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Quinebaug Valley Campus Library

Quinebaug Valley Citing Sources

Guides to citing sources for college papers and presentations.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of claiming another person's ideas as your own. Plagiarism can be intentional or accidental. 

Plagiarism has far-reaching effects. Students who plagiarize face consequences such as failing grades or academic integrity infractions. However, plagiarism also contributes to misinformation - as plagiarized content is easily manipulated to tell a different story. Plagiarism also impacts future research as ideas cannot be traced back to their original context, leading to gaps in knowledge and misattribution. 

Examples of plagiarism

Example Why it's plagiarism
Copying and pasting information from a source without using quotation marks or a citation. You're presenting someone else's exact words as your own.
Taking quotes from different sources, rearranging them, and mixing them with your own words, but not citing the originals. (Also called "patchwriting"). Even if some of the language is changed, the ideas still belong to someone else.
Summarizing or paraphrasing a source but not giving credit to the original author. Even though you reworded the information, the idea still comes from someone else's work.
Submitting a paper you wrote for one class to another class without permission. You're presenting previously submitted work as new or original when it's not.
Using generative AI tools without permission or disclosure. You're claiming credit for something you didn't create.