it can discredit their institution ability to produce ethical students for employers to hire. Instead, the presumed college only provide those who are unable to perform their work adequately despite their choice of major. For an example, if an employer hired a biology major and they fail to understand simple terminologies and individually present capabilities like conducting a lab, then that certain student represents that institution poorly. In the eyes of potential employers, the college system can appear that they tolerate that type of …show more content…
It has been taught in most high schools, colleges and even in several professions. With the help of courses that teaches ethics, students understand that plagiarism is an act of academic dishonesty. Unfortunately, it is not entirely far-fetched that the use of the internet made it possible for students to cheat on their papers. The purpose of the web is to acquire information to further understanding of a particular topic or even utilized certain points made by others as a reference. It can be a disadvantage to professors that attempt to teach ethical behavior when it is possible to do it undetected. Of course, there has been an effort to fight against plagiarism with the help of software that checked the content of a person's term paper, but it is the want to commit even the act is the exact problem. It is unclear how the Internet is shaping students perception of what is fair use of texts that made available to
Moeck, P. G. “Academic Dishonesty: Cheating Among Community College Students.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice 26 (2002). 479-91.
Cheating has been a major concern for institutions of higher learning. Institutions fear cheating because of the reputation dishonest people will establish for that institution. After a student has learned several successful ways to cheat and not be caught, is he or she more likely to employ the same tactics in his or her workplace? The student will use those tactics, but in the real world, such acts are not called “cheating tactics,” but “business strategy.”
The better educated you are, the better off you are socially, and economically. Having a degree is, in general, a good indicator of your level of education. To get it some students study very hard. Others, on the contrary, prefer to take some shortcuts that seem to be easier for them. Those, not so much interested in acquiring a solid education, simply want to plagiarize to pass their classes, to get that degree. Plagiarism spreads out through any level of our education system. It even extends beyond that limit to reach almost any aspect of our society. With the internet revolution, this problem becomes more acute. “The web has provided global access to an unfathomable cornucopia of term papers, essays, and other scholarly works, right there out in the open for purchase or outright theft” (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 160). This paper will discuss the different types of plagiarism. Before getting deeper into that discussion, we will start by explaining the word plagiarism.
That stomach churning feeling of guilt for many seems to appear as a small price to pay when completing an act of academic dishonesty. Colleen Wenke wrote an essay on cheating eighteen years ago called “Too Much Pressure”. In the past fifty years, the number of students who admit to cheating has increased fifty to seventy percent(Gaffe). Many people wonder what leads the students to make this unjust decision. Today, the reason for a rise in cheaters is because of how easy it has become, leading many students to the false conclusion that they aren’t breaking any rules; It is simply viewed as a shortcut to success in the classroom and beyond.
Academic honesty is defined as the use of one's own work, this includes thoughts, materials and workings, in the endeavours of writing papers, taking exams (online or campus based), and other assessable material (Harder, 2014). Academic integrity is the ethical policy of academia. This includes values such as prevention of plagiarism; upholding a high academic standard; honesty and rigour in research (Kirk, 1996). Plagiarism is one of many dishonesties that occurs and is the most common. In 2010, Johanson published an article that stated there may be a correlation with the recent abundance of technology and the rise of student dishonesty. "Access to high-technology has made cheating more convenient, flexible, and efficient…”(Johanson, 2010)
When times get rough and tough it seems like most students do turn to the internet for a little extra "help". In Cybercheats it clearly shows how students use certain websites to get free or even pay for important papers and essays. As technology gets more advanced it appears that some people actually get lazier. Plagiarism plays a very important and major part in this article. It is clear that if caught plagiarizing you can be suspended, expelled, and/or receive an F on your assignment. For most students though it is worth the risk. Plagiarism is an act of cheating. Plagiarism is cheating.
According to the work by McCabe (1999) academic dishonesty (e.g., cheating on a test) in educational institutions (e.g., high school, college) is considered a norm by some students. Furthermore, some students believe that it is up to adults (e.g., parents, teachers) to deal with the issue of academic dishonesty (pg. 685). These attitudes towards academic dishonesty are representative of one issue schools deal with in our society regarding students. Attitudes towards academic dishonesty do not just affect the classrooms they also translate to other areas of students’ lives. For instance, Estep and Olson (2011) found a positive correlation between attitudes towards academic dishonesty and attitudes towards infidelity (pg. 836). This finding suggests that if students approve of cheating on a test they are more likely to approve of cheating on a partner. However, Estep and Olson point out that it is easier for a person to cheat on a test than on a significant other because there is no guilt of hurting another person (pg. 837).
Donald L. McCabe and Linda Klebe Trevino, "Academic Dishonesty: Honor Codes and Other Contextual Influences", The Journal of Higher Education 64, no. 5, (September–October 1993) 4. Kenneth J. Smith, Jeanette A. Davy, and Debbie Easterling, "An Examination of Cheating and its Antecedents Among Marketing and Management Majors", Journal of Business Ethics 50, no. 1, (March 2004) 5. Richard A. Fass, "By Honor Bound: Encouraging Academic Honesty", Educational Record 67, no. 4 (Fall 1986) 6.
