Per Dictionary.com, Plagiarism is "an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author." Basically, if you use words or ideas of someone else and DO NOT CREDIT THAT PERSON, that is PLAGIARISM. Please be aware, you can plagiarize from anyone - not just from "authors/creators". You can Plagiarize from friends, colleagues, classmates, or anyone!
1. Accidental Plagiarism - when a student does not know how to cite correctly or how to properly attribute works and/or ideas that belong to others. This can include not knowing when to properly attribute other's works and/or ideas.
2. Intentional Plagiarism - when a student knowingly takes credit for someone else's work by copying/pasting (either portion or entire works) without citation or attribution or using/purchasing a paper written by someone else (either one person or an online "paper mill").
3. Self-Plagiarism - when you reuse a work that you created before. Yes, you can plagiarize yourself! If you even use a portion of a work you created before without proper citation/attribute, that is self -plagiarism.
There are many ways to Plagiarize a work. Below are some examples of Plagiarism:
What is Self-Plagiarism? Self-Plagiarism is using work you had previously created for your current project without proper citation! Some argue that self-plagiarism is not possible as you are not "stealing" the work since you previously created it. However, per Merriam-Webster dictionary, to plagiarize is also "to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source". This means that if you have created a work and then take from it, you are taking from "an existing source", i.e., "Self-Plagiarism". So why is this bad? After all, this is your work. What self-plagiarism does is it misrepresents your work to the reader. When reading a paper, the reader presumes that any work that is not cited is "original work". Self-Plagiarism means you are letting the reader think that this is "new work" when it is not. By citing your work, you are telling the reader "yes, this is my work and here is where I first stated this", allowing the reader the opportunity to review the prior work. Citing previous work actually strengthens your position to the reader.
For example, you are given an assignment your first semester in English and you write a paper about Eleanor Roosevelt. The next semester you are given an assignment in History to write about the Great Depression. You want to use a couple of paragraphs about the influence of Eleanor Roosevelt on President Roosevelt. You will need to discuss this with both instructors. If they give permission to use this information, you will need to CITE IT like all your other sources.