Library

"Plagiarism is the use of an author's words
or ideas as if they were one's own without giving
credit to the source, including, but not limited to,
failure to acknowledge a direct quotation."

Collin County Community College District
Student Handbook 2007-2008, p.182

Plagiarism

"The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and
passing them off as one's own."

Give credit when you use

• Someone else's idea
• Someone else's facts, graphics, charts
• Someone else's words

Ways to give credit where credit is due

• Put other's exact words in quote marks
• Acknowledge others as a source in your text
• List others in your List of Works Cited

To avoid plagiarism

• Plan ahead for presentations and papers
• Use quotation marks liberally in your notes
• Keep copies of source text
• Write full source information on copy
• Paraphrase in your own words
• Check your paraphrase against the source

Whom to ask for help

• Your professor
• Writing Center
• Library's Reference Librarians