While every teacher has entertaining stories about students who hand in papers that still have other students' names on them, these cases are relatively rare. Most students do not plagiarize intentionally.
In its largest survey conducted over a period of 12 years at 24 universities in the US, the researchers provided the following data: 95% of the surveyed students admitted to cheating on exams, homework, or plagiarism at least once. 17% of 17,000 graduates cheated on tests.
Accidental Plagiarism might occur when you do not really understand how to properly paraphrase, quote and cite your research. This can occur if you accidentally fail to cite your sources correctly, don't cite paraphrased information and incorrectly paraphrase the source content.
Some students might cheat because they have poor study skills that prevent them from keeping up with the material. Students are more likely to cheat or plagiarize if the assessment is very high-stakes or if they have low expectations of success due to perceived lack of ability or test anxiety.
Change the sentence structure
One way to not get caught for plagiarism is to change the sentence structure in the body of your original work. For instance, don't write “The car ran well” when you could write “Great, the car ran! ” This will help ensure you aren't plagiarizing someone else's work.
One of the most common forms of cheating is plagiarism, using another's words or ideas without proper citation.
Do not accuse the student of plagiarism; instead, ask questions and describe what you see as the similarities between the student's work and other sources or ideas. For example, you might say one or more of the following: “I notice two different voices in this essay.”
Even if you aren't breaking the law, plagiarism can seriously impact your academic career. While the exact consequences of plagiarism vary by institution and severity, common consequences include: a lower grade, automatically failing a course, academic suspension or probation, or even expulsion.
Passing off another's work as your own is not only poor scholarship, but also means that you have failed to complete the learning process. Plagiarism is unethical and can have serious consequences for your future career; it also undermines the standards of your institution and of the degrees it issues.
The most common reason students cite for committing academic dishonesty is that they ran out of time. The good news is that this is almost always avoidable. Good time management skills are a must for success in college (as well as in life).
Failing Grade: A student may be given a failing grade in either an exercise or course in which that student is found guilty of plagiarism, cheating or other academic misconduct.
Unusual phrasings, noticeable unevenness of style (some very sophisticated sentences followed by some amateurish ones), concepts that seem too sophisticated for the level of the class, unclear or incorrect sources listed in the bibliography, a writing style or diction choice in a particular paper that seems ...
When it comes to writing a letter of apology for plagiarism, be honest about your past mistake. Let people know that what you did was wrong and that you are not trying to pass off anyone else's work as your own. Write a letter of apology that reflects your intentions.
Even if it was not intentional, it is still plagiarism and not acceptable.
Explain the oversight, or your mistake, and assure your teacher that it wasn't intentional. Be honest, and then all you can do is hope for mercy. Maybe your teacher will be a bit forgiving based on your maturity by confessing the mistake. If, on the other hand, you are being falsely accused, don't be afraid to say so.
Provide your teacher with the outlines, notes or drafts, which were made for this particular paper as the proofs that you have made efforts to write the paper on your own. Provide the evidence that highlights your knowledge or skills (for example, previous essays) to prove that you didn't plagiarize in the past.
Cheating is unfair to others.
Students who work hard to get good grades shouldn't have to compete with those who aren't doing their own work. 2 Also, people will someday believe in your abilities. If your abilities are not real because you cheated, you will let those people down.
Firstly, it is unethical because it is a form of theft. By taking the ideas and words of others and pretending they are your own, you are stealing someone else's intellectual property.
A student found guilty of violating a college's plagiarism policies can face sanctions ranging from failure of a class to expulsion from the school. In minor instances, such as copying a homework assignment, instructors may simply fail you for the work.
Morally wrong
Every time you cheat on a test, you are acting as if you've done the work yourself, which is just like lying. Not only are you lying to the person grading your work, but you are also stealing and profiting off of the hard work of another student.