Plagiarism: Its Causes, Effects, and Avoidance

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Plagiarism: Its Causes, Effects, and Avoidance

As one of the forms of academic cheating that has plagued the academic world for a long time, plagiarism is an ever-present menace in the academic and research environments. Neville defined plagiarism as “the illegal use or reproduction of written educational material without acknowledging the rightful author” (34). Unfortunately, this vice affects the integrity of many students’ academic work rendering it plagiarized and unoriginal. In addition to its detrimental effects on academic work, this paper will investigate its causes, and identify strategies aimed at avoiding it.

As one form of academic cheating, plagiarism occurs primarily due to a fear of failure forcing the student to use and reproduce material that is copyrighted without citing or acknowledging its rightful author. In addition to fear of failing, another cause of plagiarism is “poor time management among students resulting in rushes and cheating during the examination and evaluation environment” (Mligo 84). The third most common cause of plagiarism is ignorance towards academic citation and acknowledgement skills resulting in unintentional plagiarism.

Because plagiarism is a form of academic cheating, it results in loss of the student’s credibility for both his work and methods. Besides, plagiarism results in loss of reputation for the academic or scientific institution the perpetrator is affiliated to lowering its social and industrial ratings. Finally, plagiarism, especially intentional cheating, prevents the offender from actually learning the skills intended. Therefore, plagiarism erodes the process of learning and academic evaluation at all levels.

Avoiding plagiarism is a systematic process that involves any or all of seven steps. The first step in avoiding the academic vic.............