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,
