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Let’s Talk About Plagiarism


What is Plagiarism?

  • Incorrectly paraphrasing, summarizing and quoting, or failing to cite something is plagiarism (see WVU Policy on Student Academic Integrity).
  • Plagiarism is about ethical source use.
  • When you analyze or write about someone else’s work, you enter into the Conversation.
  • So you must acknowledge what you are saying and also what someone else is saying.

Why Do We Cite?

  • Your intellectual property is your original ideas. 
  • Anyone else’s original ideas are their intellectual property. 
  • Citing is how we acknowledge the intellectual property of others. 
  • You wouldn’t steal a person’s physical property, so you shouldn’t steal their intellectual property either.

Eberly Writing Studio

  • We would love to help you with this at the Eberly Writing Studio!
  • We can help with note-taking strategies, paper revision and editing, citations, research papers, brainstorming, presentation techniques, and speeches, among many other skills.

See “Paraphrasing and Summarizing Using APA Style Handout” for citing instructions!

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