What Can Be Done About Students Plagiarizing?

A very big issue in higher education, which must be talked about more on ways to prevent it is plagiarism. While some things are being put into place to prevent it, technology is continuing to advance, which means there will be more ways to bypass those regulations. Plagiarism hinders students from forming original thoughts and views on a subject. Students can’t expect to get away with cheating and plagiarizing indefinitely since it’ll be detected, and the repercussions will be severe. So, before all of that happens, more strategies to prevent plagiarism should be talked about and implemented

Now first let’s define plagiarism, and the different types of plagiarism. In his article “The 5 Types of Plagiarism | Explanations & Examples” Streefkerk mentions how Plagiarism may take numerous forms, some of which are more serious than others, ranging from rephrasing someone’s ideas without acknowledgment to taking a whole piece of someone’s work. The five most prevalent kinds of plagiarism are as follows: global plagiarism, in its broadest sense refers to the act of misrepresenting someone else’s work as your own. Directly replicating someone else’s words is known as verbatim plagiarism. To avoid verbatim plagiarism, just quote the original source by enclosing the copied material in quotation marks and providing an in-text citation. (Streefkerk 1)

Paraphrasing plagiarism is defined as the act of rephrasing someone else’s ideas and portraying them as your own. When paraphrasing, mention your sources just like you would when quoting to avoid plagiarism. Patchwork plagiarism refers to combining elements from many sources to produce a new writing. To avoid patchwriting, ensure to credit your sources anytime you quote or paraphrase. Self-plagiarism is when you recycle your own previous work. Except for global plagiarism, these sorts of plagiarism are frequently unintentional, stemming from a lack of understanding on how to quote, paraphrase, and reference your sources appropriately. When you reuse ideas, words, or facts from earlier assignments, you are committing self-plagiarism. It is not plagiarism to rework existing ideas and paragraphs as long as you get permission and credit your earlier work to make their sources obvious. (Streefkerk 1)  

In their article “Strategy for writing Plagiarism free Research Paper” Dhusia D. K and Kesharwani Subodh, state that “Many students simply do not know what plagiarism is. Their awareness, if any, often derives from urban legends and myths that Internet contents are free to copy.” (Dhusia and Kesharwani 91), which describes how some plagiarism might not be intentional due to students not being aware of what it is and/or being improperly informed about it. They also mention that “Many other students know what plagiarism is, but don’t consider it wrong. The belief that “information wants to be free,” and the idea that copying from sources with a few words of one’s own is merely “patch writing,” a normal way to write, support these students in their beliefs.” (Dhusia and Kesharwani 91). This shows another reason why students might plagiarize while knowing what it is because they don’t think its something wrong and have the belief that “information wants to be free”.  

In order for teachers to make students more aware Dhusia and Kesharwani explain how these students require assistance, thus informing them of the resources available to them, such as personal attention from instructors, open debate with student ideas, the environment, teaching assistants, online writing lab sites, and so on, may inspire them to persevere. Presenting the assignment and correct citation of sources in a positive light is one strategy that might work. (Dhusia and Kesharwani 91)

In her article “Preventing Plagiarism (and Other Forms of Cheating): Advice From Students and Faculty” Stephanie Bluestein mentions some advice students had about plagiarism and academic dishonesty in general and what faculty and staff could do about it. Those students described how if a teacher is sitting in front of the class checking over their work, the student in the back has pretty much free reign to cheat. Professors may not be able to catch every instance of plagiarism, but students are aware when they are not. Faculty and administrators would benefit from learning more about incentive theories from the standpoint of educational psychology. By altering your presentation manner and enhancing student interaction with the subject, you may make learning more exciting. (Bluestein 8)

What teachers can do to prevent plagiarism has been mentioned but that about students? In her article “10 Tips for Students: How to Avoid Plagiarism in Your Writing” Zoe Nixon explains that students should allow enough time to write a paper is a simple strategy to avoid plagiarism. Citing sources is one thing, but it won’t help much if it’s not done right. Students should ensure that they understand the standards for the paper they are working on and that they apply them correctly. Scanning through a paper to verify that it has cited all of the sources used does not take long. There is a means to avoid using someone else’s work while yet giving credit where credit is due. When explicitly quoting someone, another approach to give credit is to utilize quotations. (Nixon 1)

To sum it up, in her article “Preventing Plagiarism (and Other Forms of Cheating): Advice From Students and Faculty” Stephanie Bluestein elaborates that academic dishonesty has no redeeming qualities other than potentially giving an instructive moment. Educators must undoubtedly ask themselves, “How do we avoid this tragic situation?” Students, as we all know, are free-thinking individuals with a lot on their minds—and plates. While professors and administrators cannot control their students’ actions, they can regulate their actions by taking preventative measures. (Bluestein 7)

Works Cited:

Streefkerk, Raimo. ” The 5 Types of Plagiarism | Explanations & Examples.” Scribbr, 10 Jan. 2022, https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/types-of-plagiarism/

Dhusia, D. K and Kesharwani, Subodh. “Strategy for writing Plagiarism free Research Paper” Global Journal of Enterprise Information System vol. 11, issue. 2, Spring 2019, pp 90-96. EBSCO, DOI: 10.18311/gjeis/2019

Bluestein, Stephanie. “Preventing Plagiarism (and Other Forms of Cheating): Advice From Students and Faculty” New Directions for Community Colleges vol. 2018, issue. 183, Fall 2018, pp 7-14. EBSCO,  DOI: 10.1002/cc.20312

Nixon, Zoe. “10 Tips for Students: How to Avoid Plagiarism in Your Writing ” The Writing Cooperative, 4 Jul. 2018, https://writingcooperative.com/10-tips-for-students-how-to-avoid-plagiarism-in-your-writing-11892264deb4