Plagiarism (剽窃)
①You just found some good stuff on the Web for your science report. You copy a paragraph and paste it into your report. Then you continue your research. But you just made a big mistake. You committed plagiarism. Plagiarism is when you use someone else’s words or ideas and pretend that they are yours. It’s not allowed in school, college, or beyond.
②The word “plagiarism” comes from Latin. It means stealing a person’s ideas. But it’s not always easy to tell what is plagiarism and what is not. Sometimes, it’s accidental. You really intended to do your own work, yet ended up with some sentences that sound just like something you’ve read.
③ Though plagiarism can be accidental, it’s sometimes done on purpose. That’s just being lazy. By copying whole paragraphs from different places, you don’t have to spend the time thinking about the subject, gathering your own thoughts about it, and then putting them into original words. Cut, paste, and you’re done.
④Most schools are pretty strict about plagiarism. If you’re caught, your graduation will be delayed or worse. At the very least, you’re probably going to fail the assignment. When you’re older and in college, some schools will kick out students who plagiarize. When you’re kicked out of one college, it can be hard to get into another.
⑤To be on the safe side, always make it clear where the information comes from. You need to write references. That’s a list of the sources you used for a project or report. To do that, you’ll need to know the author, the title, and the date it was published. If you write something really great, maybe some day someone will quote you in a report.