Why Are College Students Taking The Easy Way Out?

Superior Essays
Why are College Students Taking the Easy Way Out? Academic dishonesty is common amongst college students in the 21st century. In fact, “Seventeen percent of undergraduates at Rutgers University admit to cheating on tests, and forty percent admit to cheating on written assignments” (What is Plagiarism, 1). This quote shows that there are many students, especially in college, that are still plagiarizing and cheating. One of the reasons we participate in plagiarizing is because the use of technology has provided us with information that can be accessed quickly and easily. Also, some college students just do not know the material, and plagiarize in hopes of doing well on the assignment. Another reason many people plagiarize is because they are unaware that they are doing it. Technology has progressed over the years. On the internet today, you can do basically anything you want. In the article, Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age, by Trip Gabriel, he writes that Sarah Brookover, a senior from Rutgers University, says that “When you are sitting at your computer, it is the same machine you have downloaded music with, possibly illegally, the same machine you streamed videos for free that showed on HBO last night” (3). What she says is very true. Many college students are so used to using the internet in an illegal way, that when it comes to school work it feels quite normal. It is easier to spend ten minutes researching something on Google, and to copy and paste it,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Is Plagiarism Wrong

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Plagiarism is a serious offense in universities, it is often committed by many students in order to pass a class they have been struggling with. Some courses in universities are challenging, and some students are blinded by their desperation to pass the course and resort to negative alternatives such as plagiarism. This disciplinary action can be prevented in many ways by students and professors. The main reason students commit plagiarism is due to the education system, it focuses on standardized testing and making students memorize large amounts of information to pass tests. The education system has changed over the years due to the change of government and reforms passed, but what shouldn’t be compromised is the learning experience and integrity…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Academic integrity is a crucial aspect of being a student, and it becomes even more crucial to a person who participates in college athletics. Being caught with academic dishonesty, or cheating, reflects poorly not only on the individual, but also on the team and the university the student is representing. Student athletes are in the public eye much more than the average student is. Student athletes are being watched by the fans, the coaching staff, the compliance office, the professors, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), etc. If a student athlete chooses to participate in academic dishonesty, not only does he or she run the risk of being kicked out of school, but he or she also risks their NCAA eligibility, and punishment…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Honor Code Dbq

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The internet is an " Inexhaustible source of information" which makes it easier for students to cheat and plagiarize. Students are more likely to cheat because it's easier to do and it's extremely beneficial to them. Students can simply just insert phrases and even whole paragraphs directly into their essays or reports. Schools that have established honor codes have fewer reports of cheating. Honor codes at schools- typically student-…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Point Loma High School

