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• Another person’s idea, opinion, or theory;
• Any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings; any pieces of information ”that are not common knowledge;
• Quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or
• Paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.

To help you recognize what plagiarism looks like and what strategies you can use to avoid it, select one of the following links or scroll down to the appropriate topic.

• How to Recognize Unacceptable and Acceptable Paraphrases
  • An Unacceptable Paraphrase
  • An Acceptable Paraphrase
  • Another Acceptable Paraphrase
• Plagiarism and the World Wide Web
• Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism
• Terms You Need to Know (or What is Common Knowledge?)

(Used with permission: Indiana University, Writing Tutorial Services)

Here is an excellent resource for educators AND students to better understand plagiarism:

http://www.plagiarism.org.Two very useful resources available from this site:

• Guidelines for Preventing Plagiarism: Instructors
• Guidelines for Preventing Plagiarism: Students

How to Recognize Unacceptable and Acceptable Paraphrases

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Note that if the writer had used these phrases or sentences in her own paper without putting quotation marks around them, she would be PLAGIARIZING. Using another person’s phrases or sentences without putting quotation marks around them is considered plagiarism EVEN IF THE WRITER CITES IN HER OWN TEXT THE SOURCE OF THE PHRASES OR SENTENCES SHE HAS QUOTED.

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Plagiarism and the World Wide Web:

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If a writer wants to use visual information from a WWW site, many of the same rules apply. Copying visual information or graphics from a WWW site (or from a printed source) is very similar to quoting information, and the source of the visual information or graphic must be cited. These rules also apply to other uses of textual or visual information from WWW sites; for example, if a student is constructing a web page as a class project, and copies graphics or visual information from other sites, she must also provide information about the source of this information. In this case, it might be a good idea to obtain permission from the WWW site’s owner before using the graphics.

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Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism:

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1. Put in quotations everything that comes directly from the text especially when taking notes.
2. Paraphrase, but be sure you are not just rearranging or replacing a few words.
   1. Instead, read over what you want to paraphrase carefully; cover up the text with your hand, or close the text so you can’t see any of it (and so aren’t tempted to use the text as a “guide”).
   2. Write out the idea in your own words without peeking.
3. Check your paraphrase against the original text to be sure you have not accidentally used the same phrases or words, and that the information is accurate.

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Terms You Need to Know (or What is Common Knowledge?):

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Paraphrase: using someone’s ideas, but putting them in your own words. This is probably the skill you will use most when incorporating sources into your writing. Although you use your own words to paraphrase, you must still acknowledge the source of the information.