Plagiarism Among International Students: Omnibus Report Essay (Critical Writing)

January 28, 2022 by Essay Writer

Introduction

Plagiarism and its related consequences have been an issue of great concern, not only for international students but also for native students as well. The Omnibus report, in a clear and detailed manner, reveals some germane issues for international students as regards the issue of plagiarism.

What is of interest to the reader is the fact that cross-cultural concerns are at the forefront in entrenching the vice, which is considered in academic circles as synonymous with the act of stealing, lying, or cheating bypassing the academic work of another person as your own. This analysis aims to name and justify the choices made while creating the ethos for the cover letter and the main report. Specifically, the choices that will receive major attention include conciseness of the cover letter; detailed presentation of issues under investigation; utilization of comparisons, and; clarity in describing the terminologies used.

Choices for Cover Letter

In my Omnibus cover letter, the most important choice I made was the choice of being concise to relay to the reader a summary of what the subsequent report entailed. An approach that provides Succinct information in the cover letter always works best for readers who may not want to go into the details of the report but want to have an overview of what the report entails or readers who may lack adequate time to peruse through the report.

In essence, therefore, the credibility of the whole report is built upon the concise details provided in the cover letter, and which include: identifying what plagiarism constitutes in the context of the United States; providing a workable definition for the term, highlighting some challenges faced by international students in dealing with plagiarism, and; providing a cross-cultural comparison of plagiarism in the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Another important choice I considered during the drafting of the cover letter was the provision of contacts, including telephone contacts and email addresses, to provide readers of this Omnibus report with adequate channels for correspondence should such a need presents. It is important to note that the main report is drafted along the continuum of providing critical information on plagiarism among international students to an interested ready, who, in the course of reading this report, may want to seek clarifications or request for missing information. As such, contact addresses must be provided in a way and manner that has been done in my cover letter.

Choice for Report

In my Omnibus main report, the most important choice I made was the choice of using comparative analysis to detail how cross-cultural barriers impact the problem of plagiarism among international students. By detailing the problem of plagiarism in the United States, along with the harsh consequences associated with the vice, and by comparing this information with Saudi Arabia’s orientation on plagiarism, it could be argued that this report has been successful in illustrating that issues of culture and nationality must be considered when dealing with plagiarism issues among international students studying in the United States.

For example, while plagiarism is considered academic theft in the United States and punishable by crediting the culprits with a grade ‘F’ or even expulsion from academic institutions, it is casually allowed in Saudi Arabia under the pretense that getting through the required syllabus is much more important than getting students to generate their ideas and notions within the academic context. It, therefore, follows that an international student of Saudi Arabia descent but studying in the United States may, in the absence of adequate orientation policies regarding plagiarism, copy-paste academic pieces from the internet and pass the same as his or her original work, in large part because it is forbidden in Saudi Arabia.

While at the same point of using comparative analysis as the most important choice in writing this report, the reader is explicitly informed on the main reasons for disallowing plagiarized academic work in the United States vis-à-vis’ allowing the same in the United States.

What comes out most strongly in this comparison is the fact that culture has played a great role in shaping the education system in Saudi Arabia to a point that educational achievement is largely viewed as a community affair rather than individual attainment. In sharp contrast, educational achievement in the United States is viewed within the prism of the individual rather than the community. This is an important distinction for educators to make while dealing with international students, particularly of Saudi Arabia origin.

The second most important choice I made while drafting my report was to make a detailed presentation of facts to bring into the limelight some underlying issues about plagiarism. Plagiarism is considered a very serious issue in the United States, and its consequences are often grave to the extent that a sizeable number of students have gotten themselves summarily dismissed from academic institutions due to engaging in this vice. A detailed presentation of facts about plagiarism is therefore important to enable students, particularly international students, to make informed choices when engaging in their academic discourses.

A detailed expository of what constitutes plagiarism have been provided, including the parameters by which academic work may or may not be viewed as plagiarized. Of essence here is the fact that plagiarized instances, according to most academic regulations and policies in the United States, including but not limited to: representing other people’s work, ideas, or data as your own; duplication of copy-pasting of other people’s work and passing it as your own; lack of proper citations and acknowledgments while using other people’s work, and; acts of appropriating the artistic compositions of other people and presenting them as your own.

In the analysis provided above under the category of the provision of detailed presentation of facts about plagiarism, the basic imperative should be to assist international students coming into the United States for purposes of study to know the parameters by which their academic works could be considered as plagiarized. This is of fundamental importance principally because most academic institutions may not necessarily consider cultural dispositions while punishing offenders of plagiarism as most university regulations about plagiarism do not expressly state so.

It is therefore of immense importance and value for international students to attempt and familiarize themselves with the parameters that may be used by American academic institutions to evaluate cases of plagiarism. In the same vein, the concerned educational agencies in Saudi Arabia need to work towards the adoption of an internationally recognized system of education that depicts plagiarism as intentional theft of other people’s work to intellectually and emotionally prepare Saudi students wishing to switch into the American educational system. Such adoption can only be effectively done through a detailed exposition of facts related to plagiarism as has been done in the Omnibus report.

Lastly, the third most important choice I made while writing my Omnibus report on plagiarism among international students is to ensure clarity in the terminologies used. As already mentioned, plagiarism is considered a very serious issue within the American educational system, and, as such, it is of fundamental importance to ensure that key terminologies relating to the vice are spelled out to avoid confusion of facts among international students.

In the report, I have clearly explained what constitutes plagiarism, codes of conduct, and academic misconduct, not mentioning the facts that the relationships between these concepts are well elaborated. I believe that this particular choice is of great importance to international students because what constitutes plagiarism may not necessarily be construed to mean academic dishonesty and, equally, to enable the international students to understand that plagiarism is only one component of academic dishonesty, which in turn is contained in a booklet containing the institution’s codes of conduct.

By ensuring the clarity of these three definitions, therefore, the Omnibus report hope to achieve the major objective of directing international students into the proper resources that detail, not only their relationships with their respective academic institutions but their responsibilities in ensuring acts of plagiarism are curtailed or restricted to a bare minimum.

Conclusion

Underlines the importance of making the above choices

To conclude, it is important to underline the importance of the discussed choices in ensuring that the Omnibus report achieves its intended objectives and elicits the required responses from readers. These choices are indeed important as they bring into the fore the underlying issues that the report seeks to address, and which are mainly related to plagiarism among international students. What’s more, the usage of these choices has greatly assisted me to remain focused on the issues under investigation, particularly about plagiarism among international students.

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