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What Will Happen If You Get Caught With Plagiarism?

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    Plagiarism Blog

    There are a number of academic frauds that exist in the academics today. They occur in every type of academic institution, whether, elementary school or a Post-Graduate College. To name a few:

    1. Fabrication: It is the unauthorised creation or modification of information and facts by an individual.
    2. Plagiarism: This term refers to the use of the ideas and arguments of another author, without taking proper permissions or acknowledging the source of information.
    3. Deceit: A student tries to submit incorrect information because he could not provide the exact information that he was asked to.
    4. Cheating: This refers to attaining information by those means that are not allowed in academics. For example, using cheat sheets in examinations.
    5. Bribery: A student pays money for getting his work done by an anonymous person.

    Since we have already read a lot about Plagiarism in our previous blogs, this article will help you understand why it exists and what are the consequences of this academic offense.

    Why Do Students Indulge in Plagiarism?

    Assignments and homework are the two major academic tasks that take up a lot of time and effort from a student. On top of that, they also have to involve themselves in day-today activities while preparing for their exams. Because of the limited time that they have, they look for ways to do their work in the shortest possible time. And, in this process, they end up in committing an academic misconduct. Plagiarism is the most common way of completing their academic work, unethically. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, they do get involved in it most often. But why do they indulge in such acts? Let us discuss the reasons behind it.

    1. Procrastinating: Academic assignments and homework are expected to be submitted on time. But, many students take this casually, and do not even start doing it until the very last hour. And, when the deadline gets close, they realise that it cannot be completed on time. Hence, looking for the quickest way to get it completed is their only way to do it. And that is, to search on the internet, copy from various sources and, paste it in their assignment.
    2. Lack of interest or knowledge of the subject: Most often, students will do their work casually or not put in much efforts mainly because of the lack of interest in that subject. This is also the same in the case when they are not familiar with a particular subject. Hence, instead of doing the assignment on their own, they might just look for sources where they can find information to use them as answers. This is again, when they plagiarise unintentionally.
    3. Deliberately ignoring the fact that plagiarism is unethical: Students know that copying from various sources such as, the internet, is very much illegal. They can get in trouble if their teacher finds out that they have plagiarised the homework. But, even after knowing all this, many students still submit assignments without proper citation and quotation. They fail to understand that plagiarism is an unethical and illegal activity which could severely affect their academic grades.
    4. Not up-to-the-mark writing skills: Many students believe that to score high grades in their work, they will need exceptional writing skills. Due to their lack of understanding of correct grammar and dictation, they think that it will not allow them to write a high-quality assignment. This provokes them to plagiarise their work such that their lack of skills does not get them
    5. Unable to understand or ignoring the guidelines of their university: Every educational institution – university or college, has academic guidelines that must be followed by all the students. It expects the students to submit their work that strictly adheres to these guidelines. But, in many cases, students are unable to understand them due to, say, language issues, or they may simply ignore them while writing an assignment. For e.g., the guidelines suggest not to copy from a particular website. But, a student just ignores it and copies content from that particular website. By doing this, he not only disrespects the guidelines, but also, falls in plagiarism.

    There are many more reasons behind this act of academic misconduct. But, the main concern for every university is that, plagiarism still exists. It does not allow the students to work to their full potential, creativity, and draws them towards itself.  With so much academic pressure, stress and, limited time, they have to, intentionally or unintentionally, plagiarise their work. The defense mechanisms in maintaining the academic integrity must evolve and get tougher in the future.

    What Will Happen If You Get Caught with Plagiarised Content?

    The consequences of having a plagiarised homework can affect your academics, relationships with fellow students and teachers. Below, you will read the consequences of duplicity according to the severity of their impact:

    1. You teacher will deduct marks by a significant percentage
    2. You will be asked to re-write the work completely
    3. The teacher will destroy your assignment and give you an “F”, indicating that you have failed in that particular submission
    4. You might be suspended from submitting any document in the future
    5. In the worst-case scenario, it could lead to an expulsion from the college

    There is no one to stop you from using a content from any source, but you will be questioned if the work produced is not ethical. The consequences of plagiarism may be extremely threatening to your academic career as you could be affected for a long-term. Hence, it is important that you must not engage yourself in such illegal acts and rather, use your own creativity and potential.

    Plagiarism cartoon