What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is copying an author's work and passing it off as your own. Use the resources on this page to help you in avoiding plagiarism.
- Did you know that it is plagiarism if you paraphrase (i.e. put in your own words) an author's work without providing a citation?
- Even if you cite your source, if paraphrasing is not done correctly, you could still be plagiarizing! See below for tips on proper paraphrasing.
Plagiarism Resources
The following websites may help you better understand and avoid plagiarism. Remember that there are serious consequences for plagiarizing.
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NOVA Plagiarism GuideExplains plagiarism and how to use correct citations in order to provide appropriate credit to your sources.
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OWL Purdue Plagiarism: Is It Plagiarism Yet?Learn the basics of plagiarism, along with suggestions on how you can prevent plagiarism when writing your papers.
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Plagiarism.orgLearn about plagiarism, citing sources, resources, and ask an expert.
Important tips on using a source
- College-level writing is about processing information and creating your own new ideas, so you should only use direct quotes (i.e., an author's exact words) when it is absolutely necessary (e.g., when an author uses unique terminology). Other times you should summarize or paraphrase.
- If you do quote directly, quote only partial sentences, not full sentences or paragraphs, unless you are providing a critical analysis of a text (e.g., a story or poem).
- Be sure that all direct quotes are enclosed with quotation marks (".").