Plagiarism At School And College Level

With the advancement of internet technology even an elementary school student has access to the wide world of information. Students are becoming more accustomed to plagiarism with this easy and free flow of information via internet. With the help of search engines they just copy their required information and present it as their own work and become a part of academic plagiarism.

Students are tempted to plagiarize as they have access to a wide range of information. Most of the students admit that they plagiarize intentionally giving out their own excuses for plagiarizing. Some of the reasons given by school and college students include shortage of time, laziness, poor note taking, getting confused, easy way out, teacher will never know etc.

Students just hit a search engine, type in their given topic and download stuff. At times they do not even bother to change the title. Students are also involved in unintentional plagiarism when they fail to provide proper references, citation and acknowledgments.

As for academic plagiarism it is considered as an academic dishonesty and should be discouraged at all levels. Plagiarism needs to be eliminated from academic institutions to accomplish educational goals. Teachers and professors need to improvise strategies in order to detect and discourage academic plagiarism. Teachers and school authorities must clearly explain what comes under academic plagiarism and how to avoid unintentional plagiarism. Teachers should layout the consequences of getting caught in the act of plagiarism to discourage plagiarism at school/college level.

Academic Plagiarism Penalties

As academic plagiarism is prevailing at both school and college levels, teachers and academic authorities are becoming more conscious to curtail it at all costs. They are improvising strategies to detect plagiarism and assigning penalties for academic plagiarism. Moreover, schools and colleges are taking adverse actions against students who are involved in intentional and repeated acts of plagiarism.

Amongst the various penalties of academic plagiarism some include:

• Failing an assignment
• Low Grades
• Zero Marking
• Warnings
• Referring to Honor Council
• Suspension
• Promotion Restricted
• Expulsion
• Revoked Diplomas (after graduation)

Students who caught doing plagiarism will ruin their future. They will loose credibility not only from their teachers but also their fellow students. The student who gets expelled is unable to find admission in other institutions. And if his/her diploma or degree gets revoked / cancelled, years of effort, time and money gets wasted.

Academic authorities believe that students should know what comes under plagiarism and must take necessary measures to avoid it at all costs. They are increasing awareness about plagiarism and its penalties. Knowing the adverse effects of plagiarism, many students try their level best to avoid it as far possible. However, chances of unintentional plagiarism still exist but mostly the penalty granted in these cases is not as severe as in the case of an intentional intellectual offense.

To best avoid chances of including plagiarized material in their research work and assignments, students are depending upon plagiarism checking sites and plagiarism detection software.

These plagiarism tools are effective and fast. Most of these plagiarism detection sites are offering free services so any one can use them at anytime. These sites provide accurate information so students can completely rely on them completely, saving themselves from severe penalties of plagiarism.