Why Plagiarism Is Wrong

Plagiarism is all too common in schools from middle school up to college. It is the easy

Plagiarism is an increasing large issue on college campuses, a habit to most of the student. According to the article ‘’The Plagiarism Plague’’, the findings on the survey made to 50,000 students on more than 60 campuses was that 70 percent of the students admitted that they cheated. Half of the students surveyed admitted that one or more times made serious cheating on writing assignments, with 77 percent of the students surveyed said that cheating was not a serious issue.

Plagiarism is an illegal act in that a writer uses another’s word or ideas as their own without proper resources. According to Pennycook(as cited in Nall&Gherwash, Aug 12, 2013), the borrowing of word is considered a serious problem in terms of stealing ideas from authors. In other word, a writer should be aware of plagiarism while writing. Each school has different plagiarism polices. Between two colleges, George Brown College and Seneca College, they have common the standards of academic honesty but also, they have different course of actions in different ways to score the course and suspension periods.

When a person commits plagiarism, they are putting their professional and personal reputation at risk. Plagiarism is a form of theft and dishonesty, and committing such an act will make a one appear to be an untrustworthy person. This could cause difficulty in obtaining a future job or being accepted into colleges. Furthermore, if a student in school commits plagiarism, they risk failing the class or possibly being expelled from the school completely. Many high schools and universities have very strict policies regarding plagiarism. Considering that plagiarism has risen so much in recent years, schools are being forced to crack down on the consequences regarding those who commit plagiarism. In order to prevent these students from receiving credit that they did not earn and from advancing in their field due to somebody else’s work, schools do not take the issue of plagiarism lightly. In addition to ruined reputation and educational consequences, individuals that commit plagiarism may also face legal action. The works of writers and researchers are often protected under copyright laws. This allows them to have the rights over their own work and to prosecute those that infringe on those rights. It is solely up to the writer to decide whether they will press charges on the plagiarist. Plagiarists have committed theft as it pertains to another person’s ideas

Ms. Wilensky believes that plagiarism occurs because “students leave high school unprepared for the intellectual rigors of college writing.” In college, the writing becomes more thorough, detailed, and the need for accuracy grows. Incoming freshmen are not taught crucial critical thinking skills needed for successful college writing while still in high school. I believe that this is true because high school teachers , especially upperclassmen teachers, are trying to prepare their students for the SAT/ACT and/ or state finals.

In the article, “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age” written by author Trip Gabriel, there are multiple views on the aspects of plagiarism. Some people refuse to take plagiarism seriously, having a strong educational background as foundation as well as respect for other individuals work. Plagiarism is a serious offense and often considered a form of theft. Consequences for plagiarism can vary depending upon the campus, but can lead up to expulsion. Plagiarism commonly known as taking pieces of ideas or words and phrases from someone without giving credit.

The word plagiarism is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the action of “...copy[ing] and pass[ing] off (the expression of ideas or words of another) as one’s own… without crediting the source”. In the Howard County Public School’s “Code of Conduct” the levels of severity for consequences regarding actions such as plagiarizing are thoroughly explained using levels. Level I resulting in the least harmful consequences for a student and Level V resulting in the harshest. In my experience with the Level system of punishment, I would place my punishment for plagiarism at Level IV which includes a referral and required parent notification. The outcome of my actions has also resulted in a lunch detention and a zero on the assignment. In this paper, I will be explaining the courses of punishment for academic dishonesty (exclusively plagiarism) at the top three colleges I wish to apply to following high school and what punishment I would have faced if I plagiarized my paper in those colleges. The colleges include University of Maryland, Florida State University, and the University of California, Irvine.

