Thirty-six percent of undergraduate students have admitted to plagiarizing when writing for an assignment, according to a study by Psychological Record. This alarming statistic could have quite a few people in the United States worried about the ethical future of our country.

Two of the biggest problems in the United States during 2000, according to the Gallup Organization, were education and a decline in ethics. Oddly enough, these problems scored higher than drugs, crime and taxes. However, plagiarism isn’t a big concern in other parts of the world.

In the United States, possession is placed on written text and ideas. Copyright laws help to regulate the use of someone’s work in the form of books, paintings and songs. This is unheard of in other countries.

Victor Raymond, graduate assistant of sociology and adviser for Uhuru Magazine, said, “Different countries have different expectations for different kinds of work.”

Daniela Dimitrova, assistant professor for the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, believes that some international students honestly aren’t aware of the guidelines we have about plagiarism in the United States. “I find it helps if I really go over the importance of our plagiarism rules in the syllabus.”

Many non-European countries don’t consider using someone else’s work without giving them credit to be ethically wrong. In fact, they look at it as “honor through accuracy” explains Raymond. These countries put an emphasis on precise depictions of information and ideas rather than new and original wording or thoughts. They operate under the premise that “you can more faithfully reproduce ideas when you accurately reproduce what was stated,” said Raymond.

Raymond explains that intercultural students at Iowa State are caught in between two ideas of learning. Because this is a science and technology university, students are more prone to plagiarize because there are only so many ways you can state a scientific concept. In their previous country, this would’ve been completely acceptable and almost expected. Even though plagiarism isn’t condoned in the United States, the pressure to do things quickly and accurately still enhances the urge to use someone else’s work.

The acceptance of plagiarism isn’t a new concept. It has been happening since the beginning of the written word. Even some of the best writers have been accused of this literary crime. William Shakespeare’s poems in “The Passionate Pilgrim” have been under constant scrutiny. Of the 21 poems in the first edition, Shakespeare has only been positively identified as the author of five of them.

So how do international students cope with this change of norms? Raymond and Dimitrova have both found that most students learn through their peers. Often times this “informal mentoring” will prove to be the only step needed to prevent plagiarism. Another resource students utilize is academic assistance through Student Support Services. Students may also seek the help of their academic advisor to reduce plagiarism in their written work. Dimitrova wishes Iowa State would offer a plagiarism seminar as a part of orientation for international students to help them with this issue.

“Plagiarism is not a cultural issue, it’s more of an academic issue,” Raymond said.

To prevent it we must understand and help to alleviate the plagiarism struggle of international students at Iowa State.