A Comprehensive Look at Plagiarism: Causes, Ethics, and Solutions

This essay delves into the issue of plagiarism, exploring its causes, ethical implications, and potential solutions. It references two articles that highlight the reasons individuals plagiarize, such as the desire to impress others, lack of self-confidence, pressures in elite academic and professional environments, and even habitual behavior. The essay emphasizes that there is no justification for plagiarism and advocates for fostering creativity and originality from an early age to boost self-esteem. It also stresses the importance of strict course policies and education to prevent plagiarism among students and professionals, ultimately aiming to produce ethical and competent individuals in the job market. The role of learning institutions and regulatory bodies in eradicating plagiarism through policy implementation is also underscored.

Running head: PLAGIARISM
PLAGIARISM
Name of Student
Institutional Affiliation

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PLAGIARISM
In essence, plagiarism has been a topic of concern among students, scholars and even in
the wider contemporary world. Plagiarism is a word used to refer to the practice of taking
someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own. This has been a topic of
discussion with people questioning the ethical and moral implications of the practice. Plagiarism
has been considered to be an illegal offense in many learning institutions all over the world and
students caught engaging in plagiarism face heavy penalties ranging from deduction of marks to
expulsion from the institution, (Park, 2003). This essay is going to discuss on why people
plagiarize. Considering various factors involved, there can be no justification for plagiarism.
Plagiarism is abusing creativity and originality and we should educate ourselves accordingly to
avoid it.
According to the first article, “Why do people plagiarize?” by Ashante Infantry, there are
several high profile individuals in the society associated with plagiarism. They include Chris
Spence who served as a board of director of Toronto District School as well Germany politicians
such as the minister of education. One of the reasons that people plagiarize is because they want
people to like them. Those caught in the act have agreed that they wanted to impress people. The
other reason is lack of self-confidence in their work and low self-esteem, (Ashante Infantry,
2013). The other reason encouraging perpetrators of plagiarism are pressure of elite university
campuses and journalism as well as laziness. Also in some of these career plagiarists it can be
noted that it became a bizarre habit that they could not stop. I strongly agree with the author
since all these reasons can encourage plagiarism especially in this competitive contemporary
world where professionals have to appear more intelligent than their competitors. Encouraging

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people to have confidence in their work as well as promote creativity can discourage this practice
of plagiarism.
The second article by Lisa Taylor talks about the ethical implications of plagiarism
among journalists. Lisa Taylor says that ignorance of law is no excuse for plagiarism among
journalists and students. The journalists should be honest and consider that law must be
exercised appropriately as they carry their duties. Course policies are one way of preventing
students from engaging in plagiarism and they should be educated on the importance of
originality, (McCabe, 2005). Therefore, the author clearly states the importance of educating
students concerning plagiarism so that they can observe that even while practicing their
professions. Teachers or tutors apathy can encourage students to engage in plagiarism especially
when the students do not get punished appropriately according to the school policies. I agree
with the author in this article and especially how a lot of emphasis is on educating the student
concerning plagiarism.
The two documents clearly discourage the practice of plagiarism and the various factors
that encourage the practice. It is clearly that plagiarism is not encouraged among students as well
as professionals. Plagiarism encourages laziness among students and this result into producing
half-baked professional into the job market. Creativity and originality should be encouraged
from early levels of learning in order to boost self-esteem of individuals. Plagiarism is a topic
of concern and there are several measures to encourage plagiarists to stop it. Learning
institutions and professional regulatory bodies have an important role to play in eradicating
plagiarism. They can formulate and strictly implement policies that discourage plagiarism among
students and professionals.

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In summary, the two articles support the fact that there is no justification for plagiarism
and we should educate ourselves accordingly. Plagiarism is not ethical and it is cause by several
factors such as competition and lack of self-esteem. One of the reasons that people plagiarize is
because they want people to like them. The other reason encouraging perpetrators of plagiarism
are pressure of elite university campuses and journalism as well as laziness. Also in some of
these career plagiarists it can be noted that it became a bizarre habit that they could not stop. The
other reason is lack of self-confidence in their work and low self-esteem. There are also several
measures that can remedy the situation such as using strict policies against the practice.
Creativity and originality should be encouraged from early levels of learning in order to boost
self-esteem of individuals. Learning institutions and professional regulatory bodies have an
important role to play in eradicating plagiarism. Strict course policies are one way of preventing
students from engaging in plagiarism and they should be educated on the importance of
originality.
References
Ashante Infantry (January 16, 2013). Why do people plagiarise? The Toronto Star.
Lisa Taylor, 2014. Ethics and Law in the practice of Journalism. Routledge
McCabe, D. (2005). Cheating: Why students do it and how we can help them stop. Guiding
students from cheating and plagiarism to honesty and integrity: Strategies for change,
237-242.
Park, C. (2003). In other (people's) words: Plagiarism by university students--literature and
lessons. Assessment & evaluation in higher education, 28(5), 471-488.