Basics
Citing sources properly is essential to avoiding plagiarism in your writing. Not citing sources properly could imply that the ideas, information, and phrasing you are using are your own, when they actually originated with another author. Plagiarism doesn't just mean copy and pasting another author's words. Review Amber's blog post, "Avoiding Unintentional Plagiarism," for more information! Plagiarism can occur when authors:
- Do not include enough citations for paraphrased information,
- Paraphrase a source incorrectly,
- Do not use quotation marks, or
- Directly copy and paste phrasing from a source without quotation marks or citations.
Read more about how to avoid these types of plagiarism on the following subpages and review the Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills video playlist on this page. For more information on avoiding plagiarism, see our Plagiarism Prevention Resource Kit.
Also make sure to consult our resources on citations to learn about the correct formatting for citations.
