Plagiarism is the act of representing another person’s words or ideas as your own. The offense may be as small as a sentence copied from a book. Or it may be as extensive as a whole paper copied, or bought from somebody else.
In my opinion, plagiarism is something like stealing, not material things but intelligence. It may be easy for you to take the ideas from others, but it took a long time for others to come out the idea. Plagiarism is also dishonest behavior, like cheating. In a society which emphasizes honest and credit, it must be avoided. To achieve that aim, I’d like to offer two suggestions.
First, people who plagiarized should be punished seriously. Professional writers who plagiarize can be taken to civil court and ordered to pay damages. In schools, the punishment for cheating could be a failing grade on the paper or in the course. Some schools expel plagiarists for a term; others, for a full academic year. Some degrees have even been withdrawn after a school later found that a student had plagiarized.
Second, teachers and education agencies should encourage students to be a better original writer. After telling students the harmless of plagiarism, they should inspire students what to write and how to write. If students can write by themselves, they do not have to plagiarize from others.
Plagiarism is a dishonest behavior. It not only bring harm to others but also to yourself, so we should never do that!