Copy, Paste, Repeat...

In a time when the world is available at the touch of a button, it's easy to imagine the thousands of quote "perfect" essays out there available for download, not to mention the billions of people who've said things that can be used to flesh out a paper. The idea is supremely simple, even if it's very difficult to carry out. Cheating is a lot harder than it appears.

There are different ways to cheat, of course. Aside from the obvious copying someone else's work and claiming it, misquoting or paraphrasing someone's words is also considered cheating. Additionally, making up sources or faking data is cheating too.

So why would people cheat? A few reasons come to mind, but the biggest ones to me are the fact that people think it'll be easier, and that they simply don't have the time.

1. School is hard. There are expectations and pressures from everyone and everywhere. That can include anything from the older brother who didn't end up graduating (and therefore depends on you to graduate) to your own fear of failing. I can relate; it's hard to face your friends, family, or self and tell them you got a C+ in Calc II.

2. People are lazy procrastinators. I don't think they realize that cheating is usually more effort. Note that I don't say always, because I think that sometimes, cheating can be a lot simpler than actually doing the work, especially if a person is considering faking data or sources. If a person hasn't read the assigned texts, or has only a few hours to crank out a 12+ page paper, cheating is one of the only avenues left. Waiting too long for something can (and will) make the internet seem mighty friendly.

3. There's a strange feeling of satisfaction when you get away with breaking the rules. I had a friend in high school who would cheat all the time. He was brilliant, and could have done the work himself, but he considered it a bigger challenge to get away with cheating. I reported him once (anonymously, to preserve our friendship), but he'd been smart enough to cheat out of a book, and the teacher had no proof. My friend was watched closely for the rest of the year, but he didn't ever get caught. He was addicted to the rush he got when he "pulled the wool over a teacher's eyes."

4. People are stupid. If a student is supposed to have learned about something, but didn't understand, there's a panic that sets in. I feel helpless when I feel ignorant. Humans like having a certain amount of control over their own lives, so when they don't know something, they have no control. Cheating is one way to counteract that helplessness.

Are there any solutions? Turnitin.com is one. For online classes, it's great. It helps students and teachers see how much of the paper is plagiarized. The catch is that it is an internet-submitted service. For papers that students turn in as a hard copy, the teacher has to type it to submit it. Other than that, good luck. You're stuck catching plagiarizers on your own.