Plagiarism
Nick Vella
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is considered to be known as stealing and passing something off as one of your owns. Using someone else's stuff without credit is illegal, which is plagiarism. This unethical action has two parts. Stealing someone's work and lying about stealing it.
Is this Plagiarism?
A Lot of times, people don't realize if they are illegally using someone else's work. Here are ways to tell if you are plagiarising.
- Saying someone else's work is your own
- Not giving credit when copying words or ideas
- Giving false information about the source
- Changing a few words and saying it's your own
If sources were cited 100% of the time, then plagiarism would most likely would not be a problem.
Punishment!
There are many types of repercussion for plagiarism. The legal repercussions of plagiarism are perhaps the most serious. This is mainly toward writers. If an author doesn't cite his sources, he could be deemed a criminal offense or even sentenced in jail. People who steal from books may be sued by authors. For students, the worst that can happen is suspension or being expelled. This can cause a serious downfall in a student's reputation, which can help prevent you from finding a job or getting into a good college.
But Why Government?
Let's go back in time. Think about Thomas Edison in his little cabin working with wires trying to create electricity. After successfully creating the bulb, he shares it with the world. However, this one guy named Billy says he created the light bulb a week after edison shared it with the world. Now some believe Billy created it. This is a form of plagiarism. It is very unethical and illegal. It is like stealing from a store. It's taking what is not yours and trying to make others think that it's yours.