WE NEED YOUR WORK
Your teachers all assume that the work you hand in for your classes is your own work - that those are your ideas and your words. We need to assume this because we're trying to help you read and write better and to be stronger critical thinkers. If we're reading someone else's words or ideas, we can't help.

PLAGIARISM
You are committing plagiarism when you use the ideas or words of another person without being clear that they are borrowed.

GENERAL ADVICE
We all need to use other people's ideas and words, but remember...

1) Any ideas you borrow must in the context of your own ideas. Quotations and ideas from other sources need to be in the service of your own work. You can never have other peoples' ideas and words substitute for your own.

2) You need to be honest and clear about when you use other people's ideas and words. There are specific ways to do this such as using quotation marks and paraphrases, and being sure to use proper citations.

MORE SPECIFIC HELP