One reason plagiarism is used is because it provides a quick conclusion to an otherwise lengthy process. I.e. You are bogged down with 3 tests and a quiz the next morning. You also have to write a 3 page paper on Catcher in the Rye. How are you going to fit in everything? It would be nearly impossible to accomplish this workload honestly However, you find a website over the internet that has 20 fairly well written papers on Catcher in the Rye. What do you do? It would be extremely tempting to take one of these papers and save hours on work. If you write it on your own, you might fail the tests. Is this act so bad in a society that demands so much of its students these days? It seems like the automatic expulsion of students who get caught committing this act might be entirely too harsh. A definite reprimand would be in order because it is, obviously, wrong to submit someone elses work as your own. But automatic expulsion for, one time, giving into the pressure of parents, friends, and teachers? A one time offender in this situation should definitely be given another chance.
Another reason automatic expulsion for plagiarism is too harsh is because the act itself might have been accidental. Many students, including myself, are not always crystal clear as to the differences between plagiarism and paraphrasing. If you are doing research in a encyclopedia, many times the way they phrase something is almost the only way to phrase it and it would be ridiculous to go the trouble to reword everything you researched just to avoid a possible plagiarism charge. Poor note taking, and an unclear knowledge about citing sources are also all plausible reasons for accidental plagiarism.(4)
(4)The Chronicle: Plagiarism Not as Bad as People Think