Plagiarism As One Type Of Dishonesty
Plagiarism is the fraudulent act of taking someone else’s words and ideas and titling them as your own. Plagiarism is bad for multiple reasons. Firstly, it is dishonest and just cheating, it is copy and pasting someone else’s text and not giving them any credit for it. This can lead to serious consequences in high school and college. The reason plagiarism is unethical is because the plagiarizer is benefiting from someone else’s work and intellectual quality. Another reason plagiarism is bad is because intellectually, the plagiariser isn’t benefiting. The thief isn’t learning the material and are just lying to themselves. Finally, there are much better alternatives then plagiarising. There are other choices like receiving help from peers or teacher. The main reason people plagiarize is if they have a deadline that will end soon or if they are just lazy. This is wrong and completely immoral. In looking at the act of plagiarism and considering, the lying, the consequences, and the alternatives, we can find that plagiarism is wrong.
Dishonesty and lying is a very common problem today. Many people go around telling lies to cover up laziness or other flaws that they wouldn't want to show. Dishonesty in one case, and getting away with it, can lead to dishonesty in similar situations. When this becomes more frequent, the person will eventually get caught and face the consequences they’ve been hiding from until then. This can affect someone for the rest of their lives. In some cases plagiarism can be illegal because one is stealing someone else’s intellectual property. This can occur only if the work copied is trademarked or has a copyright license. Whether the text is trademarked or not, plagiarism is still wrong and stealing. In some cases people can face jail time and fines which becomes a big problem in the long run of someone’s life.
When one plagiarises, they aren’t benefiting intellectually and are just cheating their way through class. The person who plagiarises is plainly just lying to themselves, they aren’t learning anything, if anything it is a drawback. There are different types of plagiarism as well. Firstly, there is direct plagiarism, where someone copies someone else's text word for word, with the intent of cheating. Secondly, there is self plagiarism, when someone turns in one of their past work as a new one, without permission from one of the teachers from any of the classes. Thirdly, there is mosaic plagiarism, when someone takes another person’s text and inserts them word for word, without quotations, even if they add the source in their bibliography or footnotes. Finally, there is unintentional plagiarism. When someone takes another person's sentence, keeps the same structure, replaces words with synonyms, but fails to cite the source. Each of these versions of plagiarism are punishable and unethical.
Even when one plagiarises, in retrospect, they should notice that there are always better alternatives. The thief can ask the teacher for advice or ask a peer for some guidance. I now believe that even if anyone runs out of words or ideas for their work, and have no other choice for anything, they should turn it in and hope they do good. This is always better than cheating. Even if the lazy writer gives up, they should always try their best and then be judged off that. When someone doesn’t study, that is on them, they deserve the bad grade they have coming at them.
