Consequences And Recommendations To Minimize Plagiarism In Tertiary Education

Destroyed Reputation

Academic writing encompasses the values that include trust, honesty, responsibility and fairness. The teachers and the students should ensure their research in an honest manner. They should be able to acknowledge the intellectual contributors of other people. In addition, they should also be accountable and open for their actions that exhibit transparency and fairness in the scholarly endeavor. The academic integrity ensures that there is credibility and trust in the research and at all levels of tertiary education and its outcomes. However, there are many unfair practices that breach the academic integrity. Plagiarism is one of the derided breaches that undermine the academic integrity (Bennington & Singh, 2013). It demeans the scholarly work of others that is original and has honest contribution in the existing knowledge body. It poses many consequences on the students who plagiaries. The following argumentative essay deals with the consequences of the plagiarism and the recommendations to minimize plagiarism in the tertiary education by the students.

This is the most serious allegation and one of the main consequences of plagiarism. It can lead to expel or suspension of the student from their course. It greatly reflects ethics offenses that can bar the students from the college or university. It also hampers the academic reputation as plagiarism is the most scarred consequence in the academic career world. An integral part of the prestigious academics is to punish the person who is associated with the plagiarism. The student can also lose one’s right to publish resulting in the end of an academic position and disruption of reputation. It was argued by Gowri et al., (2014) states that the teachers also suffer from the same consequences of plagiarism. They also repeat the same content where there is no production of their own that is the teacher content. The author also argues that due to the rise of electronic media, there is an indication where there is death of the textual deconstruction and authorship. There are also arguments that illustrates that in the utilitarian ideology, there is emphasis of the copyright of the text by the owner that define the oral traditions. In the world of internet, the academic texts are built upon multi-layers that make the notion of authorship less defined. Plagiarism is just a way to defend the originality culture authorship and creativity of the text set. Arguably, the rise of original and new text is the notion of authorship and a characteristic of western authority. However, according to Pandey, Kaur & Goyal, (2015) the copying of other’s work is sometimes an acceptable attitude by many students and a formal complaint in rare cases.

It is also a serious consequence of plagiarism that the students have to face in their tertiary education. The copyright laws state that one person is not allowed to copy or use anyone else’s material without citation and reference. There are many plagiarisms that is treated as criminal offense and the concerned author have the right to sue the person who have plagiarized the work. Plagiarism poses serious legal and ethical issues on the person who have plagiarized the work. Arguably, according to Rai, Singh & Bakshi, (2016) the students are faced with tremendous academic pressure and are bounded with deadlines. This pressure makes them subjected to plagiarism and face the consequent temptation. However, this plagiarism has increased a lot in the recent years as there is lot of information available on the internet. When the students give their exams in pen and paper, there is no scope for plagiarism and it is only possible when the exams are conducted or submitted online. However, the plagiarism in tertiary education has serious consequences as it may lead to legal and ethical implication on the plagiarist. It can also lead to expel from the college or university or end of one’s academic career while posing penalty on the plagiarist. This can lead to the end of the academic career of the student during the course of their tertiary education (Robinson, 2014).

Legal Repercussions

There are also monetary consequences of plagiarism. There are authors, journalists, researchers and public figures subjected to plagiarism. There is monetary restitution when an author sues the person who has plagiarized one’s work and there are monetary penalties that pose a threat to the plagiarist. There is an interesting argument as presented by Neumann Jr, Margolis & Stanchi, (2017) that is associated with the monetary implications of plagiarism that is associated with the copying of the written texts that is one’s intellectual property. Arguably, according to James, (2016) it is not questionable that the ideas and concepts of one person that has wide occurrence and acceptance can be used by another person. In contrast to this, ideas and concepts of one person should not be copied as it provides ownership of those ideas to that particular person. This should pose monetary implications on the plagiarist resulting in monetary penalties. In this case, there might be resubmission and require new writing in case of plagiarism which require extensive time resulting in the enrolment of the student. In the order of protecting their intellectual work, they pose heavy monetary penalties on the plagiarist by using litigation. In addition, these monetary damages are awarded to the original owners as their words or texts are used without their attribution. In contrary, plagiarism is a complex problem and in some or the other pint of life, each and every individual has faced plagiarism in their career and should not be posed with monetary penalties. It is also important to know that plagiarism exists in many forms and is exhibited by every individual at some or the other point of their life (Lim & Nather, 2015).

