"Cheating" Sample Essay

Thesis: "Individuals have chosen to ignore their responsibility for cheating in the academic environment but through time, the number of individuals who cheat have increased due to various reasons therefore the responsibility of individuals with cheating can no longer be ignored and a major solution needs to be developed to further the punishment of cheaters in schools."

1st Topic Sentence: "In order to evaluate the proper solution for individual cheaters, the question of "who is cheating" must be answered and "why" they are cheating; in simple terms, anyone could be cheating and the reasons for these vary from convenience and lack of time to study, the ease of cheating through technology, and the misconception of cheating versus collaboration."

2nd Topic Sentence w/Transition: "However, one of the arguably bigger reasons as to why individual students cheat is that they see other individuals who influence them do it. Letter grades and high academic standards in individual families or communities have become so high (i.e. SAT scores) that the way a student gets the grade doesn't matter as much as getting the good result in the end just like it doesn't matter as much how you climb the corporate ladder as long as you are along the top."

3rd Topic Sentence w/Transition: "Society and individuals in that society have accepted that cheating is there but there should be more of a knowledge for the reprimands that come with breaking academic integrity."

4th Topic Sentence w/Transition: "There are a variety of consequences that could be placed upon those individuals who cheat. However, a consistent rule upon what is considered cheating and the type of punishment they should get is needed. It can't be different for each situation, otherwise someone might think their individual form of cheating will not get punished."

Conclusion: Cheating cannot be placed upon society as whole but individuals need to be responsible for their actions. It has become much easier for anyone to cheat with the help of technology, collaboration, and convenience. However, the lack of respect for academic integrity can be decreased with solutions that the school can place on students like monetary penalties, written reprimands, suspensions, etc. Whatever solution a school needs to place on an individual, it needs to be consistent from student to student.