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Plagiarism Guide for Students

What is Plagiarism, How to Avoid It, Niagara University Policies, and Resources

Important

Be aware that different disciplines, cultures, and individuals have different accepted ways of presenting and acknowledging sources for information. This guide is meant to be a starting point and a general guide. Please check with your individual course instructor if you have any doubts about plagiarism. 

This guide will introduce students to: 

  • the concept of plagiarism
  • Niagara University's policy on plagiarism
  • strategies for avoiding it
  • how to cite sources

What is plagiarism?

"The action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft."

Avoiding Plagiarism - NU Library

Plagiarism Video

Plagiarism: Avoid Academic Theft is presented by Grammar Bytes! via YouTube.

Examples of Plagiarism

If you do not cite the source, whether it's just a few words or whole paragraphs--the following all constitute plagiarism:

  • Copying from a website, such as Wikipedia.
  • Copying from an article in a magazine, journal, or newspaper.
  • Copying from a book.
  • Copying someone else's work.
  • Any form of "copying & pasting" without citing.
  • Rewording (paraphrasing) a source, or someone else's work, without citing it.
  • Failing to place quotation marks around a direct quote.
  • Fabricating citations or providing incorrect references.
  • Buying an essay online and turning it in as your own.
  • Using a previously written essay from one class in another class.

License

Thank you to Joe Hardenbrook, Instruction & Reference Librarian at UW-Green Bay for the re-use and revision of his Plagiarism LibGuide. I also thank the Teaching and Learning with Technology Department at Penn State University and School of Education at Indiana University for material adopted from their plagiarism guides. Special thanks to University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Murphy Library for their permission to use and revise their Plagiarism LibGuide.