Although plagiarism sometimes consists of a simple copy-and-paste of someone else's words, it is often much subtler than that. Here are eight ways plagiarism can sneak into your writing (even when you don't intend it to).

1. How Do I Know if I'm
PLAGIARIZING?
The citation pros at Scribendi.com
teach you how to avoid plagiarism in
your academic work.F
Come see me
after class.
- Professor D.

2. The repercussions of PLAGIARISM are serious.
They can include a failing grade, recorded removal
from class, academic probation, or even expulsion.
PLAGIARISM really is that serious, which is why
you need to learn the following rules for how to
avoid it in your academic work.

3. TYPE 1: The Direct Copy
Directly lifting a segment of text (be
it a phrase, a paragraph, or an
entire paper) word for word, without
citation, as if it were your own.
Introduce the source, enclose the
quoted text in quotation marks, and
include an in-text citation.
The Mistake
The Solution

4. Type 2:
The Minimalist
The Mistake
The Solution
You change a few words or phrases
from a piece of source material, but
the original tone, structure, and
content remain the same.
Introduce the source and summarize
the content in question in your own
words, followed by an in-text
citation.

5. Type 3: The Combo
The Mistake
The Solution
Usually the product of laziness (or
of the assumption that your
instructor won't notice), this occurs
when you properly cite some pieces
of information, but not others.
As a general rule, all
information that is not common
knowledge should be cited.

6. Type 4: The Quilt
The Mistake
The Solution
You combine information from several
different sources under one blanket citation.
This is essentially stealing information from
multiple people and giving the credit to one
false party.
Individually cite all contributing sources via
individual parentheses or footnotes, or by a
cumulative citation at the end of the affected
text.

7. Type 5: The Parrot
The Mistake
The Solution
You copy the structure and evolution of
thought from an existing source. Though you
wrote the paper, you have essentially stolen
the thought process and argument of another
author, rather than formulating your own
through the cumulative study of multiple
sources.
Compile your own research and form your own conclusions.
In other words, bite the bullet and do the work, son.

8. Type 6: The Insecure
The Mistake
The Solution
I like to call this the Little Mermaid Complex;
you give up your own voice in an attempt to
please. In direct terms, this occurs when you
fully stock a paper with sourced material but
include little to no original content.
Remember that your professors want to know
your thoughts and ideas (backed up, of
course, by authoritative evidence from others).

9. Type 7: The Lost at Sea
The Mistake
The Solution
You fill your Works Cited with books and
articles you haven't actually read or ones that
you did but found inapplicable to meet the
minimum number of sources required.
Plain and simple, only include accurate
citations. This applies to URLs as well; if it's
out of date or no longer available online, your
grade could suffer for it.

10. Type 8: The Self­Obsessed
The Mistake
The Solution
Your own work is yours to use however you please, right?
Not in the world of academia. Handing in the same paper
twice, or even excerpts from work you did for another class,
counts as self-plagiarism.
Cite your previous work the way
you would all other sources.

11. The golden rule of avoiding plagiarism?
When in doubt, cite your source.
For more great information
about writing academic
papers, check out our blog
at Scribendi.com.