What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is an act of academic dishonesty, whereby an author's original ideas, interpretations, conclusion, or other observations are used without granting proper credit in the citation.

What is considered plagiarism?

• Copying: borrowing words, phrases, paragraphs, and/or even the entire text from the source(s) in the paper without giving credit to (citing) the original work and author.
• Not citing the source for paraphrasing: partial alteration of words and phrases in the source work(s).
• Not providing in-text citations: sources listed in the reference list but in-text citations are omitted. (Plagiarism.org)
• Misinformation: incorrect or insufficient information in the reference list, making it difficult or impossible to locate the source. (Plagiarism.org)
• Fabrication: Using fictitious sources, creating the impression of a well-researched paper or speech.
• Misrepresentation: submitting work without changing the proofreader’s choice of words. (Avoid Plagiarism Tutorial)
• Self-plagiarism: Re-submitting or re-using parts or most of an assignment previously submitted, without showing it in the References.

How to avoid plagiarism?

• Achieve as much originality as possible by presenting own ideas, experiences, insights, and conclusions.
• Draft paper without using notes and sources found, and then add external sources only where absolutely necessary.
• Ensure every source shown in the text has a corresponding entry in the References Page.
• Using direct quotations, only when the idea is better expressed when using author's own words: in other words, paraphrasing will not do full justice to the author's expression.
• When using materials from previous assignment, get instructor's permission ahead of time and remember to include this in the References Page.