Plagiarism

Plagiarism defined by me is plain out copying or stealing material from a source and not giving credit where credit is deserved. People who plagiarize to me are not only lazy but selfish in the sense they take advantage of convenience by taking something that is not theirs and making it their own. As stated in Dr. Kings and Mark Gura's podcasting, values do indeed need to be re-defined! Though I will have to agree and relate with many students today that following the many formats such as MLA, APA, APA 5th edition can be a pain and very time consuming, it is something we are going to have to just suck it up! Teachers/educators should also be aware that following these exact formats is not the easiest of tasks and requires students to be very meticulous when working on research papers and such. I think that if teachers are more lenient when it comes to taking off points on papers due to minor errors, that students will not be as frustrated with following these formats to a "T". On the other hand, it is still important they emphasize that if they continue to make these errors, points will be deducted. It is important to give everyone a chance because we all are no where near perfect! So give credit where credit is due and be unique!