The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the verb to plagiarise as 'to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own; use (another's production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft; present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source'. Examples of academic plagiarism include: copying or paraphrasing information from a source without proper acknowledgement or any acknowledgement at all; failing to give a citation to the source of information obtained from print, electronic or other media; copying another person’s essays, assignments, laboratory reports, dissertation etc without that person’s knowledge; and commissioning another person to do your work for you. Computers and especially the Internet have made plagiarism even easier through the 'cut and paste' tool, the use of scanners and OCR software, and the availability of sites on the Internet (so called ‘Papermills’) where one can download ready-made essays ('term papers') for free or commission one for a fee. Some students plagiarise unknowingly, often through lack of experience, while others do it deliberately to deceive.
As plagiarism is one of the worst crimes that one can commit in academia, students are advised to inform themselves about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. The following sources may be helpful in this respect: