- How easy is it to get away with it?
Not very easy.
- How aware are the markers of online resources?
Very. My English teachers patrol(led) BoS. I remember when I was in Year 12, my teacher told me that she saw one of my essays on BoS. And yeah, when I uploaded my Year 12 essays, I got an email from her saying that a few kids from the grade below had been using it.
So yeah, VERY aware.
- What classifies as plagiarism?
This is by no means an exhaustive list:
- copying word for word, chunks and chunks
- copying word for word, a sentence
- copying word for word, a key phrase (you're likely to get away with this, but seriously, just quote it, it's not difficult)
- paraphrasing chunks and chunks (or sentences) (or key phrases)
- using synonyms in place of certain words for (chunks and chunks, sentences and key phrases.
There are heaps more - but as I said, by no means an exhaustive list.
- What are the moral and ethical issues on yourself?
Varies from person to person. You know what you did. If you believe in karma.....what goes up, must come down.
- Does it really matter if you do or you don't?
Varies from person to person. I'm not going to lose any sleep if you (or anyone, for that matter) plagiarise. I will say this though:
DO NOT CHEAT. IT IS NOT WORTH IT. But yeah - don't expect me (or anyone else) to sympathise with you when you've lost all the marks in a 35% essay or something.