Introduction:
Plagiarism can be defined as presenting someone's work that is already checked or published without their approval. It is a broad topic that needs to explain in short words as it includes a wide range of person's actions. This may include incorrect citation of presented work to copying someone's ideas. In recent years, students from all over the world have been following this unethical practice. This practice may be deliberate or unintentional, but it severely impacts both students and instructors. There are a lot of tools that universities and instructors use to eliminate this academic evil. But, this is far away from their reach, and over the years, this is increasing. This is another form of cheating that frustrates teachers as it tells them that their teaching style and methodologies are falling short. The exact reasons for this academic evil are as complex as this topic.
Reasons Why Students Plagiarise:
There are a lot of reasons why students plagiarise, but at the same time, they are worth discussing. This article will critically examine some of the important reasons for plagiarism. Given below are a few of them.
Ø Lack Of Writing And Research Skills:
Most of the time, students do not know how to write
dissertation help topics or academic papers properly and research those topics. In some cases, they even do not know how to use library computers or catalogs to search for academic journals, articles, and books for their research work. In some universities, academic offices have assigned students their advisors who help them in their academic work. They also help them learn new techniques and tools that they can use during their stay at the university. Even then, most of the students fail to learn those skills that can help them. Eventually, when it comes to present a paper or research, they end up plagiarising. When there are tight deadlines, and they have to manage other courses too, they consider copying from internet sources a sign of relief.
Ø Uncertainty Between Plagiarism And Paraphrasing:
It is said that more than half of the undergraduate students cannot even differentiate between plagiarism and paraphrasing. Such a problem occurs when they paraphrase the original text, and they have to deal with unfamiliar words. Another reason is the different writing strategies of students that will eventually lead them to academic plagiarism. As mentioned earlier, they lack proper writing styles. When they are struggling to write a paper, it will frustrate them, and soon they will lose interest. The lack of common understanding between plagiarism, paraphrasing, and citing the sources incorrectly are the basic reasons for unintentional plagiarism. So, the student should paraphrase adequately, or if they are quoting original text, they must cite the source. This way, they can avoid this academic evil.
Ø Making Notes Carelessly:
At a university, an instructor or an academic advisor always encourages his students to take notes properly to conduct research. However, when they are doing research and are not careful about paraphrased texts and original texts, they will end up mixing them both. By the time they are writing their
dissertation proposal writing service work, they will not be able to differentiate between these two and eventually will write both texts. Furthermore, they have limited knowledge of sources from which they gathered information. So, they even won't be able to relocate those sources to ensure they are not plagiarising. There are a lot of other ways to avoid such circumstances. But students are either not serious about their academic responsibilities, or they neglect them. This way, they intentionally commit an academic crime that is punishable in some cases.
Ø They Misperceive Vital Concepts:
Another critical mistake that they commit is misperceiving the key concept regarding plagiarism. They think that plagiarism only revolves around what they write. It is also important to note that copying someone's original work or presenting someone's ideas is also a type of plagiarism. Another thing that can be added is that students fail to differentiate between the information of the public domain and copyright ideas. The work or ideas that are available in the public domain must be appropriately cited. Otherwise, it will also consider as plagiarism. Students think that all the information available on the internet is public knowledge, and they can use that. They don't know that they need to provide a proper reference of that information they used in their paper. It can be said that students can be the victims of their thoughts and can commit this
academic crime.
Ø Other Significant Factors
There are other significant factors too that can encourage students to commit such crimes. Family, peer group pressure, and personal expectations are the major factors in this regard. Family always expect them to secure good grades and later on expect them to get a good job. Furthermore, when friends are getting good grades, a student feels insecure if he is not getting a good grade. Therefore, for good grades, he presents a work that is up to the mark, but at the same time, it is plagiarised. Such a student's thought ends with a justification that he needs to complete the work and wants to get a good grade. But he does not know that presentation of such plagiarised work can lead him to fail the course.
Conclusion:
We are living in the most advanced era of mankind that is called the era of technology. If a student owns a laptop or a cell phone, then everything is just a click away. Now it's up to him either he wants to learn or cheat. No matter how smart he is, his cheating will be caught, but if he decides to learn, then he will eventually rise. This article critically discussed the concept of
PhD thesis plagiarism and the reasons behind it. Every now and then, instructors and university managements try to overcome this issue, but still, this is taking place. Students of the technology era are becoming degree-oriented students that only need degrees. Sadly, a piece of paper is way more important than ideas and knowledge for them.
