Plagiarism: Why should I care?

INTELLECTUAL HONESTY AND PLAGIARISM The college believes intellectual honesty is a virtue central to the life of an academic community. All members of the Bethel community are held accountable for upholding that virtue. Academic misconduct, including cheating or plagiarism (the act of offering another’s words, ideas, data or conclusions as one’s own), will not be tolerated. An instructor may, with written notice to the student, treat as unsatisfactory any student work that is a product of academic misconduct. An instructor may impose sanctions ranging from failure on the assignment or test to failure in the course. All cases of plagiarism will be reported to the vice president for academic affairs, the vice president for student life and the student’s adviser.

Bethel College Catalog, 2017-18, pg. 40.

Penn State presents these reasons why plagiarism is wrong:

1. You deny yourself the opportunity to learn and practice skills that may be needed in your future careers. You also deny yourself to opportunity to receive honest feedback on how to improve your skills and performance.
2. You invite future employers and faculty to question your integrity and performance in general.
3. You commit fraud on faculty who are evaluating your work.
4. You deprive another author due credit for his or her work.
5. You show disrespect for your peers who have done their own work.

(http://tlt.psu.edu/plagiarism/student-tutorial/why-plagiarism-is-wrong/)