Plagiarism is one of the biggest problems in academics today. Plagiarism can be described as the act of borrowing and copying someone’s else words as one’s own without crediting the source. However, plagiarism can be unintentional, for instance, when a person lifts a passage from a source and forgets to put quotation marks around it or attempts to paraphrase, but instead changed only a few words. Plagiarism can also be described as the dishonest use of the work of others without crediting the source. However, an author can also use his or her previous work without citing it, which is known as self-plagiarism. Today, schools are the most affected by the issue of plagiarism. Most students admitted to plagiarizing work at some point during their studies (Madray 10). Most students do not…show more content… Plagiarism is one of the biggest problems in academics today. Plagiarism can be described as the act of borrowing and copying someone’s else words as one’s own without crediting the source. There is also the issue of self-plagiarism that occurs when a person attempts to get credit for work that they had previously published without stating that he or she had already received credit for the same work. Notably, the most common causes of plagiarism include, time management, incorrect paraphrasing and poor note taking when doing the research. The consequences of plagiarism can be personal, ethical, legal or professional. To avoid plagiarism, the paper should include the in-text citations and the bibliography. Citing and referencing one’s work ensures that the writer credits the source of the work he or she used in the paper, thus avoiding plagiarism. Evidently, people need to understand that plagiarism is a grave issue that needs to be looked into seriously. Writers should be careful not to copy another person’s work without crediting