While the majority of students are committed to their studies, and to achieving their grades fairly, there are those who decide to cheat their way to their qualifications. There are many forms that cheating can take. There are also numerous reasons for cheating, ranging from a lack of understanding in the subject to committing plagiarism as a result of improper referencing. However, regardless of the methods or reasons for cheating, academic institutions need to gain control of the problem.
According to the Telegraph, 2012), During the past three years, over 45,000 students at 80 UK universities have been found accountable for “academic misconduct.” This type of misconduct has ranged from smuggling notes and cell phones into exams, to purchasing essays from private firms (Telegraph, 2012). As an increasing number of students now own smartphones, this provides another potential outlet through which to cheat. Smartphones are constantly connected to the internet and students can use them to look up answers to exam questions. Alternatively, smuggling notes into lavatories is still a popular method among cheating students (Stuff, 2012).
Although not a reason for cheating in itself, if the chances of detection are small, it can be tempting for students to cheat in order to achieve high grades. There are plenty of websites available which offer custom written essays and, if the student’s college is not likely to find out, then he or she is more likely to use such websites. In order to discourage students from using websites such as this one, universities could inflict harsher punishments on anyone caught plagiarising in their assignments. Using up-to-date plagiarism software, they tend to already run every piece of work through for a percentage of plagiarised material. Many institutions are already implementing these harsher punishments (Plagiarism Today, 2008).
Although some students intentionally cheat at exams or assignments, for others it can be accidental. For example, if a student submits an essay which is not correctly referenced, they may be identified and punished for plagiarism. However, this plagiarism could result from a simple lack of knowledge about how to reference correctly. Referencing can be difficult to understand, especially with the different referencing systems that exist; not many students are proficient in every reference system. If a student writes in a dropped quote, or does not place the information correctly in the references section of their essay, they can be accused of plagiarism. This is arguably unfair, as they are not deliberately cheating or attempting to pass other people’s work off as their own; they merely need educating about the rules of referencing.
There are many ways of cheating at university, from bribery, to plagiarism, to sneaking notes into exams. Furthermore, there are varying reasons for students taking extreme measures to achieve highly. However, cheating is not an ethical means of gaining qualifications and, therefore, academic institutions need to be at their most vigilant to eradicate the problem.
Plagiarism Today (2008). The Role of Schools in Fighting Plagiarism. Retrieved from
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/09/25/the-role-of-schools-in-fighting
plagiarism/
Stuff. (2012). Student Tried to Bribe Lecturer. Retrieved from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/6811431/Student-tried-to-bribe-lecturer
Telegraph. (2012). Cheating at Universities on the Rise. Retrieved from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9136518/Cheating-at-universities-on-the-
rise.html
