Plagiarism and How to Avoid It

                Plagiarism is a very important topic to consider when composing anything academically-related. I am no stranger to the parameters that entail plagiarization of academic compositions, it was something that was deeply ingrained into my high school brain. Although many of us have had encounters with plagiarism, either directly or indirectly, many of us (including myself) had not been properly informed of the possible consequences of even the most minor or accidental forms of plagiarism in college.

                Plagiarism was always something that was extremely frowned upon in high school; we were always advocated against using the work and thoughts of others without direct citations. However, the consequences of plagiarism were very minor at best—maybe a failed paper; sure, this was something terrible for our grades and possibly our overall GPA, but it never had the consequences that plagiarism in a college environment entails. In college, if you are caught plagiarizing the work of another person, you can have everything taken away from you. Through the articles that were given to us in class regarding plagiarism, we learned many ways to avoid unintentional plagiarization. One of the biggest ways to avoid plagiarizing the work of others, in addition to preventing major headache on late-night homework sessions, is to make sure you cite your work the instant you insert it into your paper. By citing all necessary and pertinent information when you actually type it, you save yourself from having to go back later and cite those items, and possibly forgetting one accidentally.