A RECENT survey revealed that 49 per cent of undergraduates have plagiarised work while studying at the prestigious Cambridge University.
Even so, youth here are split on whose responsibility it is to nab cheats and the best way of dealing with cheating.
Of 62 respondents aged 17 to 27, some argued that the responsibility lay with the institution - they regard a lack of detection software such as 'Turnitin' and 'SafeAssign' as an open invitation for students to plagiarise.
They also felt institutions should teach students the ethical implications of plagiarism, and proper citation methods. National University of Singapore student Jonathan Kwok, 24, even felt that plagiarism was inevitable, given students' 'unbelievable workload'.
Others, such as recent graduate Xin En, 23, said she did not plagiarise because: 'I want to be judged by my own grey matter.' Some felt that too much spoon- feeding bred plagiarism. When students cannot find answers in textbooks, they plagiarise.
Respondents were nearly evenly split on how worried they were of being accused or penalised for plagiarism - a majority agreed it was unethical behaviour.
Up to 90 per cent of those polled considered the issue 'somewhat' to 'very problematic'. As much as 58 per cent also felt that harsh punitive measures ought to be taken against those guilty of the act.
Respondents did not take the matter of plagiarism lightly. Although 18 per cent of them did not know if their school had a Plagiarism Code, up to half had read it in their educational institution.
Clearly, youth here believe plagiarism to be more than a harmless misdemeanour. Originality may be costly, but it is worth it - for marginal effort, you can be proud to call the end-product your own.
The writer, 22, is a graduate student at Harvard University.
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