The causes and effect of students’ academic malpractice.

In the academic community, credibility, accomplishment, and character are all

closely connected. The foundation for success will crumble in the absence of
integrity and credibility. Academic refers to learning, research, study, and intellectual
discipline. Students who commit plagiarism or cheat on a test are engaging in
academic misconduct. This can be deliberate or accidental, and its severity varies..
Nevertheless, why there are still cases of academic fraud? This essay cites several
factors that contribute to academic dishonesty, such as time management and peer
pressure and its severe effect on students which is disciplinary action and unable to
survive alone.

First, academic malpractice occurs among students because of their poor time
management. Students are not able to see the big picture and plan accordingly.
What happens next is they copy and paste work from various websites and compile
it as their own work. To add up, students with the lack of self-discipline is bound to
commit academic misconduct. Self-discipline is the ability to control and motivate
yourself, stay on track, and do what is right. When they fail to do so, they have no
choice except to plagiarise from their friends or their seniors. Moreover, they
become enthralled by social media. There is no denial that social media provide
students with informational and relevant websites. However, if they misuse it, their
academics will be affected. For instance, they paraphrase published information
without source attribution. To conclude, poor time management is one of the
elements that lead students to commit academic malpractice.

Furthermore, peer pressure has caused students to get involved in academic

misconduct. They want to feel accepted by their friends for their accomplishments.
Competition for academic purposes has been a culture for years and the impact
depends on students' acceptance. To illustrate, students complete their work
flawlessly not because of their interest, but to impress their friends. Other than that
is the influence from their friends. Friends' influence has a huge impact on students'
lives especially in tertiary education. When they happen to get attached with their
new friends, they are likely to follow their friend’s decision on some matter. In other
words, if the influential person in the group of friends ask to share answers for
examination, they feel the need to do so. Student’s low self esteem is also one of
the causes. As students are constantly under educational pressure, this will
inadvertently affect them mentally. Instead of producing their own work, they
applied materials written by other people. In conclusion, peer pressure contributes
to student’s academic achievement.

As a result, students would have to face disciplinary action. Disciplinary action

is a policy in tertiary education that apply to students. If students get caught
cheating in examinations or plagiarizing, they will be barred from final examination
and have to resubmit their assignments. This in effect will inconvenience lecturers
since they need to spend additional time rechecking assignments and examination
papers by these students. Besides that, students are unable to survive alone. The
notable effect of friend’s influence is they have difficulties meeting the specifications
in a workplace. The lack of study skills and social skills results in difficulty when
interacting with their colleagues and communicating with clients. In brief, students
will have to face challenges if they continue with academic wrongdoing.

The effect of academic malpractice among students is they are unable to

become independent and being reprimanded for their actions because of poor time
management and peer pressure. As mentioned above, academic misconduct is a
serious matter and may lead to disciplinary actions. If students have their name
recorded in student’s discipline files, this will result in them being banned from
certain activities. They should refrain from committing plagiarism by attending
consultations by lecturers. In order to curb issues of academic malpractice,
institutions must conduct a campaign to raise awareness among students.