Exploitation vs. Low Standards

My summer course is nearly complete and I’m working on my final group project. The assignment requires us to write a 20-page academic research paper and give a presentation. Unfortunately, three of the other four members in my group blatantly plagiarized their sections of the report. In some cases, they copied and pasted entire paragraphs from websites without any citations. One of these students is graduating and two others are entering their fourth and final year.

There are two possible explanations for their behavior. It's possible that they know that if they hand in plagiarized work, I’ll redo it for them. Thus, they’ll get a good mark on the project despite putting in virtually no effort. The other alternative is that they don’t know what plagiarism is.

While I don’t want to be exploited, I hope that the first explanation is true. That possibility is less disturbing than knowing that three senior students haven’t even grasped the basics of academic integrity. I hope this university has some standards.