Plagiarism

​Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's ideas as your own. 

• word for word plagiarism occurs when the writer repeats the exact words of the source without giving necessary credit to the author of the source.  Necessary credit means that you quote the author and you cite the author in your work.
• Paraphrase plagiarism occurs when the researcher repeats basically the same idea as an original source with only a few words changed.  This kind of plagiarism also occurs when the researcher uses a source's key words or phrases without placing them in quotation marks and without the proper citation.

Actions that constitute plagiarism:

• buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper
• hiring someone to write your paper
• copying from another source without citing
• copying from another student's work
• using the source too closely when paraphrasing
• building on someone's ideas without citation

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to make sure you give credit where credit is due.  This may be credit for something somebody said, wrote, emailed, drew or implied.

Penalties for Plagiarism:
Unacknowledged use of the work of others and presenting that work as your own represents cheating, and as such, can lead to academic sanctions including lowered or failing grades and/or suspension from school.