Academic Fraud Essay

2003 Words9 Pages
Introduction Academic fraud as defined by wikipedia.org (2010) as “any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise.” Academic Fraud has been a problem in our school system for many years now. This is also on the increase; a follow up study on cheating at one institution reports an increase from While about 20% of college students admitted to cheating in high school during the 1940's, today between 75 and 98 percent of college students surveyed each year report having cheated in high school according to Cheat fact sheet (1999). Which proves that this is a problem that we have been struggling with and will continue to struggle with unless change is made. This essay will explore academic fraud, and why it has become a growing phenomenon in today’s society. First, we will examine various types of academic fraud. Secondly we will discuss the causes for this growing problem and consequences. Finally, we look at strategies that institutions have or should implement in order to put an end to this endeavor. Types of Academic Fraud Cheating, lying and stealing are all thing that we are taught not to do at a very young age however when it comes to academics, many people seem to have forgotten or choose to ignore these unethical behaviors. Some of the most common forms of academic fraud are plagiarism, cheating, and falsehood. Equally each of these three forms of academic dishonesty can represent either lying, stealing or cheating. There is also another form of academic fraud that involves more then just the student, which is professional misconduct. Plagiarism, which can be considered stealing, is the “use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.” According to Wikipedia.org. (2010) An example of this would be not citing properly or simply not citing at all.
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