In this article Gabriel asserts that in this day and age a student can go to any website and just copy and paste what they need, but when they do not document the source they have committed plagiarism. Gabriel documents various sources throughout the article such as the different cases that occurred at the Rhode Island University, DePaul University, and University of Maryland. He also pointed that it occurs outside of school environments, too, when he mentioned the bestselling
Many students are using technology to cheat because they are able to find answers quickly online by just searching for them. Cheating is increasing in the United States at higher rates because many of the students in high school or in college have to deal with different responsibilities, pressure, and loads of different types of work. Richard Perez Peña states in “Studies Find More Students Cheating,” “Internet access has made cheating easier, enabling students to connect instantly with answers, friends to consult and works to plagiarize.” Plagiarism, which means using a work of someone else as if it were yours, is the most common form of cheating in high school and in college. Plagiarism occurs by not citing a source correctly or by not putting the proper quotation marks on a quote that you borrow to state your point. Some students don’t even know what plagiarism is, and they do it using the technology that we have today. Therefore, Julie Rasicot states, “High schools and teachers should make clear what constitutes plagiarism, how to avoid it and what the consequences will be if students are caught.” If students are not informed about plagiarism, then they tend to use technology as an easy way to do an assignment, which prevents them from learning. On the other hand, many professors have argued that the technology is developing
Raef A. Lawson, Associate Professor in the School of Business at the University at Albany, estimated the relationship between business students’ cheating and workshop in “Is Classroom Cheating Related to Business Students’ Propensity to Cheat in the “Real World”?” . The article tried to find the relation between business students and their future carrier though cheating in class. Raef supported that the attitude in cheating in class will lead to non-ethics behavior in business. He found that “The belief that unethical behavior in the business world is prevalent could in fact lead to such behavior. Thus the belief among many business students that unethical behavior is widespread in the business world and is necessary in order to advance their careers is a cause for concern” (197).
Plagiarism, or the unaccredited use of another's work or ideas, has become more and more of a problem in recent times than it was in the past. According to statistics found in a survey conducted by the Free Press, 58% of high school students let someone copy their work in 1969, but by 1989 this number had risen to 97%. The expansion of the World Wide Web and the number of people accessing the Web on a regular basis has caused an epidemic of plagiarism in this country, especially among students. This is a serious problem that must be addressed because many students feel that if they are not getting in trouble for cheating, than it is okay.
Cheating on academic work is a serious issue that most students admit to doing at some point in their academic career. Elite students are surprisingly the culprits of cheating, but hide it well. (Romm, para 5) Cheating is such a large issue that “70% of students from a sample of 1,800 from nine campuses said they had cheated at least once during their college careers.” (Schneider, para 9) Students cheat on academic work because of different, ongoing pressures in their lives. Understanding the student’s motives and pressures are essential to preventing cheating from occurring in the future. Students cheat for different reasons specific to them regarding their priorities, pressures and because of how easy it has become. Even though eliminating cheating will not happen, there are actions that educational professionals can and should take to prevent most of it from happening so often. Therefor cheating problems are minimized and have a positive impact on the student’s education and understanding of concepts.
Academic dishonesty, specifically cheating and plagiarism, recently has increased in popularity. Students often justify unethical academic behavior. Technological innovations, like the cellular telephone, have provided students with new methods of cheating. Plagiarism has also been influenced through technologies, specifically internet companies have emerged that provide unethical solutions to academic assignments.
Plagiarism is a serious offense and a growing trend in our society today. Some may associate plagiarism with the idea of taking someone else’s writing and making it their own. In fact plagiarism involves anything that is copied or taken and said to be of your own work. Dictionary.com defines plagiarism as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work, as by not crediting the author”. In fact this definition covers all types of cheating and misrepresentation of ones own work. There are many numbers and statistics that can be found on the amount of individuals that have admitted to cheating. Perhaps the most astounding number is one that was reported by Moeck in 2002 aloft of 40% of higher education students commit academic dishonesty. This number I’m sure has grown since this report and will continue to grow with the development of the Internet. There are a number of ideas and strategies that can be employed in order to stop this ever-growing phenomenon. As teachers and adults, we are responsible for stopping this trend and educating students about the consequences and dangers of plagiarism. I believe there are a variety of reasons individuals plagiarize. First, students are insecure with their own ability; they don’t believe they can do the work therefore they take others. Second, students believe they can get away with the act because they know others who have plagiarized, and there were not any consequences. Lastly, students are uneducated on what plagiarism is and do not know the consequences of their actions if they commit an act. These ideas will be the focus of the position taken on plagiarism in today’s academic society.