Why do Students Plagiarize?

Why do Students Plagiarize?There certainly are countless reasons students plagiarize. Deadlines, seemingly overwhelming assignments and of course laziness, are all compelling reasons for students to consider plagiarism. Learning to recognize the various factors that make plagiarism an attractive alternative is often the ideal method to prevent it before it starts.

Today students learn quickly, that finding and manipulating information on the Internet is a useful skill. For countless students it becomes a mere question of ingenuity: "Can I sneak a plagiarized paper past my professor?" (The Learning Center)Often intimidated by the level of work they find online, and thinking their personal work cannot compare they will usually succumb to plagiarizing. However, by teaching students the skills how to process the data they obtain by analysis and interpretation is a quite real and effective way to stop plagiarism.

Many students are often under considerable pressure from family, peers, and instructors to vie for academic scholarships and/or places in the business market.

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Online Plagiarism by Greg Passuntino

In order to stay current some students justify their plagiarism with the notion if others are doing it so can they. Others have problems expressing their thoughts well enough to write them down. So pulling words and information from other people's written work is often simply too tempting to pass up.

Every day, millions of students face similar ethical quandaries--and unfortunately, research indicates that most choose to plagiarize. In a nationwide poll, 80 percent of America's best students admitted to having cheated at least once; More than half said they did not believe cheating was a big deal--and 95 percent of the cheaters said, simply put, they have never been caught. In addition, a U.S. News poll found 90 percent of college kids believe cheaters never pay the price.* (Kleiner and Lord)Cheating among college students has shown the principal reason...