Imagine yourself working on something with all your heart and soul and you slog all night to make it look like the best thing in the world and suddenly when you wake up the next day, someone else is calling your work their own and taking all the credit for it, while you just sit there and fume. It doesn’t sound nice, does it? That is exactly what plagiarism is, it is similar to stealing a thing and calling it your own. A lot of us do it in our dissertation project and don’t even realise it, but here is why we need to be careful.
It is against the law: The first and most important reason is because, why would we want to get on the wrong side of law by doing something that it does not allow. If you happen to copy work that has a copyright, the person who owns the work may take you to court or make you pay a hefty sum for using their work.
It is unethical: How right is it to just copy someone’s work and call it your own? It is morally and ethically wrong to do that and when you feel like doing it, ask yourself how you might feel if somebody did that with you.
It does not add value: When you read up and create something new for your dissertation, you are actually learning something. However, when you just pick something up and show it as yours, you are not gaining any knowledge, except for learning how to cheat!
The evaluators may find out: When you submit your dissertation, the chances are very high that the evaluators may find out you have copied, which means that a mistake on your part, may cost you your entire dissertation and you may be asked to go through the process again.