Blog 6 by Belay Ashine

Why do students plagiarize? There are many reasons why this happens. One of these reasons is, when a student first comes to college, nobody guides them in what they should or should not do. They are often confused and lost with the different approaches to teaching and the level of education. They were never taught how serious plagarism is. They accidentally forget to cite references, and they waste a lot of time going out and having fun. So, when their assignment is due, they use someone else's work. In "Lives on the Boundary" by Mike Rose, Marita was in this situation and did it like this.

Another reason that students plagarize is students are concerned about getting good grades. Before I learned how serious plagarism is, intellectual property to me did not seem as important as obtaining higher grades. College students want to get certificates and degrees that help them get a job. From students' attitudes indicated in Susan D. Blums' article, I conclude that the trend in higher education is to attach strong value to credentials. So, there may be pressure to even plagarize for a good grade after knowing how bad it is.