Introduction:


Since
the
beginning
of
their
freshman
year,
students
have
been
finding
out


what
it
means
to
be
a
college
student.
Being
a
college
student
means
more


responsibility
and
work
than
they
had
ever
encountered
in
their
previous
schooling.


College
was
described
to
me
as
a
really
advanced
form
of
school.
It
is
where
people


go
to
shape
their
future.
It
means
that
they
will
face
a
lot
of
stress
and
pressure.


Some
find
it
to
be
a
harsh
wake
up
call
but
there
are
still
others
integrate
with
the


new
life
extremely
well.
But
college
is
more
than
the
academics.
For
most
students,


it
is
the
beginning
of
their
adult
life
and
they
know
that
there
more
things
that
are


available
to
them
now
than
there
ever
was
in
there
past
and
they
take
advantage
of


it.
College
doesn’t
just
signify
what
you
want
to
do
in
the
future
and
what
you
should


study
now
to
achieve
that
goal.
It
has
its
perks
and
opportunities
and
people,


especially
the
younger
post
adult
students,
will
take
advantage
of
that.
It’s
a
chance


to
start
a
new
life
and
make
the
right
or
wrong
choices.
People
will
go
out
and
have


fun.
Some
actually
prioritize
that
over
their
studies.
In
her
book,
My
Word,
she


wrote
about
college
culture
at
Notre
Dame.
She
postulated
that
a
student’s
extra


curricular
activities
affected
their
studies
and
their
choices
regarding
plagiarism.
Of


course,
different
colleges
have
different
atmospheres
and
there
are
different
things


that
people
do
in
each
school
so
the
student
experience
varies.
For
example
Notre


Dame
has
a
strong
college
football
school
environment,
that
tends
to
dominant
the


activities
held
outside
of
classes
(such
as
big
home
games
bring
about
a
heavier


degree
of
partying
and
rallying)
whereas
in
San
Francisco
State,
it
is
more
geared


towards
the
arts
and
Ethnic
Studies
type
school
so
the
activities
done
in
each
school

are
obviously
different.
For
the
purposes
of
this
study,
we
will
be
discussing
what
it


is
like
as
a
student
in
San
Francisco
State
University
as
well
as
student
activities


outside
of
school,
how
such
activities
affects
their
academic
life
and
whether
or
not


it
plays
a
role
in
provoking
the
act
of
plagiarism.
The
class
was
split
into
four
groups,


which
each
had
to
come
up
with
questions
pertaining
to
their
topic
for
a
survey
and


an
interview.
Each
topic
contained
elements
that
were
either
a
potential
cause
of


plagiarism,
or
a
way
of
measuring
plagiarism
amongst
groups.
The
topic
that
our


group
focused
on
was
extracurricular
activities
and
the
other
topics
were
academic


culture,
demographics,
and
knowledge
of
plagiarism.



Methods:



In
class
we
discussed
that
the
questions
for
the
survey
should
be
very


general,
but
reflect
our
topics.
We
wanted
the
questions
in
the
survey
to
be
easy
so


the
student
taking
it
would
be
able
to
fill
them
out
in
a
matter
of
seconds.
After
each


group
came
up
with
their
questions
for
the
survey,
we
compiled
them
to
make
a


survey
that
reflected
each
topic.
The
questions
for
the
interview
would
be
ones


where
the
interviewees
would
be
able
to
answer
and
give
stories
that
were
more
in


depth.

The
class
decided
that
it
was
best
to
only
survey
undergrads
because
we


would
be
able
to
relate
to
them
since
we
are
undergrads
ourselves.
Our
group


handed
out
our
surveys
to
various
students,
so
that
our
findings
would
be
eclectic.


At
first
we
were
only
going
to
conduct
two
interviews,
but
we
decided
to
do
four


instead.
By
having
a
larger
number
of
interviews,
it
would
make
it
easier
to
come
to


a
conclusion
on
the
results.