Plagiarism is mostly detected in the field of research among the tertiary education student in the projects and dissertations. It has serious implications if the plagiarized research is in the medical field as it can lead to the loss of life. This plagiarism act is heinous in nature. There is no immunity in plagiarism and the consequences are more far-reaching. Neither stature nor ignorance can excuse the plagiarist from the legal and ethical ramifications on committing plagiarism. In conducting a research, dishonesty or laziness can ruin one’s reputation; pose legal problems and career loss. The plagiarism in thesis or dissertation (long piece of work) the work is destroyed. Plagiarism of the high-level research that has to meet the publication standard poses unworthy and dishonest implications on the plagiarist (Helgesson & Eriksson, 2015). However, the plagiarism issue is an emotional subject and it is muddled with apprehension, moral confusion and general loathing. Arguably, according to Helgesson, (2014) the individualism notion is well established that should not be addressed by moral outrage and the persecution that is exacerbated in the way it is done on the plagiarists. In contrast to this, at the personal level, plagiarism consequences are seen as demoralization and frustration on the part of the plagiarist. In the modern world, the copying or borrowing of the innovative and creative authors have serious implications and is a matter of crime against the property rights of an individual.

Monetary Repercussions

As there are shortcomings identified and witnessed in the tertiary education, there are recommendations so that the plagiarism issue can be minimized among the students. Firstly, there should be integration of detection of plagiarism in the assessment process in the tertiary education. In addition, there should be rigorous and transparent integration of the college policies in case of plagiarism detection. Students should be able to use the plagiarism detection software when they are submitting their work online. This would work as formative feedback that would help to avoid plagiarism and integrated in online submissions (Holbeck et al., 2015).

Secondly, the students should get access to those resources that prevent the unacceptable plagiarism practice. The plagiarism detection software should be embedded into the student practice so that they develop good academic practice. This can be done through creating awareness by teachers so that they are encouraged to work routinely in their education program (Master, 2017).

Thirdly, there should be stringent implementation of Academic and Plagiarism Malpractice Policy in the university and college through the extension of plagiarism detection software at all levels of tertiary education. Students should be made aware of the consequences of plagiarism during course lectures, induction, handbooks and workshops and as declaration in their education program (Master, 2017).

Fourthly, the legal and monetary repercussions should be dealt in a sensitive manner. They should be supported by the university in understanding the plagiarism and misconduct data. This is an area for effective improvement that require teaching staff support in developing information, training and in supporting the students in minimizing plagiarism (Appiah, 2016).

Conclusion

Plagiarism is a very complex issue that is related to the human identity and cultural construction. It is mainly deployed in the academic and has serious implications on the plagiarist and put an end to the academic career. It poses many consequences on the students who plagiaries. It also hampers the academic reputation as plagiarism is the most scarred consequence in the academic career world. Plagiarism poses serious legal and ethical issues on the person who have plagiarized the work. There is monetary restitution when an author sues the person who has plagiarized one’s work and there are monetary penalties that pose a threat to the plagiarist. In conducting a research, dishonesty or laziness can ruin one’s reputation; pose legal problems and career loss. Therefore, plagiarism should be minimized in the tertiary education.

References

Appiah, M. K. (2016). The Evil that Men Do in Academics: Understanding Plagiarism and its Extenuating Circumstance. British Journal of Education, 4(6), 56-67.

Bennington, A. J., & Singh, H. (2013). Faculty expectations of administration: Predictors of intention to report student plagiarism. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 17(4), 63.

Gowri, S., Makkar, S., Singh, S. P., & Kaur, M. (2014). Plagiarism: A plaque to research. Journal of Dental Research and Review, 1(3), 164.

Helgesson, G. (2014). Time for a change in the understanding of what constitutes text plagiarism?. Research Ethics, 10(4), 187-195.

Helgesson, G., & Eriksson, S. (2015). Plagiarism in research. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 18(1), 91-101.

Holbeck, R., Greenberger, S., Cooper, L., Steele, J., Palenque, S. M., & Koukoudeas, S. (2015). Reporting Plagiarism in the Online Classroom. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 11(2).

James, C. (2016). Academic Integrity in Legal Education 48. Handbook of Academic Integrity, 695.

Lim, E. Q. Y., & Nather, A. (2015). What Is Plagiarism?. Planning Your Research and How to Write It, 283.

Master, Z. (2017). A Mentoring Opportunity: A Joint Effort in Writing Letters of Recommendation. Accountability in Research, 24(1), 52-59.

Neumann Jr, R. K., Margolis, E., & Stanchi, K. M. (2017). Legal reasoning and legal writing. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

Pandey, A., Kaur, M., & Goyal, P. (2015, January). The menace of plagiarism: How to detect and curb it. In Emerging Trends and Technologies in Libraries and Information Services (ETTLIS), 2015 4th International Symposium on (pp. 285-289). IEEE.

Rai, P., Singh, A., & Bakshi, S. I. (2016). Plagiarism in Academia is Ignorance or Mensrea: A Contemplation. World Digital Libraries-An international journal, 9(1), 33-43.

Robinson, S. R. (2014). Self-plagiarism and unfortunate publication: an essay on academic values. Studies in higher education, 39(2), 265-277.