Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the use, theft, purchase, or obtaining by any means another's work or ideas, and the unacknowledged or insufficiently documented submission and/or incorporation of that work as one's own. It involves quoting or paraphrasing someone else's work without providing the source or properly assigning credit. This is not merely an offense of academic dishonesty which may result in failure of a course or dismissal from the university; it is also an illegal act subject to criminal prosecution.

It is easy to avoid plagiarism.  Writers simply need to acknowledge the sources they use in writing their own work.  Some instances of plagiarism are inadvertent, arising from inexperience and a misunderstanding of what a writer does and does not need to cite, but ignorance is not an excuse that carries a lot of weight.  Here is a rough guide to what writers do and do not need to cite in their own work:

Materials that do not need to be acknowledged:

Materials that do need to be acknowledged:


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