What is Plagiarism?

• Plagiarizing is the act of passing off someone else's ideas or opinions as your own. Commonly, students who commit plagiarism will copy another's work word for word. Other forms of plagiarism include not citing the original author of the work or idea, changing the word order of the original work, or changing key words to make the sentence appear different.
  
  

Law

• It is against the law to steal any original ideas. Original ideas are considered intellectual property and are protected by U.S. copyright law. The idea must be recorded in a book, document, video, audio, computer file or some other tangible format.
  
  

Consequences

• Academic institutions have strict guidelines to deal with plagiarism. Students who plagiarize will often receive a hearing which investigates the accusation of plagiarism. If the student is believed to have plagiarized, he could receive disciplinary action in the form of warning, suspension or expulsion from the institution. Outside of academia, those who commit plagiarism may suffer legal consequences if the original author or owner of the ideas chooses to sue for damages. In addition, professionals who plagiarize may lose their jobs.
  
  

Avoid Plagiarism

• It is not uncommon to use someone else's ideas in research. Often in academic settings, students must find facts and arguments to back an opinion or point of view. So, yes, you may have to borrow another person's ideas in order to fulfill the assignment. To avoid plagiarism, you only need to reference the original author of that idea. When quoting ideas word for word, place quotes around the sentence(s) and include reference to the author or source. When paraphrasing an idea, include a reference to the originator of the idea or theory. In research papers, you will also include a Works Cited page in which you formally note the name of the document, paper, article or book, the author's name, publisher and date the work was published.