"If you are caught plagarising, even if it is unintentional, you will fail the course, if not worse." Many highschool students hear this every year; for it is most likely the best scare tactic. They are told not to "copy" each others work. However, this term has an area as gray as right and wrong. Was two plus two four before dos y dos era quatro? the chicken or the egg? This raises the question, how does one define cheating? Can one define cheating or plagarism? Perhaps, on some level, everyone plagarizes.
From K-12, we are taught to read and write. We are taught by analyzing the strenghts of writers and applying them to our own writing. We are even taught how to analyze other writing styles. Therefore, to some degree, one could say we are taught to plagarize. I do not mean to encourage one to claim another's work as their own; but to merely raise a question; a request of clarity. Perhaps plagarism, especially unintentional, is regarded as too high a crime. For we are almost groomed to plagarize from child hood.
If one looks at a highschool's student everyday writing, a.k.a texting, email, etc...one can see my point. You see things such as lol, uncapitalized letters, and even numbers that take the place of words entirely. The students see a faster way to communicate, and then apply it to their own writing. Some see this as progressing backwards while other see a new language forming. Either way, all the writing was built off of a foundation that also has its own roots.
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