Citing Sources

Plagiarism is taking someone else's words, ideas, or work and presenting them as your own, without properly acknowledging and documenting the source. It is theft of another person’s intellectual property.

While many people may think of plagiarism as an intentional act, such as knowingly turning in a paper written by someone else, it can also occur accidently through sloppy research and writing practices, or a lack of awareness of when and how to acknowledge sources.

Either way, plagiarism is a serious academic offense with severe consequences.

Plagiarism matters because it violates academic integrity, damages reputations, and can have serious consequences including:

• Failing grades on assignments or courses
• Academic disciplinary proceedings
• Permanent academic record notations

Even accidental plagiarism, resulting from carelessness or lack of awareness, is subject to penalties.

Plagiarism can take many forms, including:

• Copying exact words from a source without using quotation marks or citing it
• Paraphrasing another person's work without giving credit
• Collage or “patchwork” writing where you piece together paraphrased or copied text from multiple sources without proper citation
• Citing a source improperly or fabricating citation details
• Submitting someone else’s work (text, media, code, etc.) as your own
• Purchasing or downloading papers from the Internet and turning them in
• Using your own previous work in a new assignment without citing it, or turning in the same paper for more than one assignment ("self-plagiarism")
• Misrepresenting collaborative work as solely your own

Avoiding plagiarism requires a careful and consistent approach to using sources in your work. The following strategies are essential:
 

1. Cite All Sources Appropriately
You must provide citation when you:

• Use another person’s words, even if only a short phrase
• Summarize or paraphrase someone else’s ideas
• Refer to data, images, or media not of your own creation
• Reuse your own previous work

Citations should appear both:

• In-text, at the point of use
• In a bibliography or reference list, at the end of your document

Use the citation style required by your instructor (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago).

2. Quote Accurately
When using a source’s exact words:

• Enclose them in quotation marks
• Include a full citation
• Preserve the original meaning and context

3. Paraphrase Effectively
Paraphrasing involves restating ideas from a source using your own words. To do this correctly:

• Understand the original meaning fully
• Rewrite the idea in your own words and sentence structure
• Include a proper citation, even though quotation marks are not needed

Poor paraphrasing that too closely mirrors the original text — even with minor word changes — may still be considered plagiarism.

4. Keep Organized Research Notes
Track your sources and ideas carefully as you research. This habit helps ensure that you know which ideas need citation and which are your own.

To support proper citation and avoid plagiarism:

• Use citation managers such as EndNote or Zotero
• Consult style guides for APA, MLA, Chicago, or other formats
• Use the Turnitin suite of tools provided by UGA. Turnitin features a similarity checker, a tool that checks for similarity between a student's work and a vast database of online content, academic papers, and other previously submitted documents. This report helps identify potential plagiarism by highlighting text that matches or is similar to other sources
• Review UGA’s Academic Honesty Policy guidelines about prohibited conduct including plagiarism.
• Seek assistance from instructors, librarians, or writing center consultants when in doubt

For more information and resources, please see our guide to Plagiarism Resources.