Pleasure or Peril?
Plagiarism isn't just an easy way out of a paper; it can also be an easy way out of your college. While you might think that just this once it won't matter, the fact is, it matters tremendously.
Forging your way
Buying papers off a website can be a risky undertaking. There are plenty of sites that help professors compare papers they suspect of being plagiarized to those found on the Internet, such as TurnItIn. And many of the papers on the Internet are poor quality. While you might avoid writing a paper, many of the ones available on the Web are D-material. And some people get even unluckier than that.
Consider the case of the teaching assistant who had a student hand in a paper that she had written years before as an undergraduate. (The following name has been changed for privacy.)
"The paper on the Web had my name as C. Suleman, while as a TA, I went by Jane, my middle name," she says. The student, apparently not thinking too hard, printed it, handed it in, and for his tremendous effort, received an F and disciplinary action. "I told him that it was a great paper," said the TA. "Too bad it wasn't his."
So maybe not all forgeries are that easily caught, but the fact is, the possibility is huge. Besides, if plagiarism is the way you want to go, maybe you should be rethinking college in the first place. After all, it pretty much defeats the reason you're there in the first place.
Avoiding it like the plague
So how do you avoid plagiarizing? After all, you are relatively new to this paper-writing. Well, first of all, paraphrasing or changing a couple of words here and there won't get you off the hook. Even if done inadvertently, this can still earn you an F, or even get you kicked out of school (in a worst-case scenario). Passing off others' ideas as your own, even by mistake, is just wrong. Moreover, it's completely avoidable, so make sure you don't do it.
Most inadvertent plagiarism takes place when you're taking notes from a journal or book. So, make sure you paraphrase into your notesÑit will also be less awkward once the ideas get into your paper. And even paraphrasing someone else's idea is still plagiarism if you don't credit it. So make sure you have a proper bibliography. Credit all information you find.
Keep in mind that notes or quotations you found on the Web have to be attributed, just like any book or magazine article you might reference. By now, most style guides and handbooks should have sections that show you how to credit Internet material, but if you happen not to have such a guide, here are some good sites to give you tips:
Even though imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, it can still get you expelled.
