How to Avoid Plagiarism: US College Writing   

Written by Rene D. Caputo

Some professors in the United States like to tell students that plagiarism is stealing someone else’s ideas or words when writing a paper.

Why? Partly because plagiarism has roots in the words stealing and kidnapping. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary online (2022), “If schools wish to impress upon their students how serious an offense plagiarism is, they might start with an explanation of the word’s history. Plagiarize (and plagiarism) comes from the Latin plagiarius, meaning “kidnapper.”

Why else do professors talk of stealing and kidnapping? Because they want you to think, “Hey, I’m not a thief or a kidnapper. I wouldn’t do something like that when I write a paper!”

That’s the attitude you want to have. But understanding the exact ins and outs of plagiarism—and of avoiding it—can take a bit of time. Want to know what a college might consider plagiarism to be? And what specific steps can you take to avoid plagiarizing? We’ll walk you through all that here!

Note: In this guide, we will primarily share information on our sources through hyperlinks. We'll also provide a few citation examples using APA and MLA style.

What is Plagiarism?

The simplest way to describe plagiarism? When a writer (in our context—plagiarism is possible in other mediums) uses the words, ideas, or work of someone else … without properly giving credit to that someone else in the form of a citation. 

However, universities often have specific definitions of plagiarism. Their definitions might be relatively short and simple to digest or be rather long and complicated.

For example, here’s how Duke University discusses plagiarism:

Plagiarism may include:

• copying from published sources without adequate documentation ([1] use of quotation marks around verbatim text, or a block quote if verbatim text exceeds 40-50 words; and [2] in-text references or footnotes, both for verbatim text and paraphrased words/ideas);

• citing an incorrect source for attributed work;

• paraphrasing words or ideas of another without giving credit;

• using the same logic/flow/sentence structure of another without giving credit;

• submitting as your own someone else's unpublished work, either with or without permission;

• paying someone else to write a paper for you; or,

• purchasing a pre-written paper

Let’s look at some of the key details from the Duke policy. To avoid plagiarism, Duke students—and you—should:

1. Remember when you need to use quotation marks

2. Be accurate in reporting your sources

3. Give credit to a source when you’re paraphrasing or quoting

4. Create your own sentence structures in paraphrases

5. Only submit your own work … that you’ve written

What is self-plagiarism?

Yes, self-plagiarism is definitely a thing, and it is a violation, though both of those facts sometimes catch students by surprise. Be careful to not re-use your writing for one course in another course unless you ask your professor if that is permissible. At some schools, recycling your writing without professor permission is considered self-plagiarism. For example, at Duke University, “using any material portion of a paper or project to fulfill the requirements of more than one course unless the student has received prior faculty permission to do so” would be considered cheating under Duke’s academic integrity policy.  When you’re writing an article for publication, you’ll need to be careful to not reuse much of your previous writing. You’ll even need to cite your previous articles when you refer to them!

What will the plagiarism policy be like at your college?

Some of your professors will likely share a link to your college’s plagiarism policy and/or honor code in your course syllabi. If that’s not shared with you, take a minute to search for your school’s policy online. Carefully read the honor code and the details provided on the school’s plagiarism policy. Understanding what the rules are for your school can help you understand how to stay out of trouble.

What kind of trouble? Consequences for plagiarism can include flunking a class, losing an academic scholarship, being suspended for a semester or longer, or being kicked out of your university.        

Knowing how to avoid plagiarism will be important for you not only as a student, but also in your career and other settings. Politicians, scientists, and professors have gotten in trouble and have sometimes lost their jobs (and ruined their professional reputations) due to plagiarism. For example, a doctor who became famous for writing about concussions was accused of plagiarizing the work of other authors. He resigned from his leadership position of the Concussion in Sport Group. At this link, you can see an image that illustrates some of the plagiarism.

More excerpts of plagiarism from that case are shared in this New York Times article. 

Plagiarism Today documented another prominent plagiarism case. In this case, NBC News discovered that numerous articles by one reporter contained plagiarized material. 

Popular media’s approach to mentioning sources

Plagiarism can get you in trouble in a variety of professional settings, which is why it is important to learn how to cite your sources appropriately. For example, if you look closely when you're reading, you might notice how writers and reporters refer to the sources they’ve consulted. Take a look at the first paragraph in this article in The Guardian. Notice that the author mentions that “the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported” the story originally and that clicking on the word “reported” takes you to that source, effectively acting as a citation. You can then read more details directly from the Las Vegas Review-Journal if you’d like.     

How do I cite my sources?

