Academic Integrity comes of Age - How students check for plagiarism

In the modern age of word processing and unlimited digital resources, the practice of correctly citing material has begun to deteriorate. Potential sources have moved into digital libraries, and students have access to a plethora of previously written papers in any field with almost any subject. The technological revolution has strained the core principles that professional educators strive to instill in their students.

As a society we are at a turning point. We can cower from our moral goals in the face of adversity or press forward and create new solutions to the drawbacks of living in a digital age. When it comes down to it, stepping back from our efforts to cite sources for original thought and reward people for their creativity is not an option.

At one time, academic integrity was an unquestionable pillar of essay writing and content creation. When research required a library card and a lengthy time investment in hunting down relevant resources, academic integrity was in effect protected by the distinction of taking time out to specifically harvest source material for your paper. Library time, made it more difficult for a student to blur the lines between research and other day to day activities. At the same time, there was no available access to vast databases of papers. Cheating meant sourcing a paper from a closer associate. The anonymity of downloading a cookie-cutter essay from the web was unavailable. Plagiarizing from close associates also meant that the work was more likely to be previously read by the professor. Before computers, not only was academic integrity more paramount, the act of plagiarizing was in many ways more difficult. The digital age had a revolutionary impact on content creation in the education field. With the advent of word processing, spell checking began to shift to automated programs and essays could be printed or copied at the push of a button. The internet opened up a vast network of fully digitized resources. Library cards began to gather dust as student scoured to web for more specific and readily available resources. As web surfing became a part of nearly everyone's day to day activities, the distinction between researching and searching began to blur. This breakdown was further exacerbated by the growing social activities available online. Student began sharing information across social networks and the art of copy and pasting interesting information became second nature.

As technology began to offer up increasingly easy channels for plagiarism, the education community and the technical community searched for means to defend the long running standard of academic integrity. The issue was not merely that students no longer cared about citation. In many cases, students never intentionally engaged in plagiarism, overlooking their behavior as just another online activity. The education community pushed for renewed understandings of academic integrity and turned to technical solutions to uncover academic misdeeds. Software companies began to offer programs that were capable of tapping into large databases and online collections of resources to crosscheck papers for citation errors. These tools allowed educators to more effectively identify plagiarism issues and pinpoint the missing sources.

As plagiarism became more difficult to self identify, a growing need developed for students to scan their own work for citation issues prior to submitting papers. Despite their best intentions, many students overlooked certain sources as the sheer access to information produced more specific and independent sources for each essay. With the potential of expulsion, students looked for more effective way to ensure they were meeting standards of academic integrity. Recently, the same companies that initially offered professors solutions for identifying plagiarism have turned their efforts to students. New paper plagiarism checkers offer a simple answer to the requirement that student self enforce proper citation practices in their essay creation. With this new technology students can research and write their original papers and then double check their citation with a simple scan of the document. The new programs will help identify which, if any, sections are flagged for citation issues and help the student police themselves for proper citation techniques.

The internet age has opened a Pandora's box of potentially double edged technologies that can both help and hurt the education field. Ultimately, most educators would agree that more readily available access to information can only help advance education and understanding. As technology opened the door to undermine academic integrity, it also appears to have answered the call for protections against such evils. With an emphasis on citation and open access to plagiarism scanning tools, a new crop of students is prepared to meet the challenge of striving for academic integrity in a modern age.

Article Source

Read More

The Problem of Abortion

This article deals with the problem of abortion as a social phenomenon. Different views on the problem are analyzed and opposite positions (for and against abortion) are taken into consideration. Then the argument about the legalization of abortion is affirmatively concluded.

Nowadays, the problem of abortion, and, consequently, the problem of antiabortion become vitally important particularly for well-developed, post-industrial societies. It is evident that it is not a problem of an individual anymore but a really social problem because it concerns not only the health of a woman but it also produces a serious impact on a demographic situation in the whole country and on a psychological atmosphere in the society at large and within the family in particular. Traditionally, abortion was the point of serious arguments for and against this phenomenon in the majority of societies. As a rule, a significant part of the society is against abortion but on certain conditions even conservatives agree that abortion may be necessary or even inevitable. Anyway, the society must be very careful resolving the problem weather to support or completely reject abortion ideas but at the same time women must have a choice and a chance for abortion.

First of all, it would be very important to refer to some statistic data which prove that abortion cannot be forbidden pointblank, particularly in well-developed countries. According to Henshaw and Van Vort, only in the USA, among 6.2 million pregnancies that occur each year, 1.6 million end in abortion, it gives an abortion ratio of 347.8 abortions per 1000 live births (1992) . The data may vary depending on the country and its level of development but still the numbers are very impressive. Also it has to be taken into consideration that women in despair may commit desperate acts which may have fatal results that is a serious argument in favor of abortion.
But it is necessary to underline that abortion is not the problem of women only it is the problem of the whole society. To prove this statement it will be enough to mention that over 1000 violent attacks on abortion clinics and doctors were committed from 1977 to 1991 and a lot of attacks remained unreported (Grimes, 1991) . So, it means that definite social groups are ready to defend their antiabortion belief even by the violation of law. Another evidence of social significance of the problem is the fact that in some communities in the USA, for example, Boulder, Colorado, women are legally protected from antiabortion protestors (Hern, 1991) . It is also noteworthy that only 12% of Americans are totally against abortion while others who are either pro or contra abortion can change their mind under certain circumstances such as the danger to woman's life, the pregnancy as the result of rape, etc. It means that the factors mentioned above may contribute to support pro-abortion ideas. It is really a strong argument in favor of abortion because if the pregnancy is unwanted it puts under a threat health, mental and physical of both a mother and a child. At the same time when the health of a woman is in danger and abortion is the only or in certain conditions the best way out for a woman's life then many would support abortion.