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When someone cheats, they are not only cheating on paper, but on themselves and their future. By cheating in school, student’s academic grades do well for that semester, but in a month, year, or decade later, the students who took shortcuts on assignments will never have the full knowledge to answer the tricky questions life brings them later on. Academic dishonesty, also known as cheating, is a rapidly spreading issue in which students continue to take to the next level. From texting during an exam to copying the answers on the inside of their calculators, these students have thought of it all and now it is up to us to find an end to this problem. Point Loma High School, a school known for its outgoing students, winning sports teams, and it’s legacy of academic integrity, but is this school really all that it is cracked up to be?…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chace, the author of “A Question of Honor”, discusses how the education system in the United States is declining. William M. Chace starts by using a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center showing how 57 percent of Americans felt like a higher education fails to provide good value for the money. He feels like one of the main causes for this decline is plagiarism. Plagiarism is running rampant throughout universities in the United States. Plagiarism or cheating as William M. Chace calls it in this reading, is way to tolerated and deemed normal in today’s world.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    “Cutting and Pasting: A Senior Thesis by (Insert Name)” is an essay about plagiarism and how cheating in high school and college is becoming more prevalent in classrooms. The structure shown in this essay focuses on a central thesis and is explained in a paragraph outlining reasons more specifically as well as using an outside source of a friend to further prove his thesis. Brent Staples, the author of this article, gives continuous evidence that relates entirely back to his thesis, as it should. This paper focuses on the integrity of the student itself, the threat to the learning process, and also shows how students are quick to the easiest route possible without actually comprehending the material. In the third paragraph, Staples talks about…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cheating seems like a task that students would be afraid and ashamed of, especially at the college level. Getting caught and punished and being too scared of the consequences along with the fact that it is immoral are all reasons I do not even consider cheating. The fact that all it takes is a few copied sentences in a paper to ruin your gpa and future is insane, but that is how it should be. It is not only the slackers cheating anymore, but rather highly intelligent, yet lowly motivated students. With modern technology along side to help, cheating rates are escalating to an all new high.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Clovis Community College Plagiarism Policy Responsibilities of Members of the Clovis Community Collegeg We, as a community, are responsible for encouraging others to be academically honest. Our faculty holds the responsibility of educating our students about plagiarism. Instructors should teach students about what plagiarism is, ways to avoid it, and what the consequences are when caught plagiarising. Instructors should be checking for signs of plagiarism during grading of the assignments. If found, appropriate action should be taken and a report should be made.…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Although plagiarism is a crime punishable by law, it is common in most of the institutions despite their campaigns against it. In this article, Malesic evaluates why students plagiarize, despite knowing the consequences that accompany this practice. According to the author, narrow-mindedness and the perception of plagiarism as a typical practice in institutions account for its prevalence among students (Malesic 87). From observations, most of the students…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In her article “Plagiarism: A Problem For WSU Students,” Brandi Trapp discusses some things that cause people to plagiarize, the consequences of plagiarism, and the steps college instructors take to confront the issue. Before discussing plagiarism, a person needs to first define and explain what plagiarism means and what qualifies as an act of plagiarism. According to the given definition in Brandi’s writing, plagiarism is “any activity that tends to compromise the academic integrity of the institution… [by] any act of intentionally using or attempting to use [or providing] unauthorized materials, information, or assistance in any academic exercise” and that “…a student can be accused of plagiarism if they get any information…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Julie J.C.H. Ryan’s essay “Student Plagiarism in an Online World” explains how effortless it is for college students to plagiarize their essays and avoid learning through the help of modern technology. On the contrary, undergraduates use the Internet as a means to bolster their education. Savvy technology has helped ease the life of twenty-first century students. The Internet is helpful because it acts as a virtual library for research, enhances relationships between professors and students, and also provides services on how to study.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Because of two reasons: ignorance and immense information on the Internet that causes students think it is an easy way to accomplish any writing task, however, hardly they concern about the concept “plagiarism”. But what is plagiarism? Plagiarism is when you take words, ideas, or whole works from others without giving him or her credit for it, ultimately marking them as your own. For example, plagiarism would be if one student writes that moon landing was “… one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Academic integrity is built to protect the sole and foundation of the academic life for those who are pursuing a higher education. The academic processing are put in place for students to behave properly with respect of the five key values in an academic environment such as honesty, trust, respect, fairness and responsibility (Academic Integrity and Plagiarism 2014). One of the most commonly methods used that take a big part of academic dishonest is plagiarism. Plagiarism has several definition but for simplest it usually defined as “presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other students, as one’s own (Frick 2011).” Statistics, a survey was taken between the years of 2002 to 2005, 36% of 63,700 US undergraduates admit to paraphrasing…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Technology has gotten so high tech in this past generation that it is affecting the ways students cheat. Students have started to lose their sense of morals and ethics that is causing them not to care that they are cheating. The fact is plagiarism is getting worse and worse because cell phones are an immediate access to find the information they need. Plagiarism is more than just academic, legal, political, and social debate. Saha states that people rely on “copy and paste” when it comes down to plagiarizing and being lazy in this society(2377).…

    • 1610 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Plagiarism Analysis

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Plagiarism has a clear, detailed definition that has to be understood to be avoided. Most definitions have not been interpreted correctly, therefore students’ understanding of plagiarism has been warped. This included a comprehensive definition of what it means to plagiarize, and a correlating list of all the methods of plagiarism. Contrary to what students want to belief, plagiarism did not surface in the twentieth century to make schooling harder. Plagiarism is dated back centuries, and has an ever-changing meaning within its history.…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays