Why Plagiarism Is Wrong

Living up to other people’s standards and trying to go above and beyond the average to achieve can be stressful on students. Some students will go to the lengths of plagiarizing others and not relying on their own hard work to get the job done. Plagiarism has become common place among students without regards to the morality of the act. A student can cheat for multiple reasons, whether it be that the student does not have enough courage or pride in their work, or they feel that they have to achieve a set of goals by being pressured by their family. According to Julianne East, of La Trobe University, she claims that “decisions are made according to selfish feelings” at their basic level (East 5). Meaning that people who make the choices to cheat make them in relation to their own wants and needs while going against a moral compass of right and wrong. Yet, Peter Ashworth, Madeleine Freewood, and Ranald

While there are students that don’t really care about school and plagiarize, students can care too much and fear failure so they take the ideas of those who they feel are successful. School culture as a whole has to change in order for plagiarism to be considered truly immoral, “Plagiarism, one of the most common forms of cheating, often leaves behind no apparent victim…” (Chase 25). Students see plagiarism as a victimless crime so they often fail to see any wrongdoing in the act. While most schools have an Honor Code that students follow by registering there, the students who cheat feel they are above those rules and some colleges do not make an example out of those students. There are some real life examples of students getting caught plagiarizing. A student must learn so they are prepared for their next classes they need to take. If students don’t learn the lesson to put faith in themselves and not plagiarize, they are just going to continue failing and cheating for the rest of their