Cause and Effect Essay- Effects of Plagiarism and How It Can Affect Students’

Academic Performance

Plagiarism is defined as the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and

passing them off as one's own. The consequences of plagiarism can be personal, professional,

ethical, and legal. Plagiarists include academics, professionals, students, journalists, authors,

and others. With plagiarism detection software so readily available and in use, plagiarists are

being caught at an alarming rate especially in the college community. Some schools, colleges,

and universities take plagiarism very seriously and most of the educational institutions have

academic integrity committees who police students. Many schools suspend students for their

first violation but students will be usually expelled for further offences. Their academic

record can reflect the ethics offense, possibly causing the student to be barred from entering

college from high school or another college. There are some effects of plagiarism and how it

can affect students’ academic performance.

First, plagiarism prevents you from learning, which is the reason you are in college.

This is because cheating gives you an unfair advantage over other students who are doing

their own work. Being punished for plagiarism can damage your reputation and undermine an

instructor's trust and confidence in you. Besides, peers may lose respect for you and chose not

to work with you on group projects. So, even if you are not caught of plagiarise, your self-

esteem can be impacted knowing that you didn't deserve the grade you received. So,

plagiarise will make your grade down as you cannot absorb well in the learning process.

Second, you will lose marks due to plagiarism. Instructors typically have little

tolerance for plagiarism because they want you to learn and earn your grades fairly and

honestly. If you are caught plagiarizing, academic sanctions can include a lower grade, failing

the course or dismissal from an academic major. An incident of plagiarism can also diminish

your chances of a good reference from the instructor for a scholarship application, study

abroad program, graduate school, internship or graduate assistantship. Your degree can be

revoked if it is later discovered that you plagiarized a capstone project, thesis or dissertation.

Therefore, plagiarism will end you up with a punishment and directly affected your academic

results.

Third, plagiarism makes a block in your mind. You may lose the creativity if you

keep plagiarise others work. This is because creativity is the ability to develop or generate

something original and unique. Plagiarism is, by definition, imitation, which is the opposite of

creativity. In an October 2010 "Psychology Today" article, Dr. Shelley Carlson indicated that

instructors bear the responsibility of enforcing requirements that students do original work. In

fact, failure of instructors to catch and address instances of copying reinforces this

problematic student behaviour. Plagiarism limits the thought, research and critical thinking

involved in developing an original paper or report. This negatively impacts the overall

educational experience and growth of a college student. This means that the students who

plagiarise actually losing their creativity and a person who has deserted by muse cannot

produce a nice work. So, without producing a nice work, there’s neither good mark for it.

Forth, plagiarism has a negative effect on the college community as well. Students

who copy the work of other students can easily become outcasts in social and peer groups.

They also develop less genuine relationships with instructors. Once an instructor finds a

student has copied work without citation, he becomes more critical going forward. Similar to

personal relationships, when you violate the trust of peers or teachers, it takes lots of time and

effort to overcome the negative effects. This can be counted as a distraction and might affect

the mood of learning of the respective students.

Conclusion, there’s a number of negative effects for the students who plagiarise.

Once again, the lack of awareness without proper citation requirements and a simple desire to

cut corners on school work are common motives of plagiarism. If students considered the

impact and consequences of this form of cheating, they likely wouldn't copy another writer's

work and use it as their own. As the saying goes, look before you leap. So, we must think

twice before we take the actions. Let’s create a plagiarism free world and show our respects to

the originality!

References:

http://education.seattlepi.com/effect-plagiarism-students-1195.html

http://education.seattlepi.com/plagiarism-affects-students-1023.html

http://www.ithenticate.com/resources/6-consequences-of-plagiarism

http://classroom.synonym.com/effect-plagiarism-students-1306.html