So let’s take a step back as that is a harsh viewpoint to start with, I post this to try to promote discussion between those who have cheated the system and those (like myself) who have not. I would like to understand why people do it… During my 6 and a half years at university (thus far) I have personally witnessed two *major* cases of plagiarism that raise strong concerns in just how often this is happening.

In this most recent case a group of students took screenshots of a public computer store’s website, proceeded to photoshop out the logo and put a new logo in its place, following which the group presented this as a prototype of a system that they themselves had developed.

Much to their dismay I recognised the site they had used to take their “prototype screenshots” and brought this up with both them (during the presentation) and the tutor following the conclusion of class.

What I wonder is why these student’s choose not to use their brains, for me university is a time for learning and a time to develop new skills hence I ponder these questions. Are they not happy in the degree they are doing, don’t they want to be there or do they just think that their is a very good chance that nobody will notice what they have done and they have saved themselves countless hours of work?

I have to wonder what type of graduates the industry will be getting, it seems more and more that I am encountering students that have little to no ethics what so ever so how will this translate into the professional ethics that are expected when working in the industry?

However the reason I ask this is to hopefully get some feedback, perhaps you are someone that has tried to slip someone else’s work through as your own or perhaps you have had to deal with it yourself. I am hoping that a few students can post on this (if you wish anonymously by just using the name Anonymous, email address donotreply@donotreply.com) and give me a little insight into why…

Random questions that have come to my mind that you might like to ponder (and hopefully discuss):

1. Have you cheated, plagiarised or the like?
2. Why did you, was it a lack of time, a lack of planning or was it just easier?
3. For those that haven’t have you seen it or encountered it? How does it make you feel?
4. For anyone and everyone is there something that would deter you from copying or cheating, is there something lecturers could do to make processes easier? I guess what would it take for you to never do it again?

If you are a student please share this with your friends on Facebook to get some discussion going and I look forward to finding out peoples thoughts.