Ethics
Plagiarism is wrong not just because Academia says it is wrong, but because authors own their thoughts as much as they would any commercial product they were responsible for creating. They deserve to be credited for these ideas and thoughts in both monetary and non-monetary forms.
“Buying a paper, however, is the same as buying a book or magazine. You own the physical copy of the book or magazine, which you may keep in your bookcase, give to a friend, or sell. And you may use whatever you learn from reading it in your own writing. But you are never free from the obligation to let your readers know the source of the ideas, facts, words, or sentences you borrow. Publications are a special kind of property. You can own them physically but the publisher or author retains rights to the content” (Modern Language Assn. of America 2009).
Source:
Modern Lanuguage Association of America. (2009). MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.). New York, NY: Author.
