With so much to do in college, it can be hard to manage your work and time. With an Ethics paper due one day, a Marketing presentation due the next; the list goes on with things you need to complete. You’re constantly thinking to yourself “When is that test again?” or even “Oh my goodness, I completely forgot to write that essay for Literature class!” With these constant thoughts going through your mind, it is easy for students to look for the easy way out. While we would like to think that most students keep their integrity and try their hardest to do what they have to do to stay afloat, there are those who look to alternative ways to pass those demanding classes.

  Trust the professor’s when they say ‘I’ve heard it all before’-because they have. They have heard every excuse in the book and while some professors may be lenient with some things, colleges and universities take plagiarism and cheating very seriously. Okay, so you forgot to finish that Marketing thesis paper. What do you do?

A) Show up to class without it and get a zero

B) Ask your professor for an extension

C) Run to the computer lab (since you have about an hour before its due), Google your topic and copy and paste some useful information onto your paper.

D) Call that friend that you know passed that class with flying colors last semester and did the same exact paper and just change the name

       If you’re still thinking, the incorrect options would be last two. It might sound crazy, but professors have had more than one student hand in the same paper and although you may think he/she may not remember because it was from the semester before-don’t risk it (and insult their intelligence at the same time)

       You may not think so, but it is quite easy for professors to spot a cheat. Perhaps some of the language in the paper seems too complex (they don’t think your dumb, but if it sounds like a scientist wrote your paper, suspicion arises), or if your professor knows you very well, and he/she just doesn’t recognize this as being your writing style, this can spark interest also. Nowadays educators are using the power of the internet to catch their dishonest students. It’s as easy as putting a sentence from your paper into a search engine and seeing what comes up.

      With the severity of plagiarism, schools are making stricter policies on students caught cheating. You can easily be kicked out of school because you didn’t take the time out to just be honest. The effort you put into faking a paper could’ve have just been used to write it yourself and would’ve saved you the shame of having to tell your parents you’ve been kicked out for cheating. We all know better. It’s easy and it may seem like the best answer at that moment, but it’s wrong. If you get caught up and didn’t complete a paper, speak with your professor or take that zero and see if your professor will give extra credit assignments at the end of the term. Anything is better than losing your college career.