“Music distribution has evolved so much in 35 years that a succession of once-thriving platforms including vinyl records, 8-track players, and cassette tapes have all been consigned to spots in our cultural history museum. Digital music in particular has squeezed almost all other forms of listening out of the running, even relegating CDs to the arts-and-crafts pile. But the introduction of MP3s and other digital formats did help to halt the success of CDS, which had plateaued in terms of sales in the middle years of last decade.”

I tried to plagiarize this passage, but I wasn’t able to do so easily. It ended up being very difficult to plagiarize.  I like writing my own thoughts and ideas. I also think it is morally wrong to take other people’s work and claim it as my own.  I know it bothers me even when people ask me for my notes because I took those notes and it is their fault that they didn’t pay enough attention in class to take notes.  This workshop that we just did in the library was interesting.  I never tried to plagiarize something before.  I realized that it was very difficult to plagiarize purposefully.

But what if someone plagiarizes accidentally? Should they still be charged with the same crime as someone who purposefully plagiarized? I don’t think so…