Now you’ve found the information you need, but this is really only the beginning. It is important to think about how you will use the information you’ve found accurately and ethically. Find out more about plagiarism by using any of the resources -Rutgers University Libraries or the University of North Carolina Libraries or contact your librarian.
Plagiarism is essentially intellectual theft. If you present another person’s work as your own or include another’s ideas within your own work without including citations to show where the source material came from—that’s plagiarism. Whether you plagiarize intentionally or accidentally, you are in violation of the University’s Academic Integrity Statement. Review the SBU Student Handbook for complete information on how plagiarism and other academic honesty violations are dealt with, but in general any assignment that is plagiarized or is associated with cheating will be assigned a zero.
In order to avoid plagiarism, always keep in mind that the same rules apply for information found on the internet as for information found in print sources. Wherever you find your information for an assignment or research project, (whether it’s on a website, in a book, in a blog post, in a scholarly article, etc.), you want to make sure to document the source in your completed work. A best practice is to always include enough information that it will be clear which information is not your own and others will be able to find that book or article or website themselves if they choose. To do this, each academic and/or professional discipline has their own citation style that says how information sources should be documented.