Some people find reasons to plagiarize and others do it without looking for them, but either way, it will have consequences. When time slips away
Yes, doing academic work can be boring. For some, it's the worst part of studying, including exam seasons, and that's why we keep postponing it until time has run out. The problem is that sometimes we have procrastinated so much that when we finally start working, we realize that (unless we get hold of an Infinity Gem) it will be impossible to deliver on time and, if we manage to deliver, it won't be a decent work by any means. The need is pressing and we have to fill pages. Quoting is very boring:
what if I take this idea from Kant and change the pronouns?, what if I say the same thing but with the subordinate clause at the beginning?, what if...When we have more cheek than backbone
Sometimes it's not because of lack of time, but because of lack of desire and, above all, ethics. Because plagiarizing is easier. Maybe there's still a month left until the deadline, but in reality,
doing assignments is a waste of time and the sooner I get rid of it, the better or any other excuse we tell ourselves. Maybe we think we're so smart, good-looking, and good-hearted that they should give us the
eTítulo while everyone else works their tails off.
After all, it's their problem if they don't do the same, the Internet is accessible to everyone. It may be a risk we decide to take, and if we don't get caught, well, it's not our problem, they should have been more vigilant. It's also possible that we simply haven't thought about it. A simple "crime of opportunity" they call it, and that's it. We're not so Machiavellian as to be thinking about whether we're hurting others or not; we just look for the easiest way out.
And where is the famous empathy?
Maybe not thinking is the most common thing. It's not wickedness, but a lack of perspective or maturity. When we're about to plagiarize, we're not thinking about whether we're hurting our classmates or not, we're not thinking about the authors we shamelessly copy from. We're not thinking either that we can take credit for something we don't deserve and that maybe no one will ever find out, but we'll always know... What's the worth of a person who takes shortcuts and claims the merit of others? We're not thinking about how we can destroy our self-esteem. If we thought about all that, maybe we would reconsider it because, despite how much empathy is talked about nowadays, we use it so little when it suits us. Let's see if this makes it clearer: What do you think of an athlete who dopes to win and what that means for their opponents? What do you think of people who cheat in a game? What do you think of someone who gets a job without the proper qualifications just because they're a son/brother/partner...? Yeah. We don't usually see it as something so innocent in others. It's what they call a "double standard".
Bad news for those who decide to plagiarize: there are consequences
The first bad news is that we will be caught. Any of the university platforms to which we have to submit the work will automatically detect it. In these cases, virtual classrooms are already equipped with
plagiarism detection software, and before the teacher opens the text, they will already know if we have plagiarized and to what extent. When we send the work by email, teachers open it through very powerful software that compares our writing with basically all the articles and academic papers we can find on Google Scholar, Dialnet, the National Library, and any other database. And if we hand it in person, we better hope that our teacher is one of those who just skims through it and doesn't want to be demanding; because if something sounds even a little familiar, they just have to do a small search and they will have discovered us anyway. If we get caught plagiarizing and we are subject to disciplinary action, we may face expulsion of up to three years in both public and private universities. But even if the teachers turn a blind eye and only give us a failing grade, we will have already been seen as cheaters in their eyes. Is it really worth it?
