Avoid Plagiarism, or How to Successfully use the Works of Others: Avoid Plagiarism

You can use the works or ideas of others, but you need to give credit to the author or creator. If you don't, that is plagiarism.

*This information is for your class work, not publications*

Sometimes it seems difficult to avoid plagiarism because:

• You need to show you understand the topic using your own words and grammatical structure, without altering facts or meanings; and,
• To be clear and concise you may need to use scientific terminology, yet you still must avoid using someone else's words.

To help with that, here are some ways you can use the works of others and avoid plagiarism:

This website was created with the research and writing assistance of Kristen Jensen, BSc (PT) & MLIS candidate, August 2009.

"Issues in Scientific Writing: Paraphrasing, Plagiarism, and Misrepresentation" by M. Eberle (Fort Hays State University, Kansas, USA) provided both inspiration and information for the Guide authors. With his gracious permission we have followed his example in presenting & analyzing different forms of plagiarism.

I also want to thank Mary Power, PhD, for her assistance with ensuring the science remained accurate as article snippets were transformed via the methods noted in this guide.