Plagiarism is a complicated issue, but learning to avoid plagiarism is essential to the principles of academic integrity and to becoming a better writer and researcher. Learning to avoid plagiarism will help you develop the skills you need to produce original work and successfully build on past research.
Use the websites and below for an overview of plagiarism and the common issues involved.
Plagiarism Overview and Contextualizing Plagiarism from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Plagiarism & Ethical Issues from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
Research involves the use of others' ideas, and the primary ways to incorporate sources into your work are through the following:
Whether you are using direct quotations or paraphrasing, you need to credit your source in order to avoid plagiarism. This takes the form of both in-text citations and works cited at the end of your paper.
If you have any questions at all about citing your sources, please stop by our offices on the main floor of the library, email us at reslib@wpi.edu, or fill out a research consultation request form to set up a meeting here.