Entering into a college or university requires students to have the basic skills needed to be successful in an institution of higher education. Writing is constantly used throughout a college career and demands that students be able to critically think and translate thoughts onto paper.

Some students, however, have chosen not to practice their writing skills and have instead turned to the World Wide Web in search of papers that have been crafted by others.

MSU has strict plagiarism policies in place, which includes suspension and expulsion, as well as ways of finding out if a student has taken a paper from the Internet. Google is a helpful search engine, but students who plagiarize often don't realize professors also know how to use it and can easily find the original paper online. MSU also has software that analyzes papers to find cheaters and can track down papers written years ago.

Students should not enter an institution of higher learning if they plan to rip off the work of another and use it as their own. At such a large university, there are so many resources available to students searching for help on a paper. Students can attend office hours if they need assistance and also can visit the Writing Center located in Room 300 Bessey Hall. If students choose not to venture outside, they can easily ask a roommate or another friend to look over a paper.

A good way to find sources for a paper is to look at a bibliography from a similar paper and pull information from that. The most important thing is to always try to cite sources when writing a paper as this is the best way to avoid plagiarism.

Cheating is an offense that isn't condoned and offenders should be punished to the full extent, as it gives the university and the individual a negative reputation. In the end, cheaters never win and eventually they will have to face the music for their actions, whether it be expulsion or a tarnished reputation.