Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

The OED Online defines plagiarism as the wrongful appropriation or purloining, and publication as one's own, of the ideas, or the expression of the ideas (literary, artistic, musical, mechanical, etc.) of another, but what does plagiarism mean in the context of Duke University? As stated in the Duke University Bulletin of Information & Regulations 2005-2006:

Plagiarism occurs when a student, with intent to deceive or with reckless disregard for proper scholarly procedures, presents any information, ideas or phrasing of another as if they were his/her own and/or does not give appropriate credit to the original source. Proper scholarly procedures require that all quoted material be identified by quotation marks or indentation on the page, and the source of information and ideas, if from another, must be identified and be attributed to that source. Students are responsible for learning proper scholarly procedures (16).

Plagiarism charges can be brought against you for the following offenses:

• Copying, quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing from any source without adequate documentation
• Purchasing a pre-written paper (either by mail or electronically)
• Letting someone else write a paper for you
• Paying someone else to write a paper for you
• Submitting as your own someone else's unpublished work, either with or without permission
  

See the links in the menu on the right to learn more about avoiding plagiarism.