"Plagiarism" is the act of presenting another's work or ideas as your own.  Plagiarism can be conscious or unconscious.  Examples of plagiarism range from turning in another person's paper or project as your own, cutting and pasting text from a Web page without using quotation marks and giving credit to the source, or failing to give credit to another person's words or ideas.

Whether the plagiarism is intentional or not the penalties for plagiarism can be severe. If you are caught plagiarizing, you even could be given a failing grade for your paper, a failing grade for the class, or you could even be expelled from the University. All students should be familiar with the University's statement on academic integrity. Please contact your school or college to get a current copy of its academic honesty policy.