Why students plagiarize in Organic Chemistry Laboratory Course? — A Case at Hebei University of Technology in China

Plagiarism is regarded as a serious academic offense. There is evidence which suggests that students' plagiarizing behavior continues to be a significant problem in universities all over the world. As science educators, we find that cheating is not a rare phenomenon in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory Course. With this in mind, we designed a questionnaire to investigate cheating behaviors. In this article, we analyze the results and discuss four factors which lead students to cheat. First, Chinese culture deeply influences students. According to Chinese culture, usually people agree with the old saying “all papers were copies”, which undermines the threat of plagiarism in course work and academic writing. Furthermore, feudal society had been in China for thousand years. People have little consideration for personal intellectual rights, and copyright is not treated seriously. Second, the emphasis on academic excellence somewhat promotes students to cheat. Obtaining high scores is very important to elementary and middle school students. Sometimes, the score will determine students' whole life. The students and teachers extraordinarily focus on how to obtain high marks. In order to learn how to produce quality work, students are asked to recite and copy sample articles while doing their compositions in elementary and middle schools. In China, primary school education somewhat trains students for long time to culture them bad habit. Third, College enrollment expansion started in China in 1997, which caused many problems. More young men can enter university and are ill-prepared to complete the course assignments. On the other hand, there is a shortage of teaching resources, which weakens an instructor's teaching efficiency. These factors give some students the chance to plagiarize. Students are known to influence each other. Hence, some students' guilty feelings reduce when they see their peers exhibiting similar behaviors. Furthermore, people look at cheaters as an able student as long as he passes the exam. Fourth, negative influences in modern Chinese society enable students to cheat. Within the first 30 years of opening its doors to the world, Chinese society has undergone drastic changes; however, the nation's attitude towards money, morality and rules regarding plagiarism has remained consistent. Con-artists and scammers are common members of today's society. These individuals give the hint to students that one needs to become successful by any means necessary. Students learn dishonest habits from peers and adults in school and at home. One's actions in college reflect what he learned from the society. Therefore, we cannot merely punish students for plagiarism. We should alter our behavior and set good examples for them. Exploring the reasons of plagiarism will help us find better strategies and methods to prevent students from cheating.