Ethics

What is so bad about plagiarism? It makes sense to copy down some information, pass it off as your own, get a good grade, and call it a day. For me, there are two major reasons why we need to avoid plagiarism like the plague.

1.) Responsibility to the reader: as a writer, you obviously have responsibilities to your audience. I feel that among them are the need to provide readers with factual information from credible sources. But this does not give you license to take whatever information you want and pass it off as your own. To me it is the same as robbing a bank. You are stealing material that you did not provide the hard work to earn.

2.) Responsibility to yourself: this may sound very sappy but I believe it to be true. Learning is not simply about getting a grade; it is about the process of learning how to think. It is about discovery. I feel that you cheat yourself by plagiarizing. Yes, it takes more effort to do all the work by yourself but I think you will honestly feel better about yourself if you do the work rather than stealing from others. No matter what the Daily Universe reports about the "gray" areas in the Honor Code remember, gray is just diluted black.