This is a reading response to the plagiarism and ethics readings. The plagiarism article brought up a lot of good points about the problems with plagiarism especially in colleges. At this point in our lives the vast majority of us should have a general understanding of what it means to plagiarize. Even in junior high we got explanations that if you copy someone’s writing word for word and put it into your own that not only will you risk getting an F, but you’ll also be committing something that’s illegal. Yet even now we still have this issue in colleges across the world and the workplace. A question I want to pose is why do people still do this? Almost every class I’ve been in explains the rules against plagiarism yet I always see someone who cuts and pastes for a project and seems surprised when the get an F. Do people feel the need to plagiarize because they’re simply lazy or because they think they think no one will check it? Is this also a reflection of society’s unwillingness to speak from our hearts and use our own opinions? Personally I think as writers the importance of speaking from your own point of view can’t be emphasized enough. What’s the point of writing anything if you can’t put own thoughts and opinions on it? Some people may claim that they’re bad at writing and use this as an excuse to plagiarize, but becoming a good writer comes from experience and a willingness to improve yourself. I think if we can go back to this type of mindset then plagiarism won’t be such a problem.