A more proper system of punishment for plagiarism.

The punishment for plagiarism needs to manifest pending on the severity of the offense and only under a well-established criterion. Unfortunately, many students become the victim in a plagiarism crisis because of undefined rules or simple human error. Rather than unfairly overlooking the incident at hand and either failing or expelling the student, each individual dilemma requires meticulous inspection so the penalty may correctly cater to the malfeasance.
Including differing levels of punishment in an establishment's policy provides and effective and reasonable guideline. Minor offenses may include not thoroughly checking all references throughout the entire paper. The main reasoning behind this offense is simply unintentional human error. A large portion of papers fall into this category according to a study of 8,660 papers. The results showed that 3,491 of the papers contained 0-15% plagiarism (CQU 2008). The basis for punishment in this case, though the offense may seem innocent, is that the other party's work remains plagiarized and the writer of the paper was careless. A median offense may consist of sloppy paraphrasing or copying small portions of sources. These offenses are nothing more than the result of apathy. The startling fact remains that "In a sample of 1,800 students at nine state universities: 52% had copied a few sentences from a website without citing the source (McCabe 2001). The only problem in identifying sloppy paraphrasing as intentional arises based on the ability of the student as a writer varies. Some students may possess the ability to effectively paraphrase and retain an understanding between what is original and what remains copyrighted material. The ability of the faculty to personalize themselves with the writing style of each student plays an important role in determining whether or not a student possesses the ability to paraphrase or simply can not because of the lack of education or comprehension. The major offenses of plagiarism may include buying a paper or no copying without any effort to cite the resources. A study done in May of 2001 of 4,500 students concluded that 15% had submitted a paper acquired from a website or other provider (McCabe 2001). Various punishments for all of these offenses may include, re-writing the paper, failing the paper, or writing a new paper consisting of a new topic.
Another major problem with the crime of plagiarism exists in the inconsistencies of school policies and set punishments. Without proper instruction of concrete rules and punishments, students lie victim to an unjust system. What one teacher may see as substantial discipline, another may see as faulty. The administration or departments as a whole must design a standardized set of guidelines in order to fairly and accurately account for any and all offenses. Within Billings West High School, there exist several differences between the student handbook and the written plagiarism document provided by the english department. The sheer fact that all schools are different allows for some variation, but overall most punishments should remain relatively alike. Although students cannot entirely rely on teachers to provide them with a complete knowledge of citations, it is imperative that teachers strive to educate each student to the best of their ability and to provide them with resources where they may find help on their own.
The potential to learn becomes hindered by failing a class or expulsion. The intent of the educational system is to fully educate students to the best of their ability and
provide an opportunity of encouragement to succeed. By expelling a student, the opportunity to learn is immediately ended and the will of the student to further their education reaches an abrupt end. Failing the class removes the incentive of the student to continue trying in the specific class. It is vital to the education of the student that the student is punished in the sense that the student learns from their mistake, but continues their education. Overall, plagiarism deserves punishment, but only in a manner that is fair in both serving justice to those harmed by the plagiarized material and also in order that the student atones for their mistakes.

Works Cited
"CQU Plagiarism Statistics." Cddu. 17 Jan. 2008. 28 Jan. 2008 .
"Plagiarism Statistics." Plagiarism.Org. IParadigms; LLC. 28 Jan. 2008 .