16 - Unoriginal: The Perils of Copying and Pasting

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(This is going to be a relatively short post, as I am already making another post with a different topic.)

I have been browsing the blogs of my blockmates and I was shocked to find out that some of the content on the blogs of my blockmates WERE PLAGIARIZED WORKS. How can I say that? Well, truth be told, it was very easy to spot them. The not-so-perfect formatting of the text, the different font, the background, and the semi-perfect grammar really rings bells inside my head, notifying me that a particular blog post was filled with plagiarized works. Honestly speaking, it is EXTREMELY EASY TO SPOT PLAGIARIZED WORKS. Let me give you an example:



As you can see, it is extremely easy to spot that this is plagiarized work. The background is white and it does not match the background color of the post body. The same goes for the text, it matches the copied background and it looks very out of place. Last but not least, if you copy a sentence from the body, you would immediately find the source of that said work.





Regardless of whatever search engine you use, you will still find the original work, you cannot hide it from search engines. Even if you have switched some of the words around, you can still find the original source.

I am not saying that I have plagiarized works on this blog (or any of my blogs, for that matter). God knows that I work hard typing all of these blog posts of mine over a flimsy keyboard. I am not threatening my other blockmates to write original content as well. Quite frankly, I am warning them. Why? Because the professors at Asia Pacific College check for plagiarized works. I recall that we have been already told that, if the professors see plagiarized works, they will print a snippet of the original source and they will staple it to your printed document. So please, blockmates, DO NOT COPY CONTENT FROM WEBSITES. Nobody likes a copycat.

Unless you want to get a perfect zero on your project, I suggest that you make up your own content. Besides, why would you not like to make your own original content detailing some of the events of your life? You can use blogging as a way for you to improve your grammar and proficiency in English. You can apply the lessons that your professors in English have taught you. Ma'am Ceres, Miss Mina, and Sir Deeno would be disappointed at you if they find out that you just plagiarized the works of others.

Not only them, but some of your blockmates and maybe even I will be disappointed. There is a common Filipino saying, "Ay, tamad 'yan, nagka-copy at paste lang 'yan sa mula Google. 'Wag ka gumaya sa kanya." Also, when you plagiarize, you would also make plagiarizing the works of others a habit that you may carry when you grow older.

Since we are in a computer software course, heck, you might even consider copying code from other sites or even from your blockmates. When we start programming graphical user interfaces, you might even have a hard time compiling your own original program and, in turn, be forced to copy from the works of others. Unless, of course, you finally decide to learn and continuously try to learn.

If you cannot even make a blog post detailing the relevant events in your life, then how can you compile hundreds of lines of code in your own program?
Think of the grade you will get when your professors find out that your works were plagiarized from others. I will just leave you with that thought.

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