Every human being has an inherent element of creativity within, and this enables that person to produce works of art. Those who recognize such traits and nourish them become good in particular arts or crafts. Writing is perhaps the most significant of art forms because everybody has to indulge in this activity as part of his or her routine. This may be the reason why developing adequate writing skills is considered as a crucial part of a person’s academic life. Plagiarism is an act of copying someone’s writing or any other form of creative output and using it as if it were the user’s own creation. In other words, it is a kind of ‘intellectual plunder’, which means a person is stealing something conceived and created by another individual and pretending that it is his or her own work. This, obviously, is an act to be condemned because it nullifies the values of originality, creativity, integrity morality and ethics.
Plagiarism is basically wrong because it is an act of stealing another person’s work and using it for a specific purpose. The values and principles imbibed in human beings teach them that ‘stealing’ is a wrong thing ethically besides being a criminal offence. Laws in all counties across this universe recognize ‘stealing’ as a criminal offence which needs to be tried in a court of law. Thus the civilized society wants every citizen to abstain from this activity. In the same context, stealing the creative work of another person and using it for one’s purpose, must be seen as a heinous offence and suitably dealt with. The morals, values and principles that humans have been taught to follow, are against stealing of any kind and, therefore, plagiarism which is an act of intellectual theft, should be avoided.
As stated in the introduction all humans are born with an element of creativity. Individuals who nourish this trait can hone up their talents and become good artists. Writing is a daily activity that every person has to indulge in, and this is especially significant in the case of students who pursue academic degrees. Students therefore, need to acknowledge the fact that they also possess a talent element of creativity and only by grooming it to full maturity they can tap their potential. Thus they need to nourish their writing from the very beginning itself and appropriately improve their skills at every level of their academic career graph, to become effective writers. When a student commits plagiarism it mars the creativity in that person and he or she, instead of learning the art of writing will end up copying and learn nothing on his or her own. This defeats the very purpose of education. Therefore, students should desist from activities like plagiarising to become real learners.
Personal and academic integrity are qualities that are very important for students. At no stage in their academic life should they allow these traits to be eroded by activities that are considered as unethical or immoral. Students should also include in them respect for values and principles. From the above discussions, it emerges that plagiarism, besides being unethical and immoral, is an act of criminal offence at par with stealing. Moreover, it destroys rather than enhances the creativity in students who are pursuing academic goals. Thus it can be stated that plagiarism is a wrong thing to do and all students should avoid it all together.