Definition of Plagiarism What Is Plagiarism? In instructional
settings, plagiarism is a multifaceted and ethically complex
problem. However, if any definition of plagiarism is to be
helpful to administrators, faculty, and students, it needs to be
as simple and direct as possible within the context for which it
is intended. Definition: In an instructional setting, plagiarism
occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else's language,
ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without
acknowledging its source. This definition applies to texts
published in print or online, to manuscripts, and to the work of
other student writers. Most current discussions of plagiarism
fail to distinguish between: 1. submitting someone else's text
as one's own or attempting to blur the line between one's own
ideas or words and those borrowed from another source, and 2.
carelessly or inadequately citing ideas and words borrowed from
another source. Such discussions conflate plagiarism with the
misuse of sources.