What is Behind Students’ Plagiarism?

Schools impose disciplinary actions to students plagiarizing the work of others. One way is to give punishment like fines, suspension and expulsion. However, the problem that plagiarism is a vague concept makes it uncontrollable. The thin line that demarcates research from plagiarism is rarely recognized by students. Another problem in controlling it is that it is sometimes hard to validate the copying of ideas especially when these ideas are not published formally and are not protected by copyright laws. For instance, one student copies the idea of another student; we cannot seek the help of software in this matter. It is very hard to trace then who copied from whom. There are two types of copying then, one is text copying and the other is idea copying. In some cases, those who cheat get higher grades compared to those who truly construct the ideas. Lack of confidence in one’s self also contributes to the cause of plagiarizing and the fear of failing in a subject gives one the urge to copy the work of others. In the part of the instructor, the lack of apt consultation period and less interest in the research of the students make it easier for students to just plagiarize. Less feedback and lack of disciplinary actions from teachers somehow validates the notion of students that they can get away with the crime they did.