Overcoming Plagiarism

Plagiarism is an ever-increasing problem throughout the world today, as the internet, along with technology such as Iphones and Tablets, has made accessing another person’s useful work as easy as typing a few words into a search bar. Pirating that work is then a simple matter of “cutting and pasting”. Similarly, advanced word processors have provided a stress-free way of integrating another’s writing into one’s own, or editing a plagiarized work so that it is more difficult to detect. However, plagiarism is not merely immature cheating or a “little white lie” but a serious offense – legally, a crime. The consequences of plagiarism are large – any plagiarizer runs the risk of a lawsuit s/he is sure to come out of badly, and often the work of the plagiarizer will be destroyed (even if the majority of it is original). Students will likely be kicked out of their learning institute, may have their degree or previous credentials revoked, and are left with a record that could keep them from being accepted into any other institute. The anti-plagiarism scanner Viper claims, “it is no exaggeration to say that for a moment of foolishness you may well be sacrificing your academic career”. Unfortunately, many essentially honest people tumble into the pit of plagiarism and suffer the same results as anyone else. A person can avoid this tragedy by developing a proper understanding of the circumstances that lead to plagiarism prior to a situation where s/he has the opportunity to plagiarize, and then recognizing the techniques to avoid such circumstances.

According to http://www.customwritings.com, students are the population group most likely to plagiarize. Customwritings states that the primary reason for a student choo...

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From this, it can be seen that despite the deep temptation to plagiarize that every student will doubtless face at some point in his/her academic career, and despite the ease with which an instant of carelessness can turn into plagiarism, it is very possible for the well-informed and attentive student to avoid this pitfall. Every writer and researcher, student or otherwise, should take the time to educate themselves about plagiarism. A simple quarter of an hour spent thus could very well spare a person enormous heartache and disaster later.

Works Cited

http://www.customwritings.com

http://www.rbs2.com

http://www.scanmyessay.com

http://www.sparknotes.com

http://uss.tufts.edu

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/index.html