Written by Yiling 2022 Cohort
Plagiarism is always a popular academic topic, especially when we are in college. Knowing the plagiarism policy of specific nations, regions and universities is essential before we start doing academic papers, assignments and research.
Since I enrolled in a joint program between the universities of China and Canada for my bachelor’s degree, the plagiarism judgement is mixed and complicated. Some of our professors are from Canada so that we will follow the Canadian plagiarism rules. We should follow a specific citation format, paraphrase and summarize our research content appropriately, and consult academic assistance when needed. All these procedures are designed to ensure we don’t copy others’ content, present traceable educational facts, express our opinions critically and avoid paper mills. However, the plagiarism policy is different when it comes to courses belonging to a Chinese university. Many academic institutions have their plagiarism percentage, meaning you should upload your paper on a website and check the repetition rate between other scholarly articles and yours. Sometimes it is tricky since it is hard to avoid repetition even though you paraphrased. Some technical and unique expressions are not paraphrased, so we have no choice but to quote them.
Plagiarism is not just about academic writing. We have many quizzes and exams, which always happen in the final week of that semester, and sometimes it takes work to prepare all of them in a short period. In this case, some students might go for cheating. For the courses at Canadian University, if you got caught, you would fail this course directly, and the student must retake the class the following semester, which would take more money and time. For courses at Chinese Universities, we still have the same policy; however, how to implement these policies is flexible. Based on my experience, it is not as strict as the Canadian system regarding plagiarism.
Also, the education systems between China and Canada are so different. In China, the college enrolment examination is the most critical and competitive exam, and plagiarism detection is rigorous. If you cheated on this exam, you would be banned from future higher education exams and recorded in your credit file.
However, since a university accepts you, most students would graduate on time successfully. Yet, delayed graduation is common in Canada.