Excellence in scholarship includes many things. Academic honesty, integrity and correct citations are part of excellent scholarship.
“Plagiarism includes the copying of the:
. . . and passing off the same as one's own original work, or attempts thereof.”
Complete text of II.Academic Misconduct, B.Plagiarism from Virginia Tech's Undergraduate Honor Code
from: http://honorsystem.vt.edu/HSConstitution/honor_code_manual_and_policy.html
II. B. PLAGARISM
Plagiarism includes the copying of the language, structure, programming, computer code, ideas, and/or thoughts of another and passing off the same as one's own original work, or attempts thereof.
Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to:
II. B. 1. Using another person’s words verbatim without appropriate quotation marks and citation, as appropriate to the discipline.
II. B. 2. Paraphrasing the work of another without appropriate citation, as appropriate to the discipline.
II. B. 3. Using a thesaurus or similar reference in order to substitute words for the words used by a source and then passing off the results as one’s own work.
II. B. 4. Attempting to receive credit for work performed by another, including papers obtained in whole or in part from individuals or other sources.
II. B. 5. Failing to cite resources (print or electronic) if they are utilized in any way as source material in an academic exercise.
General information pertaining to plagiarism:
For direct quotations:
1.Enclose all copied material in quotation marks (or as an indented block) and indicate its source.
2. Use direct quotations sparingly. The vast majority of the paper should be original work.
For paraphrases:
After writing a rough draft, be sure that:
1.Direct quotations have “ ,” (or are indented as a block), and have a citation, and reference at the end of your work.
a. Accurately represent the original meaning and emphasis.
b. Sound different from the original source material.
c. Integrate with, but are distinguished from, your own discussion in the text.
d. Properly documented (i.e. the source of the material is referenced).