Academic Honesty / Plagiarism How Research Paper

Students will "declare that cheating is immoral," but on the other hand they do not always "perceive plagiarism as a serious misdemeanor" (East, 71). Students tend to view success as far more important than "avoiding plagiarism," East continues. Part of the thrust for this cavalier attitude is that students' benefits are "beyond the university" and they see themselves needing to graduate and move on, East continues.

What type of student is most likely to plagiarize? East contends that if this were known, it could help universities weed out those cheaters. But while there is "little agreement" in that regard, some studies suggest students with "high grades" might plagiarize to keep that grade point up. Others suggest students with low grades would more likely cheat, and still others believe postgraduates are "less likely to cheat because they are motivated to learn" (East, 72). The author suggests that faculty needs to make decisions and judgment about what is to be done to students caught plagiarizing, and moreover, far more attention should be paid to the morality of cheating and plagiarizing as students enroll in universities. Ethical codes should be taught to students, East believes, and albeit it is not a university's responsibility to judge morality, and yet "maintaining and supporting academic integrity is in a university's interests" (80).

Pat Sikes believes that the growth of the Internet can be blamed for a good deal of the plagiarism, because the Web makes it "so easy," and not just through the cutting and pasting strategies. Sikes is talking about the many companies that will write essays for students for a price.There has been a "shift in moral and other values resulting in different perceptions of what is acceptable" (Sikes, 2009, p. 17). That shift in morality and values offer justification for the student that just wants to get through college, who may have a "lack of faith" in his own abilities, and who has confidence that he can "get away with it" (Sikes, 18). What is Sikes' view for what should be done to combat plagiarism? Sikes doesn't mention www.turitin.com, the leading detector of plagiarism, but the author does insist that the time "may be ripe for a consideration by academic writers" and by university leaders to "deal with the whole area" of plagiarism.

In conclusion, the evidence presented in this paper -- through peer-reviewed articles that are certainly believable -- is that plagiarism is rampant on university campuses. There are many opinions, surveys, and research proposals as to how to solve the problem, but the one that was presented in this paper that seems to have the most credibility is East's assertion that colleges and universities need to teach, in a class, the dangers and immorality of plagiarism. Assuming that students know better, or will always do their own work because they want to learn, is naive.

Works Cited

East, Julianne. (2010). Judging plagiarism: a problem of morality and convention. Higher Education, 59(1), 69-83.

Sikes, Pat. (2009). Will the real author come forward? Questions of ethics, plagiarism, theft and collusion in academic research writing. International Journal….....