Ethical Insights: Ethics and Plagiarism - Admission/Application Essay Example

Although an individual cannot steal academic ideals from oneself, an individual can lose respect for their work and even other individual’s work. When practicing self-plagiarism, all plagiarism seems to not seem as bad. Both types of plagiarism are cheating. This type of cheating does not impact the learning institution, it only cheats the plagiarizer. The plagiarizer is cheated out of the opportunity to learn.   

1. Ethically, is there a difference? Ethically there is no difference between self-plagiarism and It is still going into a file or online to copy and paste without giving credit for previous work. The lesson is not learned. Sometimes a good grade is not what happiness is all about. For example:  

Virtue Ethics (Aristotle):  Strive for happiness, to be as fully human as possible, a balance between a painful excess of honesty and the vice of dishonesty. Alternative: just plain vice! Note from Dr. Beth Dixon, ‘The main question students should ask themselves is: What kind of person do I want to be? Since honesty is a virtue or state of character, to knowingly cheat or plagiarize is to diminish the moral character of oneself...or to fall short of a moral ideal.’ (Heller-Ross)

Does that A+ really feel good after plagiarizing part or all of the paper? Does a person really feel they accomplished something by these acts? It does not matter if it is self-plagiarism or plagiarism, the guilt of not knowing the lesson should remain with a normal individual.

1. Why bother registering copyright? Copyright should be filed to protect your intellectual property, whether a book, poem, music, software, and so forth. When copyright is filed, this intellectual property becomes uniquely yours.
2. How involved is the process to register? Depending on the method, this registration process is not as complicated as individuals think. For $35 to $50 an individual can file copyright.
3. Was there anything that surprised you about the process? I was surprised that copyrights can now be achieved online. I was familiar with the mail-in form for copyrights, but the online version looks easier.
4. Are there specific works you’ve already created that might be wise to register? I have created poems, short stories, and reports I might consider registering.
5. If not, what types of works do you foresee creating that would make registration worth it? I can see myself registration future papers, memos, and even stories. Even if I do not get published, this will help prevent anyone from profiting from my hard work.