There’s nothing more dangerous and disheartening in academic writing like students submitting plagiarized assignments. Despite efforts in abetting students to think critically, research intensively, and write unique papers, many still go ahead to copy other people’s ideas and use them as their own.
A study by Cleveland reveals that at least 76% of students admit to have copied other author’s work word by word to stay competitive. That’s a higher number, which shows that submitting copied work is such a bigger problem in many high schools, colleges, and universities.
In an effort to enhance academic integrity, many learning institutions invest in powerful technologies that check for plagiarism in an instant. Although technologies such as Turnitin help to uphold this integrity by ensuring that students submit unique work, the act of plagiarizing content is still a concern.
The question is why do students plagiarize? Also, what can you do to keep yourself from falling a victim of this mess?
Let’s find out.
3 Reasons Why Students Plagiarize (And What You Can Do To Stop It)
Some professors argue that students plagiarize assignments because they are too lazy to spend time on assignments. Others attribute the act of copying other people’s content to the lack of effective study habits and time management in college.
From what we understand, many of the reasons why students copy other people’s work and use them as their own are more psychological than material.
After spending 100+ hours talking to different students on education forums, face-to-face conversations, and message boards online, here are the x common reasons why students plagiarize.
1. Students Plagiarize Because They Lack Interest in a Subject
We can attribute cheating to procrastination all we want, but there’s often an underlying reason why a student would rather do an assignment on a particular subject now than later. It comes down to the lack of interest in a subject.
If you find a student performing well in some subjects but submit plagiarized work in others, there’s a high chance that they don’t value the subject enough to treat it with the respect and seriousness that it so deserves.
Sure, we can campaign for educational technology because it improves learning. However, unless students learn and understand the value of every subject taught in their class, they may never develop an interest to perform well in the topic.
What You Can Do
Talk to your teacher about the subject you have the least interest in or don’t find interesting at all. Don’t hesitate to ask them to explain the significance of the subject and its real life application. This discussion can help you to develop interest in the subject, a desire to explore more, and therefore a reason to do further research and produce quality work.
2. Students Plagiarize Because They Fear to Fail
Do you know what the hard cold truth about education is? Someone in your class is always smarter than you are in one way or the other.
The problem with this kind of truth is that it tends to create an inner sense tension that makes you feel like you’re already a failed student. And if the fear of failure settles in, you’re highly likely to copy someone else’s work and use it as your own.
A study conducted by the British Journal of Educational Psychology reveals that the fear of failure makes students treat learning as means to stroke own egos. Given this psychological standpoint, these students won’t spend time studying to master the course but would rather copy other people’s work to prove that they’re equally as good as those who invest time in their studies.
What You Can Do
Talk to your teacher. If it helps, schedule a number of reflection sessions in which you can discuss your fears and find solutions. Your teacher will help you look at your education from a different perspective and help you recognize that you’re a student with their own unique attributes and therefore don’t have to submit copied work just to appear smart.
3. Students Submit Copied Work to Satisfy Third-Party Expectations
Being a student isn’t fun sometimes. Even when you have all the time in the world to decide when and how you want to attend classes and complete your assignments, there are always third-party expectations that one has to meet.
Your instructors want you to score high marks. Your parents want you to make them proud by becoming a top student in your class. And if you spend time looking at the job market, it becomes clear that even potential employers have their own requirements.
Do you see where we’re going with this?
Everyone you know (and will come to know) has high expectations and unreasonable demands that can easily result in impostor syndrome and spike the desire to become the best in school by all means necessary. Sometimes it’s the desire and the undying pressure to live up to the expectations that cause students to plagiarize.
What You Can Do
Understand that it’s hard to meet everyone’s expectations and doing so isn’t the reason why you’re in school in the first place. Talk to your teachers and parents about how you feel about your course, and give them the assurance that you’ll do your best under zero pressure. And given that every student has their limited capacity, they should understand that your best isn’t something they should equate to other students’ performance.
Conclusion
Whether plagiarism is unintentional or self-invoked, copying someone else’s content and using it as your own is an education offense that you don’t want to make. That’s because plagiarism can get you expelled from school and delay your chance of earning a diploma, bachelor’s degree, or master’s degree.
The best approach to take is to treat every assignment with the seriousness that it deserves. Given that we’ve shared some insights on what to do to counter plagiarism based on the issues we’ve discussed, it should be possible to do your research and produce unique papers without fear of failure.