Plagiarism Prevention Guide: What is Plagiarism?

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

“pla·gia·rism … is: the act of using another person's words

or ideas without giving credit to that person”

According to PLAGIARISM.ORG

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

• Presenting someone else's work as your own

• Copying words or ideas from someone else's work without giving credit

• Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

• Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation

• Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

• Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not

Plagiarism:

• Is theft of intellectual property

• Involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward

• May result in receiving an ‘F’ or zero for the assignment

In-person help available:
Mon.–Thu., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in E-101
By Email:
refhelp@lagcc.cuny.edu
By Chat:

You need to cite:

• When you use words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium

• When you got the information through interviewing or conversing with another person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing

• When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase

• When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or other visual materials

• When you reuse or repost any electronically-available media, including images, audio, video, or other media

Please visit our citation page.

What to know about paraphrasing:

• Paraphrasing requires citation

• Paraphrasing is more than simply rewording the original material, it must be almost entirely in your own words

• Any exact words that are retained should have quotation marks around them

• The sentence structure should be yours, not the same as  in the source

• Do not add ideas, interpretations, explanations, or assessments