Cheating and Plagiarism - Similarities and Differences - Essay Example

Outline of the paper The paper starts by defining the two terms ly: cheating and plagiarism. It goes on to identify the main difference between the two for the sake of clearly understanding the two terms which are often confused as similar. Having identified the difference between the two, the essay goes on to analyse various reasons which cause people to cheat and plagiarize. Lastly, the paper looks at different measures that are in place which are meant to discourage from practicing the bad habits of cheating and plagiarizing. The words cheating and plagiarism somehow appear to have a similar meaning but a closer analysis shows that they are slightly different and are often confused by many people. It is therefore, important to give their meaning in order to fully understand their difference. Cheating is a broad term that is used to describe behaviour that is characterised by any of the following elements: being dishonesty, untruthful or unfaithful where an individual intentionally uses falsehoods that are unacceptable to gain advantage over other people. On the other hand, plagiarism is loosely defined as the act of stealing or using other people’s ideas without properly acknowledging them. This is a form of cheating but is mainly focused on the area of academic work in schools or colleges. As going to be highlighted in detail below, the main difference between the two is that cheating is intentional in most cases and is a broad term while plagiarism may be unintentional and is particularly limited to academic circles. As noted above, when one is being untruthful or unfaithful to other people, it can be said that the person is cheating. Having extra marital affairs or being adulterous is another form of cheating that has gained considerable concern from the members of society especially during this current period. For instance, a married person who indulges in adulterous behaviour is likely to cause conflict if the unsuspecting partner discovers the bad behaviour of the other partner. Socially, it is generally agreed that cheating behaviour is not a good thing to partners who love each other as this is likely to cause misunderstandings that can lead to the disintegration of that relationship. Such behaviour is outside the generally acceptable rules or societal standards of living and the judgment given to the people who are caught on the wrong side of the rules depends on the nature of the offence and the rules of the society. In some instances, people tend to use falsehoods or deception in order to gain advantage over other unsuspecting people. In this case, a person chooses to cheat another person for personal gain which is not acceptable behaviour. Misrepresenting facts in order to gain or profit from somebody is a form of cheating and it amounts to stealing. For example, if a person sells something that he fully knows does not work, then it is cheating which is a serious offence that is not acceptable in society. Some people try to manipulate even games to their advantage but each game has its own set of rules. Such rules are designed in such a way that is meant to regulate the behaviour of the participants. Plagiarism is different from cheating in that this is regarded as a serious offence that carries hard penalties to the offenders who steal other people’s ideas without acknowledging them. It is a criminal offence to use other people’s scholarly work as yours without acknowledging the owner of the original work. In some cases, a person might commit the offence without knowing but that does not limit the seriousness of the offence. Thus, plagiarism is another form of cheating but it carries strict penalties compared to ordinary cheating. It can be noted that plagiarism specifically deals with stealing intellectual property without giving proper acknowledgment to the owners of the work. Plagiarism rules are meant to protect the interests and rights of individuals such that their work is not reproduced without proper referencing. Basically, cheating is a broad term that is used to describe behaviour that is characterised by elements of falsehoods, unfaithfulness, untruthfulness that are meant to benefit selfish people who want to gain advantage over others or the situation. Plagiarism is another form of cheating but is mainly limited to academic work which involves using other people’s ideas without properly acknowledging or referencing them. Thus, the main difference between the two is determined by the nature of the offence where a distinction between academic work and other social aspects are concerned. People often cheat and plagiarize for various reasons where in some cases they would be aware of what they will be doing and in some cases, they may not be aware. When it comes to cheating in particular, people do it intentionally where they fully know what they will be doing for the love of gaining advantage over the other unsuspecting people. When someone resorts to cheat other people, the main aim would be to gain a profit or advantage over another person which is outside the expected rules of the society. Cheating is mainly driven by selfishness where other people seek to fulfill their desires at the expense of others. For instance, a person who engages in adulterous behaviour fully knows the consequences but for the sake of being selfish and the need to fulfill personal sexual desires, he chooses to cheat his partner. People also cheat because they are selfish and greed where they always want to profit over others. In some instances, people would