The
people
that
we
chose
to
survey
and
interview
were


random
students
in
our
other
classes.
The
group
thought
it
was
best
to
ask
students

that
we
didn’t
know,
instead
of
asking
our
friends.
If
we
asked
our
friends
about


their
extracurricular
activities
and
what
they
like
to
do
for
recreation,
we
might


have
gotten
a
lot
of
the
same
answers.
By
asking
our
classmates,
we
would
get
a


variety
of
responses
guiding
us
closer
to
the
main
causes
of
plagiarism.
By
collecting


all
of
the
surveys
passed
out
by
each
group,
we
were
able
to
gain
more
information


on
our
subject.
Unfortunately,
there
are
still
weaknesses
to
our
methods.
There


could
have
been
students
that
didn’t
take
the
survey
seriously
and
just
put
down


random
answers,
or
didn’t
answer
the
survey
truthfully.
This
would
affect
our


findings
because
it
would
change
the
percentages
of
how
much
students
participate


in
a
certain
activity.
We
might
think
that
one
activity
is
a
main
reason
why
students


plagiarize,
when
in
reality
it’s
a
different
one.


Findings:


Forty‐one
percent
of
the
people
we
surveyed
work.
Out
of
the
41%,
58%


plagiarize.
Fifty
percent
of
the
people
surveyed
do
plagiarize
9%
didn’t
know.


Thirty‐nine
percent
of
the
people
are
involved
in
extracurricular
activities.
Eleven


percent
of
the
people
who
work,
have
extracurricular
activities,
or
go
out
marked


that
doing
so
affects
their
schoolwork
and/or
study
time
negatively.
Fifty‐five


percent
of
the
people
who
work
between
10
to
20
hours,
and
67%
of
people
who


work
more
than
20
hours,
plagiarize.
Twenty‐six
percent
of
people
with
jobs


marked
that
their
job
does
not
interfere
with
their
study
time.
Sixty‐seven
percent


of
people
who
feel
a
lot
of
pressure
to
go
out
plagiarize,
compared
to
27%
of
the


people
who
only
feel
some
pressure
to
go
out.
People
who
go
out
often
are
more


likely
to
plagiarize
(63%),
than
people
who
rarely
go
out
(40%).
Thirty‐nine
percent

of
the
44
people
surveyed
marked
that
they
have
other
extra
circular
activities.
Of


the
17
people
who
do
extracurricular
activities,
60%
of
the
people
surveyed
spent


one
to
five
hours
on
activities
and
plagiarize,
where
100%(there
was
only
one


person
who
spends
between
six
to
ten
hours
on
activities)
of
those
who
spend
six
to


ten
hours
with
activities
who
also
plagiarize,
and
33%
of
the
people
who
spend
over


ten
hours
on
activities
also
plagiarize.
A
trend
line
cannot
be
accurately
made
by
the


information
gathered
in
this
research.
Take
the
extracurricular
activity
section
that


was
just
mentioned.
Looking
at
the
people
who
spend
six
to
ten
hours
on
activities,


it
looks
really
bad
when
one
hundred
percent
of
the
people
plagiarize.
But
in
reality


the
trend
was
set
by
one
person
who
happened
to
mark
the
time
range
on
activities,


and
plagiarized.
With
that
said,
it
would
not
be
an
accurate
assumption
to
say
that


all
the
students
who
spend
six
to
ten
hours
on
extra
circular
activities
plagiarize.



Majority
of
the
people
interviewed
expressed
a
similar
reason
for
plagiarizing.
From


the
first
interview,
the
student
said
“Right
after
work
sometimes
I’m
too
tired
to


even
go
to
the
club
meetings
and
practice.
After
that
I
just
do
my
homework
as
quick


as
I
can,
eat
and
go
to
sleep.”
This
student
mentioned
that
they
have
copied


homework
from
a
friend,
and
took
information
on
the
internet
and
changed
it


around
it
make
it
their
own.
In
the
third
interview,
the
student
mentioned
that
their


extra
circular
activities
cut
into
the
time
they
had
for
school,
but
“I
wouldn’t
say
that


what
I
do
outside
of
school
greatly
affects
my
choices.
For
me,
I
always
have
a


choice;
I
just
choose
to
take
the
easy
way
since
I
want
to
get
things
done
as
soon
as
I


can.”
When
asked
about
their
view
of
extra
circular
activates
and
how
it
affects


plagiarism,
the
fourth
student
interviewed
said,
“Yes,
everything
kind
of
builds
up

and
eventually
you
find
yourself
running
out
of
time
so
to
save
myself
some
stress,
I


copy
and
paste
or
in
some
cases
just
ask
someone
for
a
favor
or
pay
for
a
written


paper.”