While the exact format of your citations will vary, all citations tell readers:

• Who said something, wrote the source material, or created the artwork? 

• When? 

• Where did you find that information? What website, journal article, conference paper, or (even) social media platform?

What kind of material do you need to cite?

Any kind of work can be plagiarized, including words, computer code, music, an algorithm, or a social media post, among other things. Those words, for example, could come from various sources, including a journal or newspaper, a phone call, or an email. Even if you plan to share an Instagram photo within your academic paper, you would need to provide official information about where that came from! Really.

If you’re curious, here is information on how you would cite an Instagram source if your professor told you to use the APA (American Psychological Association) citation style. Or the MLA (Modern Language Association) style.

The format in which you cite will be determined by the citation style (which is a specific format for sharing information about your source) you need to use for a particular writing project. For more detail on citations and citation styles, take a look at our College Essay Guy resource: What are Citations?

How would I cite my sources in a paper?

A citation really has two parts: a short, in-text citation that occurs within a paragraph and a longer citation that appears at the end of a paper. Here are examples of those two types of citations for you in APA style, 7th edition.

In-text citation

Renowned organization expert Kondo (2016) asserts, “The important thing in tidying is not in deciding what to discard but rather what you want to keep in your life” (p. xii).

Reference list citation

At the end of the paper, additional information on that source would be provided for your readers within the Reference List or Works Cited page.

Kondo, M. (2016). Spark joy: An illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up. Ten Speed Press.

Plagiarism FAQs

Is there some exact percentage or number of words that define what plagiarism is?

No. There isn’t. Not for most US academic settings. Thus, err on the side of caution.

Will professors simply Google different parts of a paper to see if they’re plagiarized?

Some professors will do such searches when they think some writing by a student feels odd or suspicious. 

Do professors use software to try to detect possible plagiarism?

Yes, some professors also use software programs to look for plagiarism. (For example, some programs will point out what text seems plagiarized and estimate what percentage of the total text was likely plagiarized.)

What if I’m not sure if I should cite?

When you’re uncertain if you should provide citation information (who said what where, when…), go ahead and cite by providing details on the author, source, and such. Better safe than sorry! Keep reading below to learn about common knowledge, an issue that often creates citation confusion. And also take a look at this poster shared by Purdue OWL for additional guidance.

When do you need to use quotation marks?

In some cases, a writer will say something in a distinctive way that you won’t want to change through paraphrasing. Use quotation marks if you’re using the original language from the source (i.e. quoting), whether that’s a full sentence or just a phrase. When you use a mix of original language and carefully paraphrased language, be sure to put quotation marks around the original source language that you use.  

For example:

Author Anne Lamott, known for being honest about the challenges of writing well, asserts, “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.”

When you use a quotation, take the time to provide some context about the quotation. If you don’t do that, your professor will ask you to share your perspective. For more information on ways to integrate sources into your writing, check out this guide, or check out this handout from the UNC Writing Center. 

When do you not need to provide citations on your sources?

You’ll need to cite your sources (provide citations) much of the time. But sometimes you won’t need to. Let’s look at how to treat common knowledge to identify such circumstances..

What is Common Knowledge?

One issue that sometimes complicates citations is common knowledge. The definitions below can help you recognize what common knowledge is.

MIT describes common knowledge in this way: “Broadly speaking, common knowledge refers to information that the average, educated reader would accept as reliable without having to look it up.” Visit this source for more details.

Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) defines common knowledge in this way: “Generally, common knowledge is information that someone finds undocumented in at least five credible sources.”

General common knowledge: Don’t cite

Imagine you’re writing a research paper that explores some specific aspect of the languages spoken in Spain. You’ve just read six reliable sources that say the official language of Spain is Spanish. Those sources might also say that the language is also known as Castilian.

Do you need to be concerned about providing a citation as you write in your paper that the official language of Spain is Spanish? Do you need to use quotation marks around that phrase? 

No. Why? That information is considered to be common knowledge, something that you would read on many reputable websites, in trusted books… and so on. Something that many educated people around the world would know. 

Discipline-specific common knowledge: Sometimes cite

In addition to common knowledge for the educated general public, there’s also common knowledge within specific disciplines. Whether you cite this knowledge could depend on your particular professor. 

For example, by the time a student graduates with a Master’s degree in linguistics, they will likely know the difference between the meaning of the words error and mistake in the study of languages. But as an undergraduate, a student writer would likely want to cite the source of the linguistics scholar who distinguished between those two words. 

