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Plagiarism occurs when a writer uses someone else's language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source. (Council of Writing Program Administrators, 2003)
Plagiarism also occurs when you do not properly cite your sources.
Academic and college research is different from informal projects you may have worked on elsewhere. Academic research typically means building on the work of others by first reporting on and analyzing their ideas, then adding your own observations or critical comments.
Taking other people's words or ideas and acting as if you created them is plagiarism and is a violation of OCCC's Academic Integrity Policy.
In the college environment you must give credit to sources you use. Ignorance is not an excuse. This means reporting where you found information, images, ideas, statistics or other material that you have included in your research. You may have found the material on the Internet, in books, magazine articles, online article databases, or received it directly from another person.
The resources below will help you to avoid plagiarism.
As a student in English Composition, you will use the MLA Style Guide for your citations. Use the links below to learn how to create proper citations.
The OCCC Writing Center is an excellent resource if you need assistance in formatting your citations. The Writing Center is located in the Main Building near the College Union. Tutors in the Lab can also provide assistance in all steps of the writing process. On their website, you'll find a list of things the Writing Center will and will not do.
Disclaimer: when you receive a generated citation from from Library resources always check the formatting accuracy. Our citation guides are kept as up-to-date as possible.