How to Recognize and Avoid Plagiarism

Citation

An amendment to text, usually a note, which specifies the precise source of a quote or idea

Copyright

Control over an original work that by law (17 USC) belongs to the author

Common knowledge

Facts that are widely known or available

Creative Commons

An alternative to exclusive copyright control, where a creator states up front what users may do with a given work (www.creativecommons.org)

Documentation

The process of compiling accurate citations

Fair use

A limited right to quote another's work and include it in your own

Paraphrase

Restating an idea to capture the concept without copying specific language

Plagiarism

Presenting someone else's work as your own

Public domain

Works for which the author's rights have expired, or never existed

Permission

Limited grant of authority by a copyright holder to use part of their work in a specific way (but only in that way)

Quotation

Inserting a short, exact transcription from another source, set off by quotation marks