Plagiarism

Even if you unintentionally commit plagiarism, the consequences can be substantial. The huge amount of information on the internet has made it particularly easy to copy and paste information.

However, the rules regarding plagiarism have not changed. Learning the rules that govern academic writing is now your responsibility.

Avoiding plagiarism can be very easy:

1. Use quotation marks to show that you are using someone else's words. If you are not sure whether or not to use quotation marks, be safe and use them. Better safe than sorry.

2. At the beginning of the first sentence in which you quote, paraphrase, or summarize, make it clear that what comes next is someone else's idea.

For example:

According to Smith...
Jones says...
In his 1987 study, Robinson proved that...

Bottom Line: You will never be accused of plagiarism if you at least attempt to show the reader that you have used someone else's words by quoting them in your paper.

More tips from librarians:

Get in the habit of thinking of the library website as a place where you will find only high-quality information. It's okay to Google to learn basic information about something, but when you need to find books and articles for college-level work, use what you have found on Google to search for serious books and articles in the library!

Keep track of your information: Print articles that you find, copy links to a document that you can save and refer back to later.

Give yourself enough time to complete assignments: When students feel rushed to finish assignments, they panic and reach out for the quick and easy way (like copying and pasting from Internet sources) to get the job done. Don't wait until the last minute to work on assignments.

*Pearsall Library gives credit to the Northwestern University Library for examples that were adapted and used on this web page. See http://www.writing.northwestern.edu/avoiding_plagiarism.html

Phone: 252-985-5350