Discussion:




 Results
from
the
surveys
indicated
that
students
who
have
go
out
have
a
60%


percent
chance
of
plagiarizing
as
opposed
to
only
a
40%
chance
among
students


who
did
not
go
out.
Given
the
50%
percent
of
the
surveyed
students
overall
had


plagiarized,
it
is
possible
to
theorize
these
students
did
not
follow
only
one
certain


way
of
plagiarism,
given
when
expand
our
results
relative
to
the
student
body
at
San


Francisco
State
University
shows;
a
great
number
of
students
plagiarizing.


Variations
in
the
academic
world
of
what
is
considered
plagiarism
could
affect
the


way
students
answered
the
surveys
and
viewed
they’re
actions.
On
such
way
is
the


idea
of
patch
writing,
which
is
common
among
lower
level
English
student
writers.



Patchwriting
as
Howard
Bloom
defines
it
is
"copying
from
a
source
text
and
then


deleting
some
words,
altering
grammatical
structures,
or
plugging
in
one‐for‐one


synonym‐substitutes"
(Howard
233). The
dominate
assumption
on
colleges
is
that


plagiarism
stems
from
negatives
factors
or
aspects
which
can
leave
some
students


not
realize
that
maybe
they’re
patchwriting
is
part
of
a
process
that
leads
out
of


writing
stumps
that
cause
plagiarism.
Patchwriting
for
some
students
who
claimed


to
plagiarize
could
be
what
made
them
say
they
plagiarized,
this
would
be
good
just


to
take
into
account
when
conducting
more
studies
on
students
and
plagiarism.


Overall
similarities
in
college
culture
such
as
partying,
working
and
general
social


gatherings
bring
about
plagiarism
but
what
gives
way
to
these
extra
curricular

activities
is
different
in
both
schools.
Extracurricular
activities
such
as
partying
can


be
both
voluntary
and
pressured.
Our
findings
showed
that
those
who
felt
pressure


to
go
out
would
be
more
likely
to
plagiarize,
given
this
fact
we
can
see
that
between


the
two
campuses
if
one
student
is
expected
to
go
and
party
the
night
of
a
big
game


there
is
a
higher
chance
of
plagiarism
or
just
if
the
pressure
of
classmates
it
seems


both
schools
share
that
underline
effect
partying
has
on
schoolwork
and
the


tendencies
to
plagiarize.
One
thing
that’s
is
contrast
between
the
schools
can
be
that


those
who
work
while
going
to
school
tend
to
work
much
more
from
necessity
at


San
Francisco
State
University.
The
school
is
small
and
a
somewhat
commuter


school
and
Notre
Dame
is
an
expensive
private
school
that
would
take
a
lot
more


than
a
student
working
full
time
to
meet
the
financial
requirements
so
chances
is


are
a
lot
of
students
at
Notre
dame
are
getting
be
outside
influence
on
their
tuitions


which
takes
pressure
off
them
and
could
eliminate
the
possibility
of
plagiarism


coming
about
be
cause
work
hours
interfere
with
school
work
hours.



 




Bibliography:


Bloom,
H.
(1997).
The
Anxiety
of
Influence:
A
theory
of
Poetry
(2nd
ed.).
Preface.


Retrieved
from
htt://iLearn.sfsu.edu


Blum,
S.
(2009).
Intertextuality,
Authorship,
and
Plagiarism.
Retrieved
from
My


Word!
Plagiarism
and
College
Culture.