Plagiarism is not only dishonest, it is a disservice to the
academic community because it erodes trust in the truth. - It's
the law! Plagiarism is theft of someone else's ideas and the
words they use to describe those ideas. The words used may
contain facts that are obscure, statistical evidence, charts,
graphs, drawings and even unfounded opinions. If you use
someone's else's words or images you need to give that person
credit, or the result is theft. The expression "to coin a
phrase" indicates that words are property and have value. Hence,
they are protected by copyright just like music, art, or any
other creative act. That © belongs to you and to me! - It's a
matter of trust: rearranging someone else's words in a
paraphrase or summarizing their ideas by precis is not a
creative act. If you cannot copyright what you write, give
credit! That is how trust in the academic process is built.
Would you trust someone who continually ripped you off? Build
academic trust and confidence in your own work by citing all