Plagiarism

(a) how would you define plagiarism? (b) Do you think it is important? (c) Why or why not? (d) When can you imagine high school or college students struggling with plagiarism?

(a) I would define plagiarism as taking someone else's work or ideas and claiming them for yourself.
(b) I believe that it is wrong to plagiarize someone's ideas and work in the sense that you are stealing them, and it is important to make sure you don't purposely or accidentally plagiarize.
(c) It is their work, their effort, and you are taking that and freeloading off of it. However, there is a difference between plagiarizing and using someone's work. The difference is that using someones work means you are building off of it to create something on your own, kind of like a citation.
(d) I could imagine students in college more than high school struggling with the action and penalties of plagiarism. In college you are there because you CHOOSE to learn and work. If you are cheating, that violates the very reason to go to college. It is pointless to plagiarize in college  you are THERE to do things on your OWN.