How serious is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is stealing!
Plagiarism is quite simply theft. It is the stealing of other people's ‘intellectual property’ such as theories and ideas. It is the claiming that these ideas are one’s own.
Plagiarism is dishonest and it is also a serious crime. Authors have been involved in high stakes court cases because they feel someone has stolen their ideas. At university level the stakes are still high. Students caught plagiarising will at the very least have to re-submit the assignment, and in serious cases have been removed from the higher education establishment or have been awarded ‘nil’ for that assignment or course module.
Think about this:
Do you think that the possibility of being caught and thrown off your course is worth plagiarising material from others? Do you really want to feel you have cheated in order to pass your course or particular assignment? To read more about how to avoid plagiarism go to avoiding plagiarism.