cheat simply for the love of doing it without any valid reason for doing it. On the other hand, people plagiarize not knowing it and in some instances, they will fully know it. However, plagiarism is mainly influenced by an element of laziness where an individual does not like to commit his or her time to research the assigned work. Lazy people often do not have the time to do their work hence they end up resorting to stealing other people’s work without acknowledging it. With the use of computers during the contemporary period, it is much easier for somebody to just copy and paste other people’s work then it appears as if it belongs to him. This is purely laziness by any standard where a person does not even want to take some time to do his own assignment without copying other people’s work. If a person just copies other people’s work without adding anything or acknowledging it, it shows that the person is very lazy to think on his own. Indeed, it is allowed to use other people’s work but any ideas that are not originally yours are supposed to be acknowledged so as to show that the work and ideas used belong to somebody. People who often do not have time to do their work resort to stealing other people’s work. Scholarly work often requires thorough research where many sources and references are used but lazy people would choose to copy similar assignments that have already been done by the others. It can be argued that the main reason behind plagiarism is an element of laziness where individuals do not want to commit their time to research their own academic work. Both cheating and plagiarism are generally not acceptable in the society in which people live and there are different measures in place that are meant to minimise their impact on the well being of the people. Their effects may differ depending on the nature of the crime but there are rules and regulations in place that are meant to lower the cases of cheating and these rule can be applied in order to give proper judgment to the offenders as a way of trying to stop similar situations to happen again in the future for the sake of the communities at large. The judgments often depend on the jurisdiction of the societies in which the offence has been committed and the nature of the rules they have in place. In every society, the family is regarded as the foundation or core part of the social fabric. Most of the rules upon which the societies derive their values are derived from rules that are used within the family structures. The family is seen as the foundation upon which children are taught good moral values that are acceptable in the society. Cheating is one aspect that is discouraged from an early age where the children are taught all the bad things about cheating. As far as moral values are concerned, parents always try to ensure that they discourage certain behaviour that would likely cause negative developments in the societies in which they live. As the children grow, they are always reprimanded from doing bad things that are likely to negatively impact on their moral values. At the same time, teachers are regarded as the custodians of the society by virtue of the fact that they are the ones who spend most of the time with the children at school. Children are taught good moral values and bad behaviour like cheating is a punishable offence in the schools. Instilling discipline is one major duty of the teacher to ensure that the children are not over excited to engage in activities that would lead them to cheat other fellow pupils at school or even outside. Engaging in adulterous relationships is not encouraged in society and there are civil courts that are meant to deal with domestic issues that involve cheating partners who commit adulterous crimes. There are statutory regulations that empower the civil courts to deal amicably with such kind of issues that can negatively impact on the fabric of the society. A person who deliberately swindles other people for personal benefit will be liable for a crime and can be taken to court where justice will be delivered. It can be seen that there are different measures that are meant to stop people from committing crimes that have something to do with cheating others. Plagiarism on the other hand is treated as a serious offence and at different learning institutions, it is the duty of the educators to discourage their learners from engaging in such practices. Using another person’s work without proper acknowledgement is a serious crime that often attracts a heavy penalty. In most cases, the paper that has been proved to have been plagiarized automatically fails. Some colleges and universities have disciplinary committees that deal with the issues of plagiarism where a person found guilty can be suspended or even expelled from the institution for committing such a crime. Such harsh penalties were put in place so as to discourage the students to desist from using other people’s work without acknowledging it. Over and above, it can be noted that cheating and plagiarism are not the same though plagiarism is a form of cheating which however, is limited to academic area. Cheating is mainly caused by selfish behaviour that is influenced by greediness where an individual seeks to use falsehoods to gain advantage over other people. The practice of plagiarism is mainly attributed to laziness where individuals do not want to conduct research for their own academic work. There are different measures that are in place that are meant to discourage people from engaging in such practices which have negative effects on the affected people. Read More