Instructors may have differing expectations for how (or if) you cite common knowledge, either generally or within your discipline. For example, some instructors might want you to cite information that is common knowledge to indicate that you learned this information through an assignment, while others might NOT want you to take that approach. Always defer to their instructions when deciding how to handle common knowledge.

Be careful with common knowledge and memorization

When you read a section of text that shares common knowledge on a subject, that doesn’t mean that you have the right to simply use all that text.

To illustrate by example:

When teaching a course for first-year undergraduates at a university outside the United States, a professor gave an assignment that asked students to write a short essay about a famous person.

The professor was surprised to see that one student’s essay focused on Abraham Lincoln and used perfect standard English dialect. And so he asked a different student, a fourth-year student, what he thought about the essay. This student replied that he could remember the opening sentences from a high school textbook, and he started to recite it to the professor from memory. He said it was possible that the first-year student had not copied the text from anywhere—that he had simply remembered it.

When the professor saw his first-year student again, he asked about the text. The student commented that they were asked to write something they already knew. And that he knew this information, so he’d written about Lincoln. (Source)

Knowing a text or other work by heart (through having memorized it) does not make it common knowledge, and you cannot use that material as if it were your own original writing. Take a look at our resource US Academic Writing for College for more information on intercultural norms with citations and memorization. 

When should you cite common knowledge?

As you try to decide if particular information should be treated as common knowledge, ask yourself these questions.

1. Did you find the specific fact or information in 4 or more credible, reliable sources? If so, you might not need to cite that information because it might be common knowledge (but first, read #2).

2. Did those 4 or more reliable sources cite an author and publication? If those sources did not cite an author and publication, you likely do not need to either. If those sources felt it was important to credit the author and publication, you should cite where you accessed that information. (Note: Please read the section below on secondary citations.)

3. Did you know this information before you took the class or started researching for your paper? If so, there’s a possibility that it’s common knowledge, but consider question #4.

4. Did your professor share guidelines with you on what they’d like you to cite? You should always carefully follow the instructions from your professor(s). Talking with your professor or teaching assistant for a particular course about their expectations for citing sources is a good idea. If you have questions about their approach, ask them.

Secondary citations

Another complication that you might encounter with citations is a secondary source. Imagine that you are reading the journal article “What if Marie Kondo Wrote an Organizational Change Book? Making Space for Subtractive Change.”

You notice that the author said something interesting when referring to a book by Marie Kondo. And looking at the reference list, you see this MLA-style listing:

Kondo, Marie. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Random House, 2014.

Knowing it would be best to access a copy of that Kondo book so you can read excerpts of it for yourself, you look for a copy. But no copies are available, so you have to rely on the perspective of the article, a secondary source you read.

How would you cite what the article’s author said about Kondo’s book?

Let’s imagine that your professor asked you to use MLA citation style. Within your paper, you would create an in-text citation that mentions that article and the book by Kondo.

In-text citation

In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (qtd. in Rousseau [page number]), Kondo suggests…

You would fill in the appropriate page number and then remove the brackets [    ].

Works cited citation

At the end of your paper, you would cite the journal article that you actually read, adding in the particular pages at the end of the citation. This MLA style guide illustrates how to share information on an online source you might have used to access the article. Additional guidance is available here.

Rousseau, Denise. “What If Marie Kondo Wrote an Organizational Change Book? Making Space for Subtractive Change.” The Journal of Applied Behavior, vol. 57, no. 4, 2021, pp. 428-435.

See the University of Newcastle and University of Queensland library guides for additional details on secondary citations.

Paraphrasing

While there are several ways to utilize sources in your writing (i.e. quoting, summarizing, and synthesizing), paraphrasing can be particularly helpful for avoiding plagiarism.

Paraphrasing is when you carefully convey the ideas of other writers while using your own words and sentence structures—and while giving credit to the original sources you consulted.

Paraphrasing well is an important skill for you to learn to avoid plagiarism. But paraphrasing without giving appropriate credit to the original source is still plagiarism. Even paraphrasing with proper credit given to the original source can be considered and treated as plagiarism if it’s not done well. 

See the example below for a discussion of what NOT to do when paraphrasing.

A. Excerpt from Plagiarism Today

Yesterday, NBC News published a note to their readers that said they had detected 11 articles written by one of their reporters that “did not meet our standards for original material.”

In the excerpt above from a Plagiarism Today article about the NBC News case, what do the quotation marks mean? That the words between the quotation marks were taken directly from the note shared by NBC News. You can see that original language in the first paragraph by NBC News here.

