Plagiarism

Plagiarism refers to the use of another's information, language, or writing, when done without proper acknowledgment of the original source. Essential to an act of plagiarism is an element of dishonesty in attempting to pass off the plagiarised work as original. Plagiarism is not necessarily the same as copyright infringement, which occurs when one violates copyright law. Like most terms from the area of intellectual property, plagiarism is a concept of the modern age and not really applicable to medieval or ancient works. An example of plagiarism would be copying this definition and pasting straight into a report.

See also

• Credit (creative arts)
• Fair use
• Scientific misconduct
• Cryptomnesia
• Essay