Plagiarism Policy & Documenting Your Sources

Give credit to every one of your sources, even if you change information into your own words. When you use a writer's exact wording, put quotation marks around those words and use a citation.

Plagiarism means writing facts, opinions or quotations you get from someone else or from books, magazines, newspapers, journals, movies, television, tapes or the web as if they were your own and without identifying the source. Unintentional plagiarism still is plagiarism.

Document all sources using the citation style of either the American Psychological Association (APA) or Modern Languages Association (MLA). Include a Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) list at the end of your research paper.

You must acknowledge the source of any:

• statistic
• paraphrase
• concrete fact
• direct quotation
• idea other than your own opinion held by someone else
• information not commonly known

If a fact is common knowledge, don't show a source. For instance, John Adams was the second president.

The information supplied on documenting your sources was provided by Union Institute and University.

Additional information on How to Write a Research Paper and proper MLA and APA styling may be found on the following websites:

• Modern Language Association
  www.mla.org
  
  
• APA Style by the American Psychological Association
  www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
  
  
• Citing Electronic Sources
  www.lib.utexas.edu/refsites/style_manuals.html

Remember it is your responsibility to cite all sources properly. Unintentional plagiarism still is plagiarism.