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It is important to give others credit when you quote or refer to their ideas by including citations (references) in your papers. If you don't, this is plagiarism. It is cheating.

Plagiarism = an act or instance of using or closely phrasing the language and thoughts of another author without their consent, representing that author's work as one's own and not crediting the original author (Dictionary.com. (2025). Plagiarism. https://www.dictionary.com)

Is it possible to plagiarize yourself? YES! You need to cite yourself if you are using information or ideas you previously wrote.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

Paraphrase: 

• What is it?

  • restating ideas and information in your own words

• Strategies
  • change both the sentence structure (word order) and the words used in the original sentence/s
    • where possible, use synonyms for the words used in the original - but make sure not to change the meaning of the original content
  • read the original then put it away → write an explanation of it to yourself in your own words (make a note to yourself that it is a paraphrase → cite it using an in-text citation → put the full reference in the bibliography 
• Paraphrasing is better than using direct quotes

Quote:

• When to use direct quotes
  • when restating (paraphrasing) would lessen the impact of the original source
  • if there are no synonyms or the original words are essential to provide meaning
  • when a quote from an interviewee would give them a "voice"
• Strategies
  • place the information in quotation marks in your notes or draft immediately upon recording them
  • use a different color text or pen
  • limit the number or quotes in a paper - too many direct quotations suggests you do not understand the material
  • whenever you are using the same words in the same order as the original source → place quotation marks around them → cite it using an in-text citation that includes the page number where it can be found → put the full reference in the bibliography 

Do I Need to Cite?

• it is always best to cite if you are not sure.