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Consequences Of Plagiarism In The Case Of Gabrielle Napolitano

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For all intents and purposes, plagiarism is defined as the practice of taking someone’s thoughts and/or ideas and claiming them as your own or not giving them their due credit as the originator. Even though plagiarism sounds like it isn’t that big of a deal, it most definitely is and can have life-changing consequences for those who commit it. One such incident can be found in the case of Gabrielle Napolitano. In January of 1982, Napolitano, who was a senior at Princeton University, was found to have plagiarized a large portion of a 12-page term paper. While she did provide footnotes, she neglected to provide citations in the text for paraphrased material and she neglected to include any quotations for words and phrases that she used from a book. The University took the situation very serious and one month later decided that Napolitano was guilty. Her punishment was to be the denial of her diploma for a period of 1 year (Plagiarism, 2017).
Napolitano disagreed with their decision and sued the University, however, justice was not on her side. A New Jersey appeals court upheld the decision and Napolitano had to wait the year to receive her diploma (Mawdsley and Cumming, 2008). This case clearly shows how a charge of plagiarism can impact your life. Not only did Napolitano not get her diploma when she should but it is 35-years later and obviously her case is still being talked about, which proves that a case of plagiarism can follow you throughout your life. Unfortunately,

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