For similar acts of plagiarism, Rebecca failed the course while Nancy received a lower course grade. This happened because their respective instructors have different policies on academic integrity. This is not fair because Rebecca and Nancy were guilt of the same mistake yet they suffered significantly different consequences. The consequences of an action should be consistent for all offenders in order to create a fair environment.
The schools should force the faculty to have the same policy about plagiarism across the board. There are several reasons why a consistent policy across the board is the best approach. First, the consequences should be determined by the actions of the individual, not the opinions of the instructor about a particular offense. Inconsistent policies would encourage students, who are more likely to cheat, to take courses with instructors who have the most lenient policies on plagiarism and other similar offenses. Second, inconsistent policies will hurt the efforts against plagiarism by creating sense of unfairness among students who have been treated more harshly. When students feel they have been treated fairly, they are more likely to accept the punishment and learn from it. Inconsistent policies will also create confusion among the students because it is hard to keep track of rules if each instructor has a different policy on academic integrity.
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"Plagiarism in College".
The schools should acknowledge the fact that students do not always break the rules intentionally. Sometimes plagiarism is the outcome of honest mistakes rather than intentional cheating. Even the best students may engage in plagiarism without knowing it because there is a learning curve involved. We have the case of Nancy who was expecting an A grade, which means she did well throughout the course. It is reasonable to assume that incomplete understanding of plagiarism rather than intentional cheating caused her to plagiarize. A good policy may be to give a warning for first offense of plagiarism and imposing strict punishment for subsequent acts of plagiarism in any course. This policy may involve the schools keeping detailed record of acts of plagiarism by individual students in all of the courses so that a student escapes strict punishment for plagiarism only once throughout his/her college academic career.
