Academic Integrity and Student Plagiarism: a Question of Education, Not Ethics by Susan D. Plum
The academic codes that deals with plagiarism has been widely unsuccessful in most educational institutions. Susan D. Plum, an associate professor addresses this topic in her article. She gives reasons why students fail to follow these standards set in stone. She says, "although some students may embrace rules governing academic integrity, others are likely to see them as akin to other regulations or laws that they follow reluctantly or ignore." The administration set academic rules in way that makes plagiarism seem like breaking a rule. Students who view these codes as another law or rule will most likely ignore them. Yet, the main factor is because students do not fully understand academic integrity. It is a challenge for all students to figure out the value in citing sources. Not only is it hard to figure out the original source of a piece but it is almost unnecessary.

Why? Since, there are no original ideas, faculty and administration should realize that, everything a student writes is all a chain or network of what she has read, believed and lived. Since our "writing goes into a vacuum, usually unread by anyone but a single instructor, cannot be expected to understand the pragmatic reasons for which citations are demanded."We are all products of basic ideas. Thus, nothing we say or do is original. Our writings are highly plagiarized. The whole purpose of determining the originality of papers is redundant. Yet, since we live in an imperfect world where "plagiarism" will always be an issue for school administrations, we might as well find a solution to the "problem." Plum says, "that means teaching students what academic integrity involves, why professors value it, and how exactly to carry it out." Students have to be fully educated on the significance of citing their sources in a paper though it might seem difficult, it is very valuable to the author of an idea, the reader and, of course, the admin.