Plagiarism at Texas Tech 

Plagiarism seems to be a rising trend among college students at campuses across the Nation, but still the question remains, what drives students to plagiarize? 

Courtney Bradley, a psychology major from Dallas, Texas, said people are not as literary compared to past generations and resort to plagiarism out of necessity. “Ability levels are lower,” she said, “and expectations are lower.”

Bradley said other students are driven towards the appearance of knowledge rather than obtaining knowledge. “Everyone takes shortcuts to get their degree,” she said. “What people forget is what these shortcuts will cost them.”

Alexandria Williams, a communications studies major from Dallas, Texas, said lack of motivation pushes students to plagiarism. “People get lazy and procrastinate, and then last minute have to come up with anyway to get out of their situation,” Williams said. “This is just the American culture now.”

Plagiarism has become increasingly prominent among college universities and is at every student’s disposal, she said. “I know a lot of people that have resubmitted papers that their friends had turned in to professors in years past,” Williams said. 

Williams suggests online resources, such as thefacebook.com, in a way promote plagiarism. “Facebook makes locating a source convenient,” Williams said. “People can get on there and look to see what friends took the classes they’re in now.”

Jared Williams, a human development and family studies major from Houston, Texas said he was caught plagiarizing his freshman year at Tech. “I had someone write my paper for me,” Williams said “and he ended up just turning in two of his papers.” 

Williams said he and the student who wrote the papers were caught and received zeros for the assignment. 
According to the Texas Tech Student Handbook, plagiarism is considered academic misconduct because it “compromises the academic integrity of the University.” The Student Handbook notes buying, selling or using ideas of another student as plagiarism. 

Though the consequences for plagiarism are unclear, most professors and colleges at Tech take the situation very seriously. Many professors assign a grade of zero for the plagiarized assignment as a minimal punishment. Depending on the severity of the situation, a student may be expelled from the University. 

Bradley, the psychology major, said she has dealt with plagiarism and seen the consequences first hand. “All teachers have to do is highlight a paragraph from a student’s paper and the original paper will come up,” she said.

She said there are several online resources students use to supplement assignments. “MyEssays.com is one of the sites,” Bradley said. “I’ve known a couple people that got busted using this.”

Bradley said she has been guilty of plagiarism but from a different angle. She said many times she wrote papers for friends or classmates for a fee. “If people aren’t willing to do the work,” Bradley said, “I’m willing to reap the benefits.”

Using another student’s work or trusting an online resource for her own work is out of the question, Bradley said. After four years at Tech, Bradley has yet to resort to turning in another student’s work as her own has no intention of breaking this habit.

Though the immediate convenience of plagiarism is often the deciding factor for students, the harsh consequences should not be taken lightly. There may be a short term pay out but the long-term cost should take precedent.