What Is Plagiarism Ethically Wrong?

1032 Words5 Pages
Students know plagiarism is ethically wrong. We’ve been told since grade school that cheating is bad and copying people is bad, and the constant reminders of severe punishment if we do it should be enough to keep anyone from plagiarizing, yet we as students continue to risk grades, integrity, and statuses to plagiarize. From the experiences of students who plagiarize it is always a very hard, yet valuable lesson to learn from. The first time I heard the word plagiarism was in my 6th grade English class. The year we started to write more than simple sentences in our journals. We were writing research papers, and my teacher brought up the new, unfamiliar word. We had about a thirty minute discussion over the great importance of writing our own…show more content…
Whenever I come into a classroom with such a negative atmosphere it makes me not want to be there. Especially when there are teachers who do not care as much as the students. What gets me really excited for class are the teachers and students engaging in each other; “Engagement could be with the material, the professors, or even a competitive goal, but the idea that students can obtain a serious education even with their disengaged, credentialist attitudes is a delusion” (Collier). We cannot expect action and devotion from teachers and students if the basis of education is founded on the concept of doing the bare minimum and doing work only for deadlines and nothing else. That is why many students turn to plagiarizing because it is a quick way to finish work and almost no time or energy is needed to do it. However, that way of thinking and that kind of strategy used for schoolwork “will never be a formula for excellence, which requires intense focus, discipline and diligence that are utterly lacking among our distracted, indifferent students.”…show more content…
Teachers should explain in further detail to their students: if they are given an example of the work for a project or essay they must do students can use it as an outline for their work but cannot use any ideas or words from the example; unless they plan to cite it in their project or essay. Student should only able to quote or paraphrase an example that the teacher has given if the teacher says it is okay for them to use some of their words. Teachers must inform us, the students, extensively that it is not wrong to paraphrase another person’s ideas, however at the same time we must provide a reference citation to assure that the paraphrases are not so close to the original. Then, when students just feel they have to put in the exact words into an assignment it would be better to put the part of the idea in a quote. There are many ways for students to end up doing what is right and producing original work on their own, but the way we could completely end plagiarism is to not only teach how to create original work or punish for an offence committed; we could also change the way we think of school, change our habits, change the classroom dynamics and make coming to school enjoyable and make projects and learning enjoyable again. There is a possibility that in the future plagiarism may become an
Show More
Related

  • Plagiarism And Paraphrasing Analysis

    1279 Words  | 6 Pages

    Summary Report on Plagiarism and Paraphrasing Way back in first century, the Roman poet Martial used the Latin word plagiarius (which means kidnapper) to describe pilfer somebody’s work as his own work. Later on, in 1601, Ben Jonson introduced word “Plagiary” in the English language, which usually means guilty for pilfer.[7][9] Plagiarism is described as the wrong way of showing other author work as his own original work. Sometimes, even it can be idea, thoughts, language or may be expressions for

    Read More

More about What Is Plagiarism Ethically Wrong?

Open Document