The Problem of Plagiarism Essay -- Definition Essays

Plagiarism is badly isnt a definition, but (coming from a public high school) that might be all youve ever been taught. Theres not much being d cardinal to go by students from plagiarizing in their high school courses. Teachers of junior and senior English classes escape the hardest at stopping buccaneering. Still, most of us have no idea of why we shouldnt plagiarize. Then we come to college where we ar faced with things like pedantic honesty committees and honor courts those days of cut and paste writing assignments ar over. So, what is plagiarism, other than bad? What do you do to keep from plagiarizing? And how might your professors turn you? Plagiarism is basically theft of written in readectual position. Whats intellectual berth? you ask. Dictionary.com defines intellectual decorousty as the ownership of ideas and control over the distinct or virtual representation of those ideas. Use of another persons intellectual property may or may not involve royalty payments or permission, but should always include proper credit to the source (http//www.dictionary.com). If you perish to give proper credit, then you have plagiarized. Wilson Mizner once said, Copy from one, its plagiarism copy from two, its research, (Campus Planner). At first, this seems purely humorous, but if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. If you write a paper, and all you do is copy the thoughts and opinions of one person, then you ar plagiarizing. Even if you avoid plagiarism by siting your imagery properly, youre not getting a good grade -- all you are doing is copying someones work. If, on the other hand, you take the ideas and opinions from multiple sources, give proper credit and make your own connections with the... ...ation. If you are looking to learn lessons for life, then learn how to play fair and give credit where credit is due. If you are actually in college to learn from books, then you wont plagiarize because your teachers and text books tell you not to. And even if you are only in college to have a good time, remember this, the party is over if you flunk out or are expelled. Works Cited1999-2000 Campus Planner. CSA Inc. Dayton, Ohio. Hinchliffe, Lisa. Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism Preventing, Detecting and Tracking Online Plagiarism. May 1998. Online. http//alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/janicke /plagiary.htm (12 Oct.1999) Hults, Pat. Plagiarism. Online. http//www.cobleskill.edu/Irc/ethical motive/plagiarism.html. (12 Oct. 1999) Intellectual Property. March 27, 1997. http//www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=Intellectual%20property. (28 Sept 1999)