Plagiarism

If you include someone else's materials or ideas in your own research, you must acknowledge the original author or creator. This not only includes quoting someone, but also putting the information in your own words or using someone else's ideas. In a report or research paper, this acknowledgement and documentation is usually called a citation.

Failure to provide citations to the source material is an unethical and illegal practice called plagiarism.

plagiarism - stealing sources or using  information without giving credit to the author

It is NEVER okay to:

• copy word for word from any source,
• paraphrase (put into your own words) information from any source, or
• use ideas from any source,

UNLESS you give the originator of the idea credit and document where these words or ideas came from. If it is an exact quotation, you must use quotation marks. If you are not quoting directly, you still need to note the source from which the material came.

The Contra Costa College Student Handbook includes information on the school's academic honesty policy. Be sure to pick up a copy of the handbook and become familiar with its contents.