The Effect of Plagiarism on Education

Plagiarism has many negative consequences.

Expressing the words or ideas of another person without citing the source constitutes plagiarism. While some students view plagiarism as acceptable, it has a negative impact.

On Teaching

Many instructors are concerned that students do not understand what constitutes plagiarism. Therefore, they spend more class time defining it and teaching students how to avoid it than they might otherwise.

On Learning

Teachers assign projects because they want students to learn something. Plagiarists simply opt out of the learning process and gain no new insights.

On Teachers

Teachers who wish to maintain the academic integrity of their classes should do two things: work to catch plagiarism whenever it occurs and design assignments that are difficult or impossible to plagiarize---both require significant time and energy.

On the Other Students

Students are in competition with each other for positions at the next level---college, graduate school or career. Plagiarists who go undetected have an unfair advantage over their honest classmates.

On the Plagiarists

Cheating results in a loss of integrity. Beyond that, plagiarism may cause a student to fail an assignment or course---or even suffer expulsion or the revocation of a degree.

References

• Hansen, Brian. "Combating Plagiarism," CQ Researcher. Sept. 19, 2003.
• Bugeja, Michael. "Busting the New Breed of Plagiarist," The Writer's Chronicle. Sept. 2000.
• Lang, James M. "Dealing with Plagiarists," The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 14, 2002.