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Plagiarism: Home

Why cite?

When you quote or paraphrase the idea of another person in your research paper or speech, you must provide a proper citation for the source. These citations:

  • give credit to the author
  • enable others to locate the source that you cited
  • improve the credibility of your work, especially if you cited authoritative sources

If you use other people's words, ideas, or work (including graphics, charts, and tables) without properly giving them credit, you are committing plagiarism, which is a serious violation of NSU's academic honesty policy

There are many forms of plagiarism, which include, but are not limited to:

  • Not properly citing your sources when paraphrasing or quoting
  • Re-using your own class paper/assignment in other classes (self-plagiarism)
  • Copy-and-pasting from another paper, website, or article 
  • Buying, selling, or submitting a paper written by someone else as your own

Use the chart below to help you determine when something should be cited. 

Ask yourself... Should I cite?
Is it someone else's words? Yes, cite it as a quote 
Is it someone else’s idea or theory but in my own words? Yes, cite it as paraphrased
Is it my own idea or experience?  No need to cite
Is it common knowledge?  No need to cite

Hint: You can usually regard information and facts as common knowledge if you can find that same information in at least five credible sources without it being cited. However, when in doubt, cite it!

Paraphrasing

Be careful when paraphrasing information into your own words. Simply swapping out some words with synonyms is not proper paraphrasing. You must critically analyze and interpret the original passage and restate the essential points entirely in your own words. For more tips about paraphrasing, visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).

Citing Sources

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources. In-text citations are placed within the body of your paper near the information being quoted or paraphrased. Complete bibliographic citations are listed at the end of your paper as references or works cited. There are many different citation styles so be sure to use the one utilized by your program/discipline. While librarians cannot tell you how to cite a specific source, they can help you use the style manual and other resources to find examples. Here are a few of the most common citation styles with links to library resources for help:

Keep in mind that the penalties for plagiarism are the same whether or not it was intentional. Ignorance is not a defense when facing academic discipline or dismissal for plagiarism. If you are not sure whether an act constitutes as plagiarism or you have questions on citing sources, be sure to ask a librarian.

What is Plagiarism

According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:

Plagiarism is the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person.  

Citation Management

  • Import references directly from the library's databases
  • Store and organize saved references
  • Automatically insert citations into a word document (cite while you write)
  • Format your citations and bibliographies using a variety of bibliographic styles


 

APA Style CENTRAL is an interactive database that provides:

  • online tutorials/videos explaining how to avoid plagiarism and properly cite sources using APA Style
  • sample citations and paper templates
  • individual and group writing tools to automatically insert citations in-text and in the reference list
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