Rachel Kramer
Research Librarian
she/her/hers
MCC Learning Commons
rkramer@mclennan.edu
254-299-8390
It's easy to understand most types of cheating because we learned about them as children. It's harder to understand plagiarism though.
Take a look at McLennan Community College's Academic Integrity policy to learn how the college defines cheating and plagiarism and discover the penalties for each.
Afterward, visit Purdue OWL's Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing or its Best Practices to Avoid Plagiarism to make sure you know how to avoid accidental plagiarism. (Yes, you can accidentally commit plagiarism!)
The video below also offers some useful information on plagiarism and tips for avoiding it.
To use information ethically, you must cite, or give credit to, your sources. Even if you put the information into your own words, the evidence to support your statements came from someone who deserves credit.
So, how do you use another author's ideas or words ethically? The three ways are quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Anytime you quote, paraphrase, or summarize, you must include an in-text citation in the body of your paper and provide an entry in your References or Works Cited page.
What is Plagiarism?
How to Avoid Plagiarism with 3 Tricks
How to Paraphrase in 5 Easy Steps
How to Quote in Under 5 Minutes
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