The Titan Way

Plagiarism Handout

Definition

The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work (www.dictionary.com)

Break It Down Now!

This means that

· when you take your sister’s, your friend’s, or a stranger’s words and try to pass them off as your own

· when you copy someone else’s homework

· when you copy a phrase from an essay on the Internet

· when you buy an essay from the Internet

You’re cheating!

So What Do I Do?

1. Talk to your teacher about how to properly cite your sources; it’s okay to use other people’s words to support your ideas, but you need to give credit where credit is due!

2. Visit the following Purdue University website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Because you’re in English class, we use the Modern Language Association Guidelines for citing sources. This website tells you exactly what to do.

3. Keep track of the places where you gather information for your paper. Trust me; this is REALLY IMPORTANT! Then, go to http://www.easybib.com/. This site will create your citations for you!

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