Online Writing Center

Let’s brainstorm:

What do you think plagiarism is?

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means:

to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
to use (another’s production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward.

Therefore, Plagiarism means:

Stating and using the words or ideas of other people as if they were your own ideas or words, without giving an appropriate credit and acknowledgement to the sources you have used.

Now, can you name the actions which are considered as plagiarism?

Here is a list of actions which are labeled as “Plagiarism”:

Copying large sections of text from sources, such as articles, books, online sources, etc. without using quotation marks, i.e., “..” or proper citation
Buying an article, writing your name on it, and then publishing it
Stealing another persons’ articles, ideas, essays, statements, etc.
Borrowing a paper from another person or even copying an online articles
Giving money to someone and asking him/ her to write an article for you

So what should we do in order to avoid plagiarism?

Is it possible to use the works of others?

Can we use the results of our own previous studies?

What do we mean by “giving credit”?

You can find the answers to these questions and other related questions in our site.

References:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize#other-words

http://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism

http://wpacouncil.org/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf?_ga=2.112548548.1172753145.1562774633-912932154.1547309662

https://www.freepik.com/search?dates=any&format=search&page=1&query=plagiarism&sort=popular