Plagiarism is a very extensive problem in industries like journalism, design, and most importantly education and academia. Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else’s work and claiming it to be yours. This is a very well known issue that occurs in schools and universities due to a plethora of reasons like stress, bad decision making, and sometimes accidentally. Plagiarism is a breach of integrity, honesty and originality causing it to have very serious consequences. In an effort to prevent people from committing plagiarism, severe consequences have been set in all industries. In professional jobs, plagiarism may lead to getting fired from your job, a damaged reputation, and even legal repercussions [1]. Whereas for students, it may result in academic probation, failing a course, and potentially expulsion depending on its severity [1]. Taking into account the severity of plagiarism and its consequences, it's best to avoid it at all costs. There's a plethora of ways to avoid plagiarism such as citing your sources, using online plagiarism detectors, and improving your time management. Citing your sources is giving credit to the original creator or source of the information used. Citations can be done in plenty of styles like APA, MLA, or Chicago so pick one if not already assigned one and cite all of your sources to be safe [3]. With the great technology that we are blessed to have our hands on, it is very easy to examine your work and check for plagiarism through online programs and tools [2]. These tools are able to spot plagiarism within minutes and even inform you where the lack of citing is and how you are able to fix it. Finally, the last method to prevent plagiarism is to stop procrastinating and improve your time management [2]. The biggest source of bad decisions and mistakes like committing plagiarism is rushing and working on your assignments hours or minutes before they are due. Write down a schedule with the tasks you want to achieve in order to stay on top of your goals [3]. In conclusion, plagiarism is a very serious issue that needs to be repeatedly spoken about to employees and students to ensure that they do not commit plagiarism at any point in their career. Using methods like online tools, proper citations, and time management, plagiarism can be hopefully prevented without the need for exercising the harsh but deserved punishments. Works Cited Page Calonia, J. (2023, April 25). How to avoid plagiarism. Grammarly. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/5-most-effective-methods-for-avoiding-plagiarism/ [1] University, C. M. (n.d.). How to prevent plagiarism - eberly center - carnegie Mellon University. How to prevent plagiarism - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University. https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/writing/preventplagiari sm.html [2] Avoiding plagiarism – MIT Comparative Media Studies/writing. (n.d.). https://cmsw.mit.edu/writing-and-communication-center/avoiding-plagiarism/ [3]
