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Citing Your Sources: Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?

Briefly, plagiarism happens when you incorporate direct statements or paraphrase the ideas of someone into a paper you are writing and do not acknowledge where you found the information. This is why citing your sources properly and creating a reference list, works cited page or bibliography are such an important part of any research assignment.

It is very easy to plagiarize if you are copying and pasting material from a source into your own paper. But even if it is unintentional, plagiarism is a serious academic offense and you will be severely penalized for it.

To develop a good understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it before you begin writing your paper, reference the materials in the "Plagiarism Resources" box on this page.
 

LTU subscribes to the plagiarism checking software, TurnItIn. It is available through the Assignments tab in Canvas. The instructor must make it available for each assignment. If you cannot find it, be sure to ask your instructor for assistance.

Types of Plagiarism

Source: Turnitin (Great examples of plagiarism on this site!)

Plagiarism Resources

Examples of Plagiarism
(Northern Illinois University)
Click on each for its definition, source text, plagiarized draft, corrected draft and explanation.

You Quote It, You Note It
(Arizona State University)
An online tutorial which discusses several strategies for avoiding plagiarism.

Plagiarism Checker
(Grammarly)
Checks for plagiarism against ProQuest databases and over 16 billion web pages.

Plagiarism.org
(Sponsered by Turnitin.com)
A comprehensive set of resources to help students write with integrity.

Gaming Against Plagiarism
(University of Florida Marston)
Log on as a guest and play some fun interactive games about plagiarism.
 

Warning: all links (above) are non-LTU sites. Proceed with caution.

What is Plagiarism? A Handy Infographic (via EasyBib)

Additional Reading