Research Process: A Step-By-Step Guide: 5a. Avoid Plagiarism

To avoid plagiarizing:

• Paraphrase the original text into your own words.
• Use quotation marks around text that has been taken directly from the original source.
• Cite every source of information you use in your paper unless it is common knowledge or the results of your own research.

Think plagiarism is just an issue for college students writing research papers? Think again!  Check out these real world examples of celebrities being accused of plagiarizing.

• Ann Coulter
• Barack Obama
• Coldplay
• Jessica Seinfeld

Posted with permission from Washburn University.

According to the MSU Billings Student Handbook:

Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct and is defined as "representing the words, data, works, ideas, computer program or output, or anything not generated in an authorized fashion as one’s own" (p. 23).

Plagiarism may take many forms:

• cheating,
• copying information directly without providing quotation marks,
• failing to cite sources, or
• citing sources incorrectly.

It does not matter whether you intended to plagiarize or whether the plagiarism occurred unintentionally; it still constitutes academic dishonesty. Ignorance of the rules of correct citation is not an acceptable excuse.

Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty can subject a student to disciplinary action under the university Student Code of Conduct.