Why is plagiarism considered a crime

Plagiarism means “the wrongful appropriation or purloining and publication as one’s own, of the ideas, or the expression of the ideas… of another”, as per the Oxford English Dictionary. To put it simply, if you portray some other author’s work as your own when writing an assignment, essay or research report, then it will be equivalent to duplication.

To get inspiration from somebody’s idea is one thing, and to copy the idea/data/text exactly is another. It is same as stealing of property; just that the thing being robbed here is Intellectual Property. Hence, this will amount to a crime and is liable to be punished. This is the reason why all the colleges across the world have such strict rules against plagiarism and guide students so that they are able to avoid such action. Every educational course is meant to enhance the knowledge of students and provide them a chance to conduct original research, develop insights, and master the subjects they study. By plagiarizing content, all these aims get defeated.

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