Plagiarism: Some Information You Should Know

The primary reason for citing information sources is to acknowledge and credit the work of others. If you consult books, other print resources, or electronic resources (e.g., web pages, journal articles retrieved from library databases, etc.), you should cite these sources in your bibliography or works cited page.

Auburn University takes plagiarism and academic honesty very seriously. If you are found plagiarizing you could fail your class, and there may be additional consequences at the University level.

• Academic Honesty Resources for Students

  This resource from the Provost provides examples of violations, possible sanctions, student's rights, and ways to avoid academic dishonesty.

• Understanding & Preventing Plagiarism

  This guide from Accredited Schools Online provides tips to help students and instructors avoid issues with plagiarism.

Major Citation Styles for Engineers

To avoid plagiarizing someone else's words or ideas, make sure you:

Paraphrase the original text in your own words. Be sure you are not just rearranging phrases or replacing a couple of words.

Use quotation marks around text that has been taken directly from the original source.

Cite every source of information you use to write your paper unless it is common knowledge or the results of your own research. This includes facts, figures, and statistics as well as opinions and arguments

"Word plagiarism occurs when you use another author’s exact words or phrases without quotation marks"- APA's guide on Avoiding Plagiarism and Self Plagiarism: 

There are two common types of plagiarism: (a) improper use of someone else’s words and (b) improper use of someone else’s ideas. Both forms of plagiarism involve using someone else’s words or ideas without appropriately acknowledging the author or source.

This infographic is from The Visual Communication Guy  and is based on information from "What is Plagiarism" on plagiarism.org

If you're still unsure of how to avoid plagiarism, uphold the academic honesty code, or cite sources responsibly, please don't hesitate to contact us!

• Ask a Librarian

  Call, chat, text, e-mail, or visit your librarian at the 2nd floor Help Desk in RBD Library.

• Miller Writing Center

  The consultants at the Miller Writing Center can help you with any stage of the writing process, including citing sources and incorporating research into your paper.

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a very helpful resource for citing almost every source type. They have created a citation style guide for the three main citation styles: APA, MLA, and Chicago.

Research and Documentation Online provides guidelines for citing both print and electronic sources in MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE (formerly called CBE) styles. Select "Documenting Sources" from the online menu in each subject area.