4 reasons why avoiding plagiarism is important

"Plagiarism is unethical. When a write uses someone else's words, information, or ideas and doesn't acknolwedge using that work, that is considered an act of stealnig, even if it happens beause of carelessness or rushing too fast to write the paper."

"Plagiarism menas a lsot learning opportunity." When given a reserach assignment, students receive the opportunity to learn about the topic they are writing about. If the students simply copy and paste the information from their source without citing, they lose the opportunity to learn about what they are writing.

"Plagiarism diminishes your credibility." When students commit plagiarism they loose all credibility of their own. They lose this credibility because students do not produce any information of their own and receive no credit for writing.

"Plagiarism may result in serious penalties." When students commit plagiarism, they risjk the chance of receiving a zero and being dropped from a class. Research papers are normally worth a lot of points and can have a serious effect on the students grade. Plagiarism can also result in legal consequences if the work the student copied decided to take legal against the student.

Harris, Muriel, and Jennifer L. Kunka. "Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism." Prentice Hall Reference  Guide. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2011. 378. Print. Custom Edition for Ozarks Technical Community College.