LAJ 350 - Criminal Justice and the Media

Plagiarism

What is plagiarism?  According to the Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language, the word "plagiarism" is from the Latin word plagiarius, which means "literary thief," and is defined as "The appropriation of someone's artistic, musical, or literary work for personal ends."  How does this concept apply to CWU students?  Unfortunately, there have been incidences of plagiarism here on CWU, but most often because students do not know they are plagiarizing when they do it.

Here are the ways most students commit plagiarism:

1. Cutting and pasting large portions of other people's work and presenting it as their own work.
2. Paying someone else to write your paper.
3. Cutting and pasting even tiny portions of other people's work without giving the creator of the work any credit for it.
4. Paraphrasing other people's work without citing the original.

For more information about plagiarism and how to avoid it, check out our comprehensive guide on the topic.