Definition of Plagiarism: Plagiarism is using a work or illustration without permission, or imitating the language or thoughts of the work or illustration and representing them as your own.
Types of Plagiarism: View this (3:32) video defining the different types of plagiarism and how to avoid it in your own writing.
Plagiarism Tutorial: Learn more about plagiarism and test your knowledge in this tutorial.
A citation reflects all of the information a person would need to locate a particular source. For example, basic citation information for a book consists of name(s) of author(s) or editor(s), title of book, name of publisher, place of publication, and most recent copyright date.
Citations credit the author of the original work who provided you with the information or idea
Citations allow your audience to identify and find the source material in order to learn more about your topic
Citations give your paper more credibility because it shows you're supporting your arguments with high-quality sources
Citations help you avoid plagiarism & demonstrate your integrity as a responsible researcher and participant in your field of study
Information that contributed to your thoughts, analysis or synthesis of ideas should be cited. Following are examples of when you should always cite your sources.
Direct quotes of more than one word; the author’s words are used to make your argument
Paraphrase someone's ideas by putting the idea or words into your own words
Summarize someone elses ideas or thoughts
Information that generally may be considered common knowledge but is not familiar to your reader including statistical information
Information you are not sure should be cited should be cited to avoid plagiarism