See also > Plagiarism policy | Help citing sources | "Please Don't Cheat!" (Tutorial)

Whenever you write a paper or give a presentation in which you use words, ideas, opinions or images that are from some other source, and are not your own original creations, you must give credit to the source.

Choosing When to Give Credit
Need to Document	No Need to Document
When you are using or referring to somebody else's words or ideas from a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, webpage, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium. When you use information gained through interviewing another person. When you copy the exact words or a "unique phrase" from somewhere. When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, or pictures. When you use ideas others have given you in conversations or e-mail.	When you are writing your own experiences, your own observations, your own insights, your own thoughts, your own conclusions about a subject. When you are using "common knowledge" -- folklore, common sense observations, shared information within your field of study or cultural group. When you are compiling generally accepted facts. When you are writing up your own experimental results.

WHEN IN DOUBT: CITE!

Help citing sources

Why Is It Wrong to Plagiarize?

Plagiarism is a form of cheating. It is wrong because it is:

DISHONEST to get a grade for work that someone else did.

UNFAIR to students who do their own work.

WRONG to take something that belongs to someone else: property, words, or ideas.

CHEATING yourself, since you learn nothing from turning in someone else's work.

HARMFUL to the excellent reputation of our school, and to the value of your diploma.

DUMB, because it may become part of your school record and prevent you from getting into college or getting a job.

 

Helpful Hints

Keep a "working bibliography" as you do your research. Write down all the pertinent information about the sources you use so you will know where evey piece of information came from

Don't use words from other sources that you don't fully understand. Be sure you can explain in your own words what any terms in your paper mean.

Keep print copies of any electronic resources that you use.

Try reading your finished paper out loud, to yourself or someone else, to be sure it is in "your voice."

 

Helpful Resources

 

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed. MLA. 1999.

MLA Format for Citing Sources

Writing Tutorial Services, the writing center at Indiana University Bloomington, provides "individual tutoring to students working on writing projects for any of their courses." This is a great place to start with clear explanations of palgiarism.

OWL, the Online Writing Lab from Purdue University, have many resources on plagiarism. The table from this website shown below is a quick and easy way to figure out when you need to cite and when you don't. This is a great tool to copy and paste into your notebook and consult when you're working on a project.

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