Warnings on Plagiarism!

Dear Parent, 

When the internet began to make its presence known on college campuses across the country, students found that it could help them cheat. Actually, this kind of cheating is more often known as plagiarism, but it's still cheating none-the-less.

Type in "exam paper" on any search engine, and you'll be offered pages of choices of databases where students can buy papers. Paper writing services are also available for a cost. 

What many students don't understand though is that their professors are well aware of these databases too, and it's not uncommon for two students in the same class to turn in the same bought paper. One professor reported that she had a student print the paper right off the internet browser so that the headers and footers of each page gave the website and date of access. Teachers can also search sentences from papers they suspect are not a student's own work, and those same search engines that help students find papers help teachers find them as well. 

It might seem like a risk worth taking to students who don't think they actually need to do their research papers, but cheating comes with a high price.  Each school has different rules, and at the most strict, any student caught cheating is expelled immediately. Most schools have judicial processes for caught cheaters that could result in failing that paper, failing the class, or having a permanent mark on the student's transcript that shows that student has cheated. This could affect his or her ability to win scholarships, get into graduate school or even to find a job.

It's a risk many college freshman don't understand when they first start their classes, but it is crucial that they know this information prior to using any of these sources.  Please be sure to warn your student now!

Until next month…Best Wishes!

Randy Stoltz, President