pla·gia·rism

"taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own"

"It is the responsibility of all University students to understand the methods of proper attribution and to apply those principles in all materials submitted."

Some people think plagiarism is only an issue in the academic setting. After all, it is not unusual for politicians to use speech writers and the manager of a business group to present group work as his or her own. Here are some articles about plagiarism and its consequences outside the academic community.

Plagiarism is an ethical issue. Different organizations will have different definitions of acceptable practice. Sometimes plagiarism issues are confused with copyright infringement issues. They are related but different. Copyright is a legal concept controlled by copyright law.

• Plagiarism -- not acknowledging another person's work or ideas when you use it in your writings, speeches and other scholarly efforts.
• Copyright infringement -- not following the laws regarding use of another person's (or other entity) fixed expression; generally involves economic and ownership issues.
  

Everything is a Remix.  An interesting site with videos that addresses the intersection of creativity and copying.

Using computer code without citing it correctly  may be considered plagiarizing. In some classes, it is also considered cheating especially when the assignment is to develop your own code. However, there are common codes used routinely within more complicated programs. Details about options and citing mechanism can be found on a related Research Guide through the link below.

Data is often an important part of writing a research paper. When you take the time to find quality data to support your argument, take a minute longer to provide a correct citation. That tells the professor you have done your homework and shows where your own data collection efforts stopped. Cite the book, article or database where you retrieved that excellent data. It shows you know where your work stopped and tells your audience where to go for more in-depth work on the topic.

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Using images, especially photographs and cartoons that you did not create, without attribution is plagiarism. Leaving out the attribution implies the work, idea, and image are your creation. It is better to tell everyone where you got your images (including cartoons, photographs, and other artwork) that you did not personally create.