Plagiarism

To plagiarize is “to steal and pass off as one’s own the ideas or words of another” (Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary). Examples of plagiarism include presenting the ideas of another in one’s own words without crediting the source, copying sentences, paragraphs, or pages from a source without explicit reference to the pages from which the words were taken, and, of course, presenting another’s entire work as one’s own. If a student is not certain whether a particular practice may be considered plagiaristic, it is his/her responsibility to consult the instructor for whom he/she is writing the paper, exercise, or examination. The State University of New York at Fredonia strongly condemns plagiarism and takes severe action against those who plagiarize.