How to Identify Types of Plagiarism

Plagiarism occurs anytime you lead people to believe that another author's work is yours. There are different forms of plagiarism, and some not quite as easy to spot as others. Learn how to identify types of plagiarism so that you can avoid it, and be proud of work that is truly yours.

Instructions

1. Start with the easiest type of plagiarism to identify, which is copying someone else's work word-for-word. It's easy to understand why claiming someone else's work as your own is wrong; you're taking credit for something you didn't do.

2. Recognize that even using part of another author's work word-for-word is still plagiarism. Just because you didn't copy and paste the entire piece doesn't mean you aren't guilty of plagiarism.

3. Consider that taking another writer's sentence and just changing a few words is still plagiarism. Anytime you use another author's ideas and pass them off as your own, it's wrong no matter how you present it.

4. Know that copying your own work that you wrote for another assignment is another type of plagiarism. You may think it can't be plagiarism since you wrote the words yourself, but if you wrote an article for someone and they bought it from you, turning it into someone else as an original idea is plagiarism.

5. Realize that it's fine to quote another author in your work, as long as you give them credit as your source. Writing a paper that's comprised of nothing but another's ideas and none of your own is also a type of plagiarism.