Plagiarism In Higher Education

Plagiarism in Higher Education 1

Plagiarism in Higher Education

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Plagiarism in Higher Education 2

Plagiarism in Higher Education

Introduction

Plagiarism is unacceptable and the highest academic crime that a student can commit in

the field of academia. It is taking the works of another person and using it as if it was your own

without acknowledging the creator or author(s) of such work. Plagiarism connotes lack of

creativity and laziness. In academia, thought or ideas not yours must be properly cited and

referenced to indicate or emphasize that they are borrowed. A person needs to use their creative

mind to transform the work of another person and then acknowledge the author. Today,

campuses and colleges have lost the sense of academic institutions and centers for research and

innovation. Academic laziness has spread in almost all college campuses. Research indicates that

academic cheating is on the rise in the colleges than it has ever been. Students have become lazy,

and they no longer want to work hard to earn quality degrees. Institutions, on the other hand,

have become lazy to stop plagiarism.

The reasons to Avoid Plagiarism

One major effect of plagiarism is that it results in the production of half-baked graduates

or academic dwarfs. The half-baked products are of no use not only to the society (Ali 2012).

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense that can retard the creativity of the students and other

potential minds (Glendinning 2014). Plagiarism is despised because it not only inhibits creativity

but also results in inferior works among the plagiarists (Stapleton 2012). It is a form of cheating

that earns the plagiarists undeserved credit and benefits. The penalties for plagiarism are huge

and serious. Once you use ideas or thoughts or even a phrase from the work of another person,

such work must be cited and referenced appropriately (Foltýnek & Glendinning 2015). A student

Plagiarism in Higher Education 3

risks cancellation of their examination, term paper, project or even expulsion from the university

when they are found to have plagiarized their work

Why do People Plagiarize?

Researchers and scholars in the field of academia have tried to find the reasons why

plagiarism has continued to become a problem in colleges and universities (Vieyra et al. 2013). It

has been noted that the reasons for plagiarism go beyond lack of creativity to the failure of the

education system to teach students the techniques of avoiding it (Bretag 2013). The higher

education system has been blamed for years for not correcting the ill referencing behaviors

among students and learners (Eret & Gokmenoglu 2010). When institutions relax, or they are not

strict on the quality of work presented by students, students become indolent (Vieyra et al. 2013).

They no longer want to work as students but as academic thieves. Universities and colleges have

failed to advise students on the dangers of plagiarism and what it means to their academic life

when they are caught.

The pressure of professional deadlines makes people plagiarize. When students are given

assignments, they fail to work on them on time, and because of the deadline pressures, they opt

to copy other people’s work that is similar to the work they are supposed to work on (Erkaya

2009). Further, research shows that the simplicity of the processes of cheating a potential reason.

It has become easier to cheat today than it was a few decades ago. Academic freedom has

increased more to a level that creates room for students to cheat. The desire to have higher GPAs

is another reason that has also been found to be a motivating factor for students to cheat.

Students want to score high grades without working hard (Bretag 2013). As aforementioned, the

laxity of the institutions makes academic cheater goes uncaught, and that keep cheating active.

Plagiarism in Higher Education 4

Using the Text-Matching Software

Today, controlling the academic dishonesties is much easier than it was a few decades

ago. The growth of the information technology has facilitated advancements curbing plagiarism.

Today, software such as TURNITIN that help to check whether students have submitted

plagiarized work (Rezanejad & Rezaei 2013). Students can use the software to ensure that they

do not submit plagiarized work. The professors should also advise the students to submit two

copies of their assignment. Final draft and Turnitin report certifying that the work is free of

plagiarism. Besides, the professors and the teaching staff should not tire from checking and

rechecking the work the students submit. Today, a person who submits plagiarized assignment

should be punished severely having in mind that existence of software has made everything easy

(Youmans 2011). The laxity on the side of the teaching staff should end. With software, it is easy

to bring an end this academic crime that is eating the quality of the university education

(Foltýnek & Glendinning 2015). Besides training the students to use software to check for

plagiarism, training them how to citation and referencing should be prioritized.

Conclusion

Plagiarism is academic dishonesty and should not be tolerated in academic institutions.

Plagiarism lowers the academic creativity and should be discouraged at cost. From a personal

perspective, Plagiarism is an academic crime and should be heavily punished. The effects of

plagiarism are felt in the society through the production of half-baked graduates.

Plagiarism in Higher Education 5

References

Ali, W.Z.W., Ismail, H. and Cheat, T.T., 2012. Plagiarism: to what extent it is understood?.

Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 59, pp.604-611.

Bretag, T., 2013. Challenges in addressing plagiarism in education. PLoS medicine, 10(12),

p.e1001574.

Eret, E. and Gokmenoglu, T., 2010. Plagiarism in higher education: A case study with

prospective academicians. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), pp.3303-3307.

Erkaya, O.R., 2009. Plagiarism by Turkish students: causes and solutions. Asian EFL journal,

11(2), pp.86-103.

Foltýnek, T. and Glendinning, I., 2015. Impact of policies for plagiarism in higher education

across Europe: Results of the project. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae

Mendelianae Brunensis, 63(1), pp.207-216.

Glendinning, I., 2014. Responses to student plagiarism in higher education across Europe.

International Journal for Educational Integrity, 10(1).

Rezanejad, A. and Rezaei, S., 2013. Academic dishonesty at universities: The case of plagiarism

among Iranian language students. Journal of academic ethics, 11(4), pp.275-295.

Stapleton, P. 2012. Gauging the effectiveness of anti-plagiarism software: An empirical study of

second language graduate writers. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11(2), 125-

133.

Vieyra, M., Strickland, D. and Timmerman, B., 2013. Patterns in plagiarism and patchwriting in

science and engineering graduate students' research proposals. International Journal for

Educational Integrity, 9(1).

Plagiarism in Higher Education 6

Youmans, R. 2011. Does the adoption of plagiarism-detection software in higher education

reduce plagiarism?. Studies in Higher Education, 36(7), pp.749-761.

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