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How modern technology has made it easier for academic dishonesty to occur
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The rise in technology, societal image of perfection, and fear of improper work, are all factors that have led to the increase in cheating and plagiarism all over the United States. In the first place, technology has really changed the face of cheating. Kellie B. Gormly states, “ Plagiarizing is easier than ever for students, who can just copy something from a website, change the font and electronically paste it into their papers”. Dissertations, essays and term papers can be found on nearly one hundred and fifty different websites. All of which are available for kids to take and use, and turn in as their own. In like manner, the societal image of perfection in terms of school has made cheating a relevant problem. A conference Board
“The plagiarists Tale” is an article about Quentin Rowan a man that went by the pen name Q. R. Markham. He wrote “assassin of secrets” a spy novel, after the publication of the novel James Bond fans found many similarities between the two. After further investigation results showed Quentin has plagiarized using many different novels as example. After word got out to the public the publishing company was infuriated and instantly took the novel off bookstore shelves. He said “I wish I could do it all over” he regretted everything he did. Quentin faced his consequences and is currently having a problem finding work.
According to the Merriam-Webster, the definition of plagiarism is “the act of using another person’s words or ideas without giving credit to that person”. (“Plagiarism”). In both Colleges, the act of committing plagiarism has penalties, and it is a serious issue that goes against the Academic Honesty policies of both institutions; The two Colleges, as recently mentioned, have some similarities and differences in their policies, where George Brown has a stronger focus on giving information on avoiding plagiarism, Seneca has more severe punishment for committing plagiarism.
New York Times journalist, Trip Gabriel, puts into perspective students ability to use their creativity throughout their academic career in “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age.” This article discusses issues of plagiarism in the digital age, especially through college students. There are different perspectives from various people either attending college or professors that argue why plagiarism occurs. Whether it’s because of laziness, unpreparedness going into college, originality, or authorship not taken into consideration. Overall, this article infers the different standpoints of plagiarism, demonstrating the ease the digital age gives students to plagiarize, and the importance
Plagiarism is a severe problem because it has since become an epidemic and is being practiced at an alarmingly increasing rate. It has become widely accepted among students at many colleges and universities across the United States. It has gotten to the point that many students don’t even consider it cheating. This fact alone makes it even more serious and harder to control. It is now common practice to obtain someone else’s writing and turn it in as an original work. It is not difficult to purchase a pre-written paper or hire another individual to write a paper. Students are willing to pay whatever the cost so that they don’t have to do the work themselves. In fact, paper-selling services such as this have become quite a lucrative business. With the age of technology quickly advancing it has become all the more easily to plagiarize.
Plagiarism takes various forms. A student may cheat doing something as extreme as purchasing a paper, hiring someone to write a paper or turning in a paper freely provided by a friend. Many students unknowingly commit Plagiarism by failing to properly cite their sources crediting the authors. Still others cite, but plagiarize by coping much too much and writing far, far too little of their own synthesized thoughts and ideas. Students must be careful about copying too much. If a paper is mostly other writers’ material, that can be considered Plagiarism, even if the student credits their sources.
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
The most popular website, www.turnitin.com, used by professors has one major fault that is very important in helping students get away with plagiarizing (Luzer). The company that owns www.turnitin.com also owns the website www.writecheck.com, which helps “students [avoid] getting caught for plagiarism” (Luzer). Also, the cost efficiency of www.writecheck.com is attractive for students who know about it because “a 5,000-word paper” has a fee of six dollars and ninety-five cents (Luzer). Essentially, students use www.writecheck.com as a tool to go under the radar of www.turnitin.com (Luzer). With an increase in Internet use, students can begin to discover not only www.writecheck.com, but also many other websites just like it. College professors using www.turnitin.com and websites just like it fall into believing their students do not have any knowledge about websites allowing students to evade being caught cheating. If professors actually know about how easy it is for students to plagiarize and still get away with it, then they would draw the line with using www.turnitin.com and other websites just like it. Professors can surely find different methods to avoid being deceived by students thinking they get away with their dishonesty. One method of analyzing papers for plagiarism can be by typing in
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.
School systems today are so lenient in their rules, guidelines and consequences; thus causing cheating, copying or forgeries to be frequently used. Many students take advantage of copying someone else's work whenever they are given the chance. Other times, students will simply have someone else do their work and turn it in as their own, not realizing the effects this behavior can create. This creates a lack of creativity, no sense of responsibility and the students will never acquire new knowledge. These practices of cheating, copying and forgery by students are unethical and should be brought to the surface whenever possible.
Academic dishonesty has been a big issue that many faculties have to deal with all the time in classrooms in today’s academic environment. In a report founded by Thomas & O’Reilly (2002), “74 percent of American students admit to cheating on an exam. So imagine how many really are. Forty percent of adolescents say they have stolen from a store and a whopping 93 percent say they lie.” With such a huge percentage of students cheating with the use of technology, it has become an epidemic that is spreading like wild fire. Since technology was introduced in the class environment, it has become the number one concern to some instructors because many students are not using it too learn, but instead students are using technology to cheat in assignments and other work that may involve school work.
Despite knowing that they may get caught, many students still choose to cheat. In a study done by Northumbria Leaning over half of the respondents supported the use of anti-plagiarism software but still thought that they could get away with it (Lagerkvist, 2006). Cheating has blossomed in pace with technology. With all the answers at their fingertips, how will today’s students learn the consequences of cheating?
Cheating in the classroom has been happening since the first schoolhouse was built; however, it has more than doubled in the last decade due to the emergence of new technologies that give students high tech alternatives to looking at their classmate's paper. "A 2002 survey by the Josephson Institute of Ethics of 12,000 high-school students found that 74 % of students had cheated on an exam at least once in the previous year. According to Donald McCabe, who conducted the Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, study, the Internet is partly to blame. The Internet makes plagiarism very simple. In-class cheating has also gone high technology. Experts say students who cheat are not just scribbling tiny crib sheets anymore. They are using their cell phones to instant message questions and answers or storing notes on their graphing calculators." ("Eye on Cheaters," 2004)
Today’s world is mainly relied on technology such as computers and smartphones and has been a great contribution to make people lives easier in the sense of communication, activities, and time consuming. Technology has also increased the ability for students to make cheating easier for them to display good grades on tests or homework. Furthermore, from the past generation to this generation cheating has increased dramatically up to sixty-four percent according to David Crary article. Moreover, cheating is getting worse and as a society everyone needs to play a role to be able to stop cheating from happening because it is not doing anyone any good.
Plagiarism is a very serious subject to talk about. It doesn’t sound like it is that big of a deal but very serious things can come out of it. Students could lose scholarships and get kicked out of school for something as simple as copying someone else’s work. Students should learn the rules and regulations of the school ,that they are attending, about plagiarism.[1] That’s basically what plagiarism is; copying someone else’s work.
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.