Research

We discussed some aspects of our research yesterday in class. Quite frankly, a lot of the answers people came up with were complicated. PBS called our generation an overachieving culture, so we are quick to find answers to get to the top of the ladder. Apparently, some students feel that there's too much pressure on the grading system, and that grades diminish from actual learning. And of course, we can blame it on education and the school systems--they aren't integrating enough class time to teaching about plagiarism. If we just had full classes about it, people won't do it anymore.

I'm going to have to disagree, not to be annoying, but quite honestly, I had a bit of a revelation. I personally believe a lot of students plagiarize simply because they aren't interested in the subject or topic assigned to them.

Think about it. If your professor assigns you a 12 page research paper on the history of Germany, and you have no interest in that subject, aren't you more tempted to find an easy way out of the assignment? Or for an English paper, you're assigned to annotate and discuss the writings of Samuel Beckett, but you despise his work and don't give a care in the world about him or his thoughts, wouldn't it be easier to snag someone else's? Because, I personally know that if I'm in love with the subject, I'm going to want to impress the professor. If I love the writing of Virginia Woolf, I'm going to spend wanted hours writing and musing over my work. I want to be proud of the things I love. And the things I'm annoyed with, or that are a simple hurdle in the path of my dreams--I'm just going to try and bypass them as quickly as humanly possible. To some, that pass is by cheating.

I came by that revelation thinking about my own life for this semester. I'm taking an Advertising class that I have no desire to be in. I don't want to go into advertising. I hate advertisements. I want nothing to do with that field. But I was nudged by "the wiser" that it would look great on my resume in a pinch if I needed to find a job. And since I'm taking six classes this semester, and am completely bogged down in work, I'm constantly thinking of an easier way to get that work done... Will that lead me to plagiarism? I sincerely doubt it, but I'm sure if others were placed in my situation, they'd be looking for quick ways to get six classes under their belt in a timely fashion.

So going back to the research aspect of this assignment---what are the solutions to this problem? Everyone faces hurdles in their life that they don't like.

Because I think that even without grades or forcing professors to teach classes about plagiarism won't stop the whole problem.

How can we convince students to do the mature thing and "grow up"?