Plagiarism is using another person's creative work (their words, ideas, music, photographs, video, etc.) without giving them credit through citation.
No matter where the creative work comes from (yes, even from the Internet), and even if you paraphrase (put another writer's ideas into your own words), you must always give credit to the original source.
Plagiarism is easily avoided by correct citation. To review the proper way to quote, paraphrase and cite research sources, try our 10 minute flash Plagiarism Tutorial:.
The tutorial will also demonstrate the proper citation of sources within your paper (also known as "in-text" or "parenthetical" citations) and at the end of your paper (your Works Cited page).
When you are ready to cite the sources you have used for your research, visit the library's homepage and click on the Citations tab in the middle of the page. Then click on "MLA" on the first line access the current MLA format guide (7th ed.) prepared by the library. Our guide will show you examples of both parenthetical (in-text) and Works Cited citations for the most common source types.
Other helpful citation guides are listed in the "More Citation Help" box below. And remember, you can always contact a librarian for help.
For more citation information, you can refer to these online resources:
