The Impact of Plagiarism on My Educational Journey
“Not everyone is born to be a writer.” This is my high school teachers’ go-to phrase when evaluating my assignments. My loaded extracurricular schedule left me little time for excelling in academics, so my grandma became an engaged contributor to writing or editing my work. Her support helped me graduate high school as a straight A student, but it lost its power when I enrolled in the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG). Overwhelmed with a new cultural environment and struggling to connect words in meaningful sentences in my native language, writing assignments in English felt torturous. I perform even worse under the pressure of limited time. The approaching midterm exams made me question my capability of receiving higher education if I couldn’t make it through the first semester. Luckily, my peers introduced me to a promising innovative tool - ChatGPT. Despite professors’ warnings, watching Artificial Intelligence (AI) swiftly generating lines of coherent and cohesive text brought hope and relief. For a while, my motto was: summarize, analyze, humanize - repeat.
However, the spark of enthusiasm over the AI faded quickly. Not only because the AI detectors such as Turnitin came into play, but also because AI ceased to deliver a competitive advantage once its use became widespread. I vividly remember listening to four of my classmates reading aloud almost identical movie scripts they allegedly independently wrote. The encounter made me realize that if I wanted to stand out as a student and an aspiring professional, I have to switch to more strategic tactics. Then I strived to use AI more intricately: asking it for editing advice or brainstorming ideas instead of bluntly generating the passages. Learning from its suggestions, I gradually felt more confident in writing as I thought through polishing my assignments I would improve my writing competences. Although this feeling of empowerment led to me to apply for creative writing competitions in prose and poetry, it did not bring any fruitful results.
I had not shared my reliance on AI and doubted professors knew about it, but once my literature professor invited me to his office hours to discuss my assignment. At first, I was thrown off by her question: “Do you like bland food?” She elaborated saying she could not sense my voice through the paper while she expected it to be palpable considering my active participation in class. While acknowledging that AI could be educational and time-saving, she emphasized how it puts at risk critical thinking tasks such as deep revision of text, evaluation of sources’ biases, and many more. The conversation made me feel like the Little Mermaid: sacrificing my voice for AI-powered convenience to conform with perceived standards of flawless communication.
The internal conflict raised through this dialogue incentivized me to join the AI Aware Universities project at AUBG. Alongside other student leaders, I facilitated discussions about the ethical use of AI among various university stakeholders and participated in compiling policy recommendations that were later implemented by the university administration. Throughout the project I heard the saying that natural stupidity is better than artificial intelligence but I tend to disagree with it. AI can facilitate skill development if it gives a perspective on how to approach critical thinking tasks instead of performing them instead of me. These days I use AI significantly less and only for advice, disclosing the use when I do. Even if my essays make professors’ shredders hungry, exploring my voice in imperfect writing is a rewarding and valuable journey that I will continue embarking on with every writing opportunity.
About the PlagiarismSearch.com`s Scholarship Winner
I am a student at the American University in Bulgaria majoring in Journalism and Mass Communication and Political Science and International Relations. As a writer, facilitator, and aspiring change-maker, I am passionate about creating opportunities for critical dialogue around technology, education, and ethics in modern academia.