Plagiarism isn’t just a harmless shortcut. It chips away at the core of creativity, honesty and trust in schools. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a last-minute essay or a looming deadline; ensuring originality is crucial in fostering creativity. In the beginning, cases of plagiarism may seem minor, like someone taking credit for the homework they didn’t do, but it is frowned upon. Let’s look at the effects of plagiarism in schools and the community and ways to prevent it.

How to Minimise Plagiarism in Schools

Students often juggle assignments, extracurricular activities and part-time jobs. With little time on their hands to complete their essays and assignments, it is easy to see why some may panic and paste instead of writing essays from scratch. But your school years are when you learn more than Shakespeare and algebra; it’s when you build your creativity.
If students learn that shortcuts are rewarded, they carry that mindset into adulthood. Plagiarism also creates an uneven playing field. For instance, a student who stayed up all night completing their essay shouldn’t be graded the same as someone who copied their work. With the student cellphone restrictions becoming state law in the US, students can easily plagiarise their work. Often, plagiarism is accidental, especially in school. If a student doesn’t understand how to use sources effectively, their work may be marked as plagiarised because of mistakes in citations. But how do students ensure they don’t submit plagiarised work?
Students can check for plagiarism before submitting their essays and assignments using various tools. Some learning management systems automatically detect the originality of submitted work, but if you are making a submission via email, you should use BachelorPrint to check for plagiarism. You will receive a report showing sections that are not original.

How Instructors Can Reduce the Likelihood of Plagiarism

Instructors and lecturers can minimise plagiarism in schools by helping students understand the importance of what they are learning. They show students how the class they are taking is important to their lives and work and focus on real-life connections that improve their career plans.
Some schools include academic integrity lessons to prepare students for essays and assignments. When you teach about academic integrity, you help students understand the importance of original work. You also help them learn how to summarise ideas in their own words or appropriately quote and attribute any information they include in their work.
Schools should also rotate assignments or vary them. When you use a standard assignment for a class, it is easy for students to find sample answers or entire assignments online. When you rotate assignments, your students have to work on the essays from scratch instead of getting answers from the internet. Encourage students to incorporate a mix of personal experiences and reflections in their writing to encourage originality.

Conclusion

Plagiarism may seem like a trivial issue, but it is a slippery slope that threatens fairness in schools and steals the joy of creating something new. Whether you are writing an essay or a thesis, you should check for accidental plagiarism before submitting your work.