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Copy and paste. For many students, those three little words are getting them into big trouble. Whether it's a few copied sentences, paragraphs, or entire essays without giving credit to the author, using someone else's words is a growing temptation for time--crunched students. And, with the Internet a virtual Mecca of unethical downloading opportunities, more and more students are succumbing to plagiarism, and facing serious consequences.

Although plagiarism exists in many forms, doing it via the Internet has quickly become the most popular method among high school and college students today. Web sites that buy and sell essays and college term papers offer glowing descriptions of "high--quality" papers for a few dollars a piece, supposedly saving students hours of painstaking studying, researching, and writing. In 2003, a study conducted on 23 college campuses by officials at Rutgers University (Newark, NJ ) found that 38 percent of undergraduate students have cut and pasted material from the Internet. Half of them said they didn't see anything wrong with what they did.

Among the hundreds of sites that exist, a student can find papers on topics ranging from "Critical Evaluation of the James--Lange Theory of Emotion to "Images of Eating Disorders in Modern Art and Literature." Some sites like BINGOessays.com charge up to $40 per page for professionally--written, custom papers. Others, such as MyFreeEssays.com, offer lesser--quality papers for free.

Most of these essay search engines provide a disclaimer somewhere on their sites, such as "We do not promote plagiarism." However, very few sites indicate the severe consequences that can result from submitting one of their papers as your own. One site that attempted to warn against the crime didn't even spell 'plagiarism' correctly. Even worse, SchoolSucks.com seems to encourage this crime with its slogan, "Download your workload."

Although some students will deliberately submit an entirely plagiarized paper, many aren't aware of what exactly constitutes plagiarism, says Dr. Carol Bader, assistant dean of education at Georgia College and State University (Milledgeville, GA). In her research, Dr. Bader found that many students have plagiarized unknowingly. "Most students don't want to be caught plagiarizing, but they just don't know what constitutes plagiarism," says Badar. If you aren't sure, ask! Whether it's intentional or not, essay thievery can lead to serious consequences.

Not Just a Shortcut
Simply put: Plagiarism is a crime. Penalties vary, but can include a zero on an assignment, an F in the class, academic probation, monetary fines, or even permanent expulsion from college. Men and women, young and old, have been fired from their jobs and even had College degrees revoked, in addition to having their reputations ruined as a result of plagiarism. Plagiarists also risk being sued by the original author.

Don't believe it? Just ask New York Times reporter Jayson Blair and USA Today foreign correspondent Jack Kelley. Both were forced to resign because they repeatedly used deceptive reporting and writing tactics.

And don't think you'll get off easy at the classroom level. At the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA), more than 100 students were accused of plagiarizing an introductory physics class paper over the course of four semesters. In 2002, 48 students quit or were expelled; three graduates even had their degrees revoked.

So, how likely is it for a plagiarist to get caught? To counteract the growing popularity of  

Internet plagiarism

 , Web sites have beencreated to assist teachers who suspect a student is cheating. One of these sites, Turnitin.com, checks papers against three databases: Billions of publicly accessible Internet pages, millions of published books and periodicals, and any student papers turned in to them. Originality reports give a side--by--side comparison of the student's work with any plagiarized material found.

K�thlin Goodrich, a senior at Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL), found that many of her profs could recognize a plagiarized paper simply because they remembered reading it before. "Every year, I hear English profs say something like 'I've read so many papers at this point in my career, I can tell when something has been plagiarized. Don't risk your grade,'" she explains.

This was certainly true for Tamara McGinnis, an English professor at Western Baptist College (Salem, OR). In one of her freshman writing classes, a student turned in a paper that seemed strangely familiar. Upon further investigation, McGinnis says she discovered the girl's roommate had turned in the exact paper three years earlier. "My student had stolen it from her roommate's computer," McGinnis says. The plagiarist received an 'F' on the paper, and consequently, in the class.

Worth the Risk?
To those who think they might be able to get away with plagiarism, Dr. Bader offers a warning: "Somewhere along the line, you're going to get caught... It may not be the first time, or the second time, or the 15th time, but eventually, a teacher will read your paper carefully enough and catch you," she says. "Then your academic career will be in jeopardy."

Olivia Koivisto, a grad student at Portland State University (Portland, OR), knows what it's like to be at the end of the term, faced with yet another 10--page paper. But even if you spend hours staring at a blank computer screen, unable to force your mind to get the words out, Olivia says to remember one thing: "One bad grade on a paper is much less damaging to your academic and career records than the mark of plagiarism on your permanent record."

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