Dear editor,

I'm writing to discuss with you a serious topic about academic plagiarism.

Lately, a postgraduate from a famous college was accused of plagiarizing her classmate's thesis. To tell you the truth, my classmates also copy other people's papers whenever we are assigned a paper task. I don't know if this really breaks the law, but I do know that this is not correct.

In my opinion, academic plagiarism is a kind of cheating. This kind of behavior shows that the person bears no responsibility to himself or herself. Parents pay money to put them through college while at last they cannot even write a creative thesis of their own. They are actually wasting their parents'money, wasting their own time, wasting educational resources. They are selfish.

But, why does this kind of cheating happen so often in China? Is it a common phenomenon in foreign academic atmosphere? Is there any legislated rules to punish people who plagiarize academically?

I want to know your idea on academic plagiarism.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

Yours,

Su Yanli