The writer, Todd Pettigrew wrote the article “All your profs wrong about plagiarism,” explains that plagiarism takes the form of counterfeiting, which means to fake instead of stealing. Many college students result to piracy rather than to add in the work because they are lazy or desperate to succeed and rarely pay attention to the causes of cheating. Students who view plagiarism as counterfeiting may see nothing wrong with the crime because they fake their work instead of stealing another person’s own words. The scholar knows the system of cheating, acknowledges the consequences, and understands the crime; however, continues the offense because they want to pass the class. The two main ways to cheat consist of going online and blatantly stealing

With the ever-increasing wealth of information provided by a simple Internet search, students are finding their resource options growing. From hundreds of topic specific sources to completely written essays, students are challenged to use their own words. Michelle Cleary addresses the issues of plagiarism faced by students today while giving real-life solutions from an instructor’s view in her article, "Top 10 Reasons Students Plagiarize & What Teachers Can Do about It (With Apologies to David Letterman)". From research methods to writing instructions, the author uses a cause and effect scenario to illustrate the plagiarism problems and suggests methods that encourage academic success. Students struggle not only with the temptation to plagiarize, but also worry about inadvertently plagiarizing, and the ramifications of their actions.

Plagiarism- the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person: the act of plagiarizing something (An Ecylopedia Britannica Company). Plagiarism or academic integrity is a well-known issue that has evolved with students and their schooling. Not only are college students involved in this act at unprecedented rate, but students in high school and middle school are as well. Unintentional plagiarism can be performed unbeknownst to the student.

Plagiarism is using someone else’s work, words, production, researches and ideas without the approval or the acknowledgment of the writer or producer, and claiming the credit for himself. Many reasons and factors are attributed for the use of plagiarism and could be cultural, historical, linguistic, environmental and educational background. Plagiarism is a form of an academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, and a digital cheating. It is declared to be an unacceptable legal act and institutional regulations. And universities, schools, and instructors do not only need to decrease plagiarism, but they must also affect positively on students writings, increase the understanding of how to use digital technology to facilitate their academic writing.

If they are lacking in one of those areas then they may feel the need to plagiarize other’s work because they want to succeed without using creativity to write a paper. Essays require a number of steps in order to be developed into a well-written paper. Today, with the help of numerous online resources anyone can download an essay. For any number of reasons students think that buying or copying an essay can give them an easy way out instead using the writing skills they should have learned in school. Plagiarism is wrong on any level and especially for college students because they are held to a higher standard. Passing a ready-made essay as your own cheapens an academic degree and if discovered will make people think the student didn’t do any of their overall work by

Plagiarism is common in schools, working places, and anywhere in general. Since it is such a common thing, people do it without even blinking an eye. Though you may think it will benefit you, plagiarism is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It can effect the person you are stealing from, their grades, work, or possibly get them fired. It is also considered stealing, and cheating. This would be breaking the Ten Commandments, as a Christian, and would be seen as a sin. In the end, plagiarism prevents you from learning and growing as a person and you will not benefit from it in a positively.

My assignment is to write a four page essay about plagiarism and why it is wrong and to be avoided. According to the internet, “plagiarism is taking someone else’s work and acting as if it is original with you“. The actual author is not given proper credit for their thoughts, ideas, and concepts per the internet dictionary. When the writing does not have the right notations people will assume that you wrote it if your name is on the paper. If another person work is used provide quotes! Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and a breach of writing ethic. It does not mean that you said it was your work, but you acted as if it is yours. Some people plagiarize because they have a good memory. They did not mean to or didn’t recall hearing it or reading it. But if someone asks you about it and you are silent, it is equal to acting like it your original work. One example of plagiarism is when you pay people to do your work and turn it in. Copying a book or chapter is plagiarism. Cheating off of a classmate paper is another example. Taking credit for someone's quotes. Asking your girl friend to do your homework. Copying off your brother who took the class last year.

Plagiarism is the uses of someone else work and authored it as one’s own work. In a school environment, it is basically the use of someone else research or publication either a book or even an article on a review without mentioning him or her as if it was the student’s own ideas or work. Per Roig and DeTommaso, 1991, stated in their research that Plagiarism is an act of academic dishonesty and cheating. They also stated that there are many factors that lead to these dishonesties. It is one of the primary problems in academic life and it is a simple subject to draw, but badly to keep off. Plagiarism has become one of the major issues among university students around the world. It is one type of academic misconduct which, is treated seriously in today's universities. Plagiarism is something that is not valued, ignores, or excused in any part of the education process. Either is it supported in whatever type of assignment. Plagiarizing does not only steal someone else’s work; it also robs students from the learning experience that they can earn on the assignment. It promotes laziness and shortcut that can be bad for the school environment. Plagiarism can affect a school badly because it will give the school bad names and downgrade it prestige.