Plagiarism, or passing off another person's work as our own (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), is one of the cardinal sins of academia. It takes it's roots in Latin from the word Plagium, which means a kidnapping. Plagiarism not only robs an individual of due credit for their own work, words, or ideas; but takes from the plagiarizer as well. Such a treacherous act has it's own effects on the habits of those who practice it regularly. Merriam and Webster agree on a veritable multitude, the definition of plagiarism being one of them. They have three main definitions for plagiarism: To steal or pass off the ideas or words of another's as one's own. To use another's production without crediting the source. To commit literary theft. To summarize these three we can call plagiarism an act of fraud, but after the act there are more unsavory acts to be committed. Both words and ideas can be stolen and re-branded as one's own. In order to follow through with intellectual theft you must lie and claim the work as your own, not just upon the completion but every single time someone reads the work you've submitted with your name on it. According to United States law literally any form of recorded intellectual property are protected by copy-write laws. This includes not just papers, but images, videos, and even music. (NP. What is Plagiarism?) With such a wide range of mediums that can be plagiarized it is important that we understand the negative impacts of it. Plagiarism essentially defeats the purpose of an educational process in its very essence. In order to form easily accessible memories, we as humans must repeat an idea or concept repeatedly. Simply copying another person's work ensures that we repeat the concept a singular time, leaving no lasting impact, imparting little to no knowledge except in the process of copying the subject over. When an individual copies work there is little to no exploration of the material itself. Using multiple sources allows an individual to cross reference facts, read the same concept rephrased forcing them to think, and ensure a lasting impression of the material. With no independent thought involved there is no education, which is “The knowledge and development resulting from an educational process.” Simply parroting another person offers no process but a simple regurgitation of subject material that the original author learned, but not the individual who claims the work as theirs. Although it would seem that with the above information plagiarism should be avoided at all costs, there are situations where it is unavoidable. I personally worry that being an avid reader works against me in this regard, considering I take in a lot of information on a daily basis. What if I write something that I read years ago, and I don't remember the original context thereby shorting the author of their glory and work? What if I were to create a paper or paragraph that contained sentences, word for word, of another author without having ever read their work? Even though the chances of this happening are astronomical, they're still outcomes to be considered when writing anything from a paper to a journal entry. Another thing to be considered is paraphrasing, which is a fickle beast in and of itself. When does paraphrasing stop and plagiarism start?A question that can only be answered by the origi