Consequences Of a College Student Cheating On Exams

Consequences Of a College Student Cheating On Exams

Objective

To prepare a causal essay - analysis essay that incorporates definition and classification.

Intoduction

Cheating comes in many varieties. Someone may copy a math problem from another student's assignment. Cheating has come to a new level with the growing use of technology in our home and professional lives, some students have begun utilizing technology to cheat. It has been documented that as early as high school, children are more often caught using electronic devices to either locate or share answers to tests with friends then the 'old' forms of cheating through passing notes in class or whispering answers to each other. In other cases, often with more serious consequences, some college students have gone as far as download papers from the Internet to pass off as their own work.

Background

In the following paragraphs, we will discuss the definition of plagiarism; attempt to explain why it happens, and what can be done about it. Then, we will discuss some examples of using technology to cheat such as sending text messages from cell phones and using the Internet to either knowingly or unknowingly commit plagiarism. Finally, we will analyze how some teachers are implementing new ways to detect, as well as stop, this behavior and how parents can ensure that their students understand the seriousness of plagiarism.

There is a belief that there is a good deal of cheating in most college classes that seems to be widely accepted. As a usually thing the amount of cheating supposedly or actually taking place is attributed simply to the dishonesty of the students, and the only measures usually taken to prevent it consists of stricter supervision or examinations. (Gillentine, Jul 1937). Some of the things that would cause a student to cheat on an examination are as follows: A student might cheat if the subject matter on which he was to be examined had not been well enough organized and clearly enough presented that the student felt he could be reasonably sure what to expect on the exam and could therefore be prepared to pass it honestly.

A student might cheat if the relationship between himself and the teacher were not right; for example, the student felt that it was a contest between master and servant. The servant would be justified in using dishonest tactics because the master has an unfair advantage.

Even though the other conditions were what they should be, an otherwise honest student might be driven by fear to cheat on an examination if he knew that the whole grade for a course depended on the exam, especially when it was what seemed to him almost a life and death matter that the student passes the course.

There are a multiple number of ways that students cheat. These include crib notes, plagiarism from another paper or the Internet, copying, or giving test questions to a classmate. One other major concern for Professors is the degree of cheating that occurs for the online environment and how ...