On the other hand, abortion may be a cause of health problems for women even despite the fact that the level of medical services may be very high. The danger increases if abortion is illegal, in such a case there is no guarantees for a woman that the operation would be run successfully and medical personal would be responsible for the results in such a degree as it is normally done when abortion is legal. A logical conclusion that may be done is the legalization of abortion that seems to be inevitable, particularly in well-developed countries.

At the same time, abortion may cause problems within families which are part of the society. The fact is that it is extremely important for a woman to have a supportive atmosphere from the part of the closest relatives, namely husband and parents. Specialists highly recommend taking the abortion decision by both partners that may make the family stronger while disagreement can lead to divorce. But it is also important that women cannot be forced to abortion as well. So the role of the family in taking the decision is not less important than the influence of the community or personal beliefs.

Taking into account all above mentioned, it is necessary to say that abortion, being a social phenomenon, has many opponents as well as supporters but only small part is radical enough and ready to deny the opposite point of view. The vast majority is ready to accept abortion though under certain conditions. It means that abortion has to be legalized but at the same time it should be strictly regulated in order not to harm the health of women or their children in cases when abortion may be evitable. Moreover, it is evident that a total forbidden of abortion is doomed to fail because the only result that the forbidden may have is the increasing of illegal abortions and greater risk for women's health.

More relating abortion essay, Abortion essays

Resource Box

Read More

How to Write Essays On Abortion

Such a paper can take a stance On one side, while briefly stating the opposing view. It can also discuss both sides In a straightforward manner, without taking a stance on a particular view. If the writer decides to take one position or another on this type of issue, plenty of research should Be obtained to back up the position or claim. Great resources for this type of paper can come from medical journals, psychology journals, health care professionals, research studies, law journals, case law and many other academic sources. Whatever position or stance a writer takes on this issue, there is plenty of resource material available to help.

Sources for such a position or argumentative paper should be scholarly. They should be
written by those who are considered experts in their field, without controversial scientific
method or theory. The writer should first outline the main points for argument, then develop each point with a statement and research information that will be used to back up
each point. It is always good for a writer to briefly discuss or outline the opposing view, no matter what position is taken. This allows the writer to better form his or her argument and to pull the most applicable information from sources. Points of discussion or argument in the paper should first be summarized in an introductory paragraph. Subsequent paragraphs should discuss each point in detail, while including information or data from sources. Discussion should flow from one paragraph to the next with a sentence that links the points in some manner.

The writer should make his or her position known in the first paragraph, if taking a stance
on one position or another. Otherwise, general discussion from varying points of view
should be highlighted in the introduction. It is acceptable to use statistics and comments
from survey participants, as long as the information was obtained via some type of scientific statistical method, with published results in a professional journal. The statistics or information from studies should corroborate your stance or that of the views presented in the introduction. Data or comments provided in research studies should be adequately referenced within the body of the paper as well as in the works cited or reference page.

Abortion essays can be difficult to write as there is so much controversial information
available on the topic. It can be made easier if the writer chooses a basis for his or her
position on the topic. Whether from a legal, moral or other standpoint, the basis for
the argument should remain consistent throughout the paper. For those who find such a paper difficult to organize or compose, Academia Research offers assistance in all stages of the process. Academic research, writing and editing are some of the services offered, using academic writers who are experience in the particular subject matter of Interest. Orders include a discussion board for customers and writers to communicate information about the paper.

Resource box

Read More

Guideline For Writing Effective Abortion Essay

If you have been assigned to write abortion essay ,You can write it from many different perspectives, you can either choose to write on behalf of it or against it. You can also use different approaches to write your abortion essay, like, persuasive, cause and effect and argumentative. Abortion essay is considered to be the most controversial topic to discuss, this is why you also have to be bit careful while writing essay on abortion.

Most of the students face problem in crafting in effective title for abortion essay because they are not able to build a connection with the emotion of the reader. This is why it is necessary that the title for essays on abortion is selected which creates a direct link to the reader's emotion whether it is pro abortion or anti abortion essay.

Effective Abortion essay topics:

Following are some essay on abortion topic example to help you cope with this issue od deciding the abortion essay effectively.

1.When an innocent is murdered. 2.An incident that nobody will know ever. 3.A mother who chooses her life over an unborn child.

The above title can help you generate different interesting ideas to write your essay about abortion on. But it is better if you conduct a thorough research on the subject; go for the medical and psychological journals to gain knowledge about the issue, while you can also go to the health care institute to know more about it.

Basic Guideline for writing abortion essay:

Introduction of abortion essay:

Your introduction is the pillar of your abortion essay; it needs to be sturdy enough to grab the attention of the reader. At first, you have to provide a thesis statement which should be compelling to make them reader further, like, "when an unborn is murdered". You have to give powerful arguments to support your thesis statement; you can also give the latest stats about the abortion in the world.

Body paragraphs abortion essay:

When you are finished with the introduction, you have to divide the body into some paragraph discussing different issues, like, origin, health complications, moral and ethical duties etc. Most of the time it is against abortion essay, in such a case, you can give reasons for the activity, like; rape and incest when it becomes necessary to get aborted.

Conclusion of abortion essay:

Wrap up your work while restating the thesis statement and the points that you discussed in the preceding essay, also you can end with an emotional statement like "one day, the world will realize the abortion is not the end solution" as emotions have their own value that touches the heart of the reader, you can also call this pressing the emotional button of the readers.

To be precise, you need to know what abortion is all about before writing a good essay, Google it, and follow the preceding guideline and make sure you are effectively playing with the emotions of the reader then you will do perfectly fine in your abortion essay.

Article Resource

Read More