How to Avoid Plagiarism

Avoiding plagiarism isn't hard—if you do things right. Use valid, credible sources for information, take careful notes, and know the difference between quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing.

Use Valid, Credible Sources for Information	Having located a book, article, website, or other resource on your topic does not mean you should automatically use it in your paper or project. You need to choose your resources carefully to make sure you get the best and most useful ones. (more . . .)
Take Careful Notes	Copying and pasting is not necessarily plagiarism. Look at it this way: What did people do to write research papers before the Internet and cheap photocopies? They went to the library with a stack of note cards and wrote down summaries, quotes, and paraphrases, carefully noting the page number of each piece of information. You can do the same basic thing with your computer. (more . . .)
Referencing	Once you have the information at hand, you must decide how it will best fit into your paper: as a quote, a paraphrase, or a summary. Before making that decision, here are some things to consider. (more . . .)
Quoting	If you decide to use a quote, you must use quotation marks. Use quotes only when the author presents the information in a unique way, when there's no better way to say it. (more . . .)
Paraphrasing	Paraphrasing is the most challenging way to use a source if you want to avoid plagiarism. When you paraphrase, put the thought entirely into your own words. (more . . .)
Summarizing	A summary should be shorter than the original passage - much shorter. Think of the summary as the bottle of maple syrup that is left after you boil down 40 gallons of sap. Meanwhile, the summary should keep the author's original message in mind. (more . . .)