The Arts and Sciences of Cheating?

In high school, it is highly common for students to try to maneuver around the necessity of studying and hours of paper writing. There are many common ways of cheating from writing the answers on the back of your hands to "borrowing" someone else's paper to turn in for yourself.

This isn't too uncommon on college either, but the difference is in the consequences. In high school, cheating is a serious matter, but more often than not, teachers are willing to grant second, even three or more chances to students who either inadvertently plagiarize or outright copy entire papers. If caught cheating or plagiarizing, a high school student is usually given at least one chance to straighten up and fly right from then on.

This is not the case in college. Cheating is an even more serious matter in college and the first offense can get you kicked out of the university. The worst part of that scenario is that a student who is kicked out of their school for cheating or plagarizing is not likely to be accepted at any other accredited institution in the United States after the fact.
The question is usually: Is the risk worth the reward? In the case of cheating, college students should ask themselves: Is the risk worth the consequences? Is not having to study for a test or not having to spend hours writing a term paper really worth the possibility of getting caught and never being able to obtain an accredited bachelor's degree?

I think not. Afterall, college isn't about passing. It's about learning. I know that sounds like hokey guidance counserlor mumbo-jumbo, but I'm serious. Employers and business want people with knowledge and skills, not just pieces of paper that say they passed a few tests and wrote a few papers. The point of studying and writing is to learn and reinforce the materials and procedures that are vital to a student's chosen career field or the important aspects of general education. If companies knew that students were able to get their degrees without doing the work, college degrees would not be a basis for hiring someone. They would be useless, money wasted.

Teachers know when students cheat. They know all about the websites where you can purchase fully written, customizable papers. They know every trick in the book from mirrored sunglasses to hand signals. They even know when you turn in the same paper from one of your previous courses. Professors do talk to each other about these things. They can recognize previously submitted papers and they can tell very easily when two or more people turn in the same paper, even if they do it years apart.

There are thousands of tools at every college student's disposal in order to prevent plagarism (this is especially helpful as there are more cases of accidental than purposeful plagarism, such as incorrectly citing a source or forgetting to cite a quote altogether). www.turnitin.com, a website used by many colleges in order to detect instances of plagarism in electronically submitted papers and tests, offers students a proofreading service which will check student papers for citations and quotes, and compare the writing to other papers, dissertations, scholarly articles and books, and other common sources. This is kind of like academic insurance and it is definitly worth any and all costs---though at $4.95 a paper this service is a steal. Also, campuses often offer similar services for free. With all of this assistance available, there truly is no excuse for plagarism, and your teachers will know this.

Cheating on tests is now becoming even more difficult in college as many teachers are moving away from multiple choice items in favor of thoughtful essays. These are difficult for students to cheat on, but if it is done, be sure that the teacher will notice.

It's simply not worth the risk. Go to class, study for tests, write papers, and party on the weekends.