Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of taking another person's ideas or work and passing them off as your own. This is a serious crime and offense, and is not taken lightly anywhere, be it in high school, college, or in the working world. Often times, people resort to plagiarism when on a time constraint or when they are unable to come up with their own work due to laziness or not fully understanding what the task at hand is. Many know that it is extremely, dangerously common in high school, but even if you may not get caught then, karma will most likely come around and force you to suffer to some degree of consequences. First off, when you plagiarize, you do not learn anything. Constantly plagiarizing will not help you retain information, nor will it exercise your brain's creative and intellectual thought processes, not helping you grow at all and leaving you at a static state of mind. In addition, plagiarizing in high school is setting the foundation for plagiarizing in college, which is even more dangerous and risky, with more extreme consequences. If caught cheating in college, you are subject to immediate expulsion, without any second chances. Besides hurting themselves, those who plagiarize hurt other as well. Turning in and getting credit for work that is not theirs is unfair to students who actually did their own work. It is jeopardizing their classmates and teachers as well as the school they are attending. All in all, plagiarism is not something to be taken lightly, and should not be practiced at all, ever.