Plagiarism is a No-No

          Don't commit plagiarism. Don't plagiarize.   What?  Many people don't even know what the word plagiarism means. If you go to a college or university, you need to know what the word means.  Plagiarism is a fancy word that means cheating when you write. Plagiarism means when you take someone else's writing and submit it as your own. Or cutting and pasting something from the internet. Or having a friend who is a good writer write an essay for you, and then give it to your instructor as "your" writing. There are three good reasons not to commit plagiarism when you write. First of all, it is dishonest, and it's nice to be dishonest.  Second, it only hurts you when you plagiarize, because when you use someone else's writing, it doesn't help you to improve your own writing skills.  Finally, when you plagiarize, it could have serious consequences. If an instructor finds out that you have plagiarized, you probably will receive a zero on the assignment. In many colleges and universities, you can be dismissed from the school if you are caught plagiarizing in a class. So that's a pretty serious consequence of plagiarism.  So be careful and don't plagiarize when you write, and if you do use another person's writing or ideas, give them credit by referencing/citing  their work in your writing.