B. Imagine that someone tried to paraphrase the Plagiarism Today excerpt, but didn’t yet understand how to paraphrase well. Here is an example of poor quality paraphrasing of that  excerpt:

NBC News published a note to readers yesterday saying that they’d found 11 articles written by one of their reporters that failed to meet their “standards for original material.”

What problems make the paraphrase in B above an example of plagiarism?

1. Identical word choice

   • NBC News published a note to readers: the word “their” was removed, but this phrase is plagiarized

   • Yesterday: you could replace this with a date

   • 11 articles written by one of their reporters: this is plagiarism

2. Similar word choice

   • The original text, “they had detected 11 articles,” shifted to “they’d found 11 articles.” 

3. Similar or identical sentence structure

   • Just about all of the structure is the same.

4. Lack of clarity about the source of origin

   • The writer was unclear about which source (i.e. Plagiarism Today) they were citing. They could have read the original (always a good idea) from NBC News and considered whether they would prefer to paraphrase that.

Example of better paraphrasing

In May of 2022, Plagiarism Today shared a recent case from NBC News. In its post to readers, NBC disclosed that a staff reporter published 11 articles that did not meet the news organization’s plagiarism guidelines.

Six steps to paraphrasing well

1. Approach the idea from a slightly different perspective

2. Change the sentence structure

3. Shift the wording definitively (beyond replacing a few words with synonyms)

4. Cite your source

5. When the source uses a word or term that you cannot change (i.e., electromagnetism, the Supreme Court), simply use that without placing it within quotation marks

6. Put exact wording (other than a word or term as explained in #5) from the original source in quotation marks

Most of all, paraphrased material needs to be balanced, meaning it needs to be similar enough to the original source that ideas are not being misrepresented or taken out of context, but not so similar that you end up plagiarizing.

If you keep our advice in mind and follow it, you’ll be on the road to staying out of trouble with plagiarism.

Five Ways to Avoid Plagiarism

Although avoiding plagiarism is a nuanced issue, there are several habits you can develop to maintain academic integrity.

1. Take careful notes on what you read (articles, books, webposts).

   • If some of your notes are quoting the source exactly, put quotations around those notes.

   • If your notes are sharing an idea from a source, carefully paraphrase. What does that mean? Be careful to accurately reflect what the source said while using your own language and sentence structure. And, of course, cite your source (more on that below in #2). 

   • Including information in your notes about the number of the page (and possibly paragraph) you read could help you to later double check your paraphrase or quotation.

2. Save reference information on your sources using free software.

   • Carefully document where you read or found your information: What article in what journal? What book or website? Who wrote that? Published when?

   • When working on a long paper, students often use research and citation software
     (for example, Zotero or Mendeley). Your choosing to use such software can give you a systematic, organized way to keep track of your sources. And if you use Zotero or Mendeley to save your reference information, the software can easily create a bibliography or list of references for you. Read more about Zotero in the Tools section of our Literature Review resource.

3. Provide citation information about your sources throughout your paper.

   • What does that mean? That means that when you share information in your paper from a particular source, you’ll let readers know what that source was. 

   • Read part of this student paper provided by Purdue OWL to see examples of using quotations and of parenthetical citations in APA style. The Purdue OWL website provides guidance on how to format your citations in various styles including APA, MLA, Chicago, and IEEE. Also see our College Essay Guy resource on citations.

4. Paraphrase carefully and use quotation marks when needed.

   • Use your own wording and sentence structure, and provide the source. Place quotation marks around text that comes directly from the source. 

5. Allow yourself plenty of time to gather your sources, take notes and compose your first draft to avoid careless citation errors.

   • Saving things until the last minute has harmed many a student.

Don’t take a risk…..

Professors tend to be fairly talented at detecting plagiarism—they get really good at noting shifts in tone or diction, and they (sadly) have plenty of experience doing so. So don’t take a chance on being suspended for a semester or academic year—or on being thrown out of school completely.

And remember: even when not writing a paper for class or to publish, you need to practice citing your sources, being careful to give credit to other authors of ideas and words. Because it’s not only students who get in major trouble for plagiarizing. When in doubt, cite!

Where can you learn more? Further resources for you:

1. Check out our What Are Citations resource to learn more about citations and citation styles. 

2. Read through the Purdue OWL materials on plagiarism concerns.

3. Look at the examples of different kinds of plagiarism on the UEFAP site. And complete the exercises there.

4. See types of plagiarism as well as examples at this Bowdoin site.

5. Watch these video lessons on academic integrity and avoiding plagiarism.

Special thanks to Rene D. Caputo for writing this post and contributing to other College Writing Center resources