Plagiarism Resources

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is "the intentional or unintentional presentation of someone else’s actual works, ideas, or data as one’s own work. Plagiarism includes the paraphrasing of someone else’s works, ideas, or data and the use of someone else’s works, ideas, or data without acknowledgment. This means the source information must be appropriately identified and cited, whether published or unpublished, copyrighted or uncopyrighted" (Aultman College Catalog, p. 67).

Plagiarism is an ethical issue. Bad behaviors in transmitting information lead directly to plagiarism.

Knowingly or unknowingly, when you use someone else's work without providing them credit is Plagiarism. It involves the theft of another person's intellectual property. Intellectual property is a work that results from one's creativity and personal knowledge. It may be tangible (like a book) or intangible (like a thought expressed out loud). Regardless of the form, the creator retains certain rights to their work.

Plagiarism is tied to academic honesty and integrity. These ideas relate to your responsibility as a student to gain and apply knowledge, communicate responsibly, and create original academic work.

When a student plagiarizes, they become academically dishonest, described in the Aultman College Catalog as "the fabrication or misrepresentation of another’s work, either intentional or unintentional, which includes but is not limited to written materials, music, movies, television shows, pictures, and software using peer-to-peer and shared networks."

Although there are no laws that pertain directly to plagiarism, plagiarism could potentially involve copyright infringement, which is a legal matter. Check out the article below to learn more about how plagiarism and copyright connect.

There is a very fine line between the things that we do give credit for and cite, and the things that we don't.

What do we credit?

• Words or ideas presented in a written, visual, or audio medium (also called "fixed" media)
• Information gained through interviews or conversations, whether in person, over the phone, or in writing (also called "personal communications")
• Exact words or unique phrases
• Diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or other visual materials

What don't we credit?

• Personal lived experiences, observations, insights, thoughts, and conclusions
• Results obtained through your own original experiments
• Your own visual or audio media
• Common knowledge: folklore, urban legends, common sense observations, and historical events
• Generally-accepted facts (e.g. pollution is bad for the environment)
• Facts that are accepted within particular discourse communities (e.g. research is a process)

When in doubt...

• Cite a source! It's better to provide a source than not if you are unsure about the nature of the information
• Ask your professor
• Ask your librarian

For more information: