Preventing Plagiarism

Taking credit for someone else's work.
Copying an author's work from a book or journal article without referencing.
Cutting and pasting information from a Web site (such as wikipedia) into a word document without referencing.
Taking someone's quote without crediting that person.

The most ancient Greek mathematical work which has reached us complete is Euclid's Elements.
Americans are increasingly concerned that the housing troubles might undermine the overall economy.
Claudius took several steps to legitimize his rule against potential usurpers, most of them emphasizing his place within the Julio-Claudian family.
Her parents, Regina Cline O'Connor and Edward Francis O'Connor both came from Irish-Catholic families long established in Georgia.

(*Note the sentences above are copied without proper citation.)

The most ancient Greek mathematical work which has reached us complete is Euclid's Elements (Carruccio 20).
Americans are increasingly concerned that the housing troubles might undermine the overall economy (Walsh 16.)
Claudius took several steps to legitimize his rule against potential usurpers, most of them emphasizing his place within the Julio-Claudian family ("Claudius," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia).
Her parents, Regina Cline O'Connor and Edward Francis O'Connor both came from Irish-Catholic families long established in Georgia (Kirk 8).

(*Note the sentences above are copied with proper MLA citation.)

The most ancient Greek mathematical work which has reached us complete is Euclid's Elements (Carruccio, 2006, p. 20).
Americans are increasingly concerned that the housing troubles might undermine the overall economy (Walsh, 2008, p. 16).
Claudius took several steps to legitimize his rule against potential usurpers, most of them emphasizing his place within the Julio-Claudian family ("Claudius", 2010).
Her parents, Regina Cline O'Connor and Edward Francis O'Connor both came from Irish-Catholic families long established in Georgia (Kirk, 2008, p. 8).

(*Note the sentences above are copied with proper APA citation.)

Use proper intext (parenthical) citation through out your research paper. Be sure to include a "Works Cited" page. (See the library's MLA & APA citation guides for creating a proper "Works Cited" page.
Use a thesaurus to assist in finding other words to describe your subject.
Keep rough drafts of your papers until you have received your final draft.
Always allow a professor access to your sources.

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (call number LB2369 .G53 2009)
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA format) (call number REF BF76.7 .P83 2010)
Cettei Library citation guides for APA and MLA, located on the library's Web page under "Student Links." (Also in print format at the front desk of the library.)