Plagiarism is the act of using someone else's work, ideas, or intellectual property without proper attribution or permission, presenting it as your own. It can involve copying text, images, music, or ideas from another source without giving credit to the original author or creator. Plagiarism is considered unethical and is a violation of academic, professional, and legal standards.
The following are just some of the ways to protect yourself against unintentional plagiarism:
If you use a fact, phrase, chart, diagram, table, map, illustration, photograph, theory, method, steps or lists, or a quotation from someone else’s work, always acknowledge the original source accurately.
Even if you have put someone else’s ideas into your own words, you must credit the source of those ideas.
Carefully document and record every single source you read and use. Do not cut corners when it comes to this aspect of your research. Manage your sources by means of a Reference Management Tool.
When you copy and paste from the Internet, you must also copy the web address of the document and note the date of access.
When you copy and paste from electronic books, journal articles, theses, dissertations, law reports, you must record the source in full together with its URL (Uniform Resource Locator or web address) in the database you have used.
If you suspect you are using something without attributing the original source, copy and paste the passage into Google or another search engine. If your search retrieves close results, it is possible that the passage is not original work.