Introduction to Originality, Citation, and Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else’s work as your own or not giving them credit for their ideas, words, images, video, or other contributions. There are many search engines dedicated to finding plagiarism and reporting it. The consequences for plagiarizing can range from failing the paper to failing the course to being expelled from school. Worst of all is being forever marked as a person of questionable integrity.

Plagiarism is a serious ethical matter not only in academic settings but also in the world today. With the worldwide connection brought about by the internet, the definitions and boundaries of plagiarism have evolved and expanded.