The act of plagiarizing has become a big evil in the world of writing. With tons of written and published documents present on the internet, there are a lot of chances for individuals to go through them, replicate them and pass on as their own.
This may be a walk in the park, and copying off someone else’s work sure is easy but it comes with a lot of consequences. Read on below to find out what legal punishments are there for plagiarism, several benefits of not plagiarising and we will help you with questions like what happens if you plagiarize in community college.
What is Plagiarism?
The act of plagiarizing can be easily defined as stealing or copying someone else’s work and passing it off while claiming that it’s your own. Plagiarism can be defined ina number of ways and sometimes it even entails taking someone’s idea and passing it off as their own. Since plagiarism can be of various types, it is a tricky road to pass through.
Copying off someone’s entire content is top tier plagiarism, other than that, plagiarism includes taking someone’s ideas, failing to put correct quotations to cite someone, not giving credit to the right people, stating incorrect resources for citations, and even self plagiarising.
Consequences Of Plagiarism
What Happens If You Plagiarize In Middle School?
Middle school is the step where children proceed to take a step into a more advanced sort of learning. This includes a higher number of assignments as compared to the ones they used to get in primary levels. Children in middle school are quite unaware of the dynamics of plagiarism and are just plainly aware of what copying is.
This is where the faculty and school admin system comes in to play. Teachers, etc are advised to start educating the children on what plagiarism is and what the consequences could be if one gets caught doing it.
Since middle school is a much smaller level fo the education system, children are usually warned about the act of plagiarizing. The one question which keeps coming up is what happens if you plagiarize in middle school. Well, since these are children, there are no strict legal repercussions but there will be some consequences on their level.
Students when caught copying off their assignments are often asked to repeat their assignment and the previous one that was handed over is canceled. This means loss of time that one has spent working on the previous one.
Furthermore, it entails even more loss of time from completing it again. Such students also get stuck in the teachers’ minds and get a bad reputation. There might strict checking and no leniency from teachers for them further on.
Since middle school is supposed to be the stepping stone for high school and college, it is better to make the students accustomed to how plagiarism works and how important it is to avoid plagiarising work.
What Happens If You Plagiarize In Community College?
Moving on, the repercussions for plagiarizing in community college are much more serious. At this stage of academic studies, plagiarism can have severe effects on the lives of the students. The worse part is that these outcomes can be hugely negative and affect an individual a lot in the long run. Let’s takes look at the answers to the question of what happens if you plagiarize in community college.
- First off, plagiarising in a community college will result in the paper or assignment getting canceled. This means that the student will have to repeat the entire assignment or in some cases, they might even be deprived of the chance to repeat it.
- Community colleges have the authority to go as far as suspending the student for a particular amount of time as a punishment for plagiarism.
- If the extent of the amount of content plagiarised is too high or if the plagiarism takes place in a final exam or final submission, then the college even has the authority to expel the student permanently. When expelled from college there is the additional problem that a character certificate might not be provided and getting admission to any other college would be even more challenging.
- Some community colleges in addition to canceling the assignment enforce a fine on the students to pay.
- Other than fines, there can be penalties for students involved in the act of plagiarizing as well. These penalties are usually decided by the disciplinary committee of the college.
10 Reasons Why You Should Not Plagiarize
There are various benefits of not plagiarizing and these can be ultimately counted as the 10 reasons why you should not plagiarize. Ever since the exposure to the internet has increased, there has been a huge audience that instead of using it positively tends to exploit it. People who plagiarize and copy other people’s content are also part of these types of people. The following are 10 reasons why you should not plagiarize
1.Reputation Damaged
Either as a student or a professional in the writing industry, any sort of plagiarism can harm your reputation. Students will most likely be viewed in a negative manner bu the teachers and the faculty. Similarly, professionals in the field of content or any other sort of professional writing might get their reputation tainted if they get caught plagiarizing.
2.Lack Of Opportunities
Individuals with tainted reputations are also less likely to get opportunities presented to them. Since their name will have been dragged through the mud because of plagiarizing, the industry is less likely to respect them. This will eventually lead them to get cornered and as a result, they will be deprived of many opportunities in the career or academic life.
3.Time Wastage
As time goes and the technology progresses every day, there are lots of tools available on the internet which can detect even 0.1% of plagiarism. Anyone who submits or finalizes a piece of work that is plagiarized is bound to get caught eventually. When caught, it is known for sure that their work will be disregarded and canceled because it won’t be original.
Getting work canceled can be devastating because it means mone would have wasted a lot of time and they would eventually have to do it all over again.
4.Wasted Grade
For students, this is an even more disadvantageous process. If they are caught plagiarizing, more than often colleges and schools tend to cancel the assignment and simply hand out an “F”. This means that there will be no second chances to rectify that grade or work on the already plagiarised content to make it better.
5.Monetary Fines
It depends on institutes to institute but sometimes this is a penalty too. If someone is caught plagiarising, in addition to their losing their work or grade, they might even have to pay a monetary fine. This fine can get high depending on the level of plagiarism and the seriousness of the situation.
6.Expulsion or Firing
In academic and professional life, the consequences of plagiarism can be quite severe. Some institutes and workplaces have it in their rules that anyone caught plagiarising on their final reports or work submissions can be subject to expulsion based on the intensity of the situation. In such cases, it is even more difficult to get another job or admission to another educational institute because no one would want such an employee or student.
7.Legal Consequences
One question that everyone keeps bringing up is what legal punishments are there for plagiarism. Well, there are a few. Punishments for plagiarism on an academic level can get as intense as expulsion but those in the professional field have it worse. Journalists or other professionals belonging form the content field can face lawsuits and be sued based on copyright laws. Copyright infringement can easily land an induvial in a court case.
Moreover, there are some clients or contracts that demand original and unique content or ideas. when something copied is handed to them and it gets caught, they might land in a lawsuit due to breach of contract. There can also be jail time if it gets extreme.
8.Lack Of Creativity
People who get into plagiarism are simply using someone else’s work and passing it off as their own. This means they are using as little of their imagination as they can. An increase in plagiarism in the society can lead to new ideas being generated since everyone is doing the same thing. To progress and give birth to new innovative ideas, the cogs of the mind must be played with.
9.Laziness
Furthermore, one should also avoid plagiarism as it is a sure-shot way of making the person doing it lazy and lazier. Copying off someone else’s content or using their ideas instead of working on your means you want to put in as little work as possible. This gives birth to laziness and hence decreases the productivity levels by a tenfold. By working on your own, one can get smarter get more outcomes and avoid laziness. This is one of the various benefits of not plagiarizing.
10.Subject To Trouble
Lastly, plagiarism when caught can make the authorities extremely annoyed. If there is ann assignment to be done, there are 99% chances that the professor gave sufficient time for the students to complete it on time. If time management is done, the work could’ve been done wonderfully without the need for plagiarism.
Similar is the case for employees. Anyone spotting plagiarism can get vindictive and have a negative view of you for the rest of your life. This even means that you might be not given any other chances if you get caught doing something light and not as extreme. When a person in authority knows of your blunder, they are bound to keep an eye on you for other discrepancies.
