Writers must maintain the highest levels of professional behavior in their work. Using a person's ideas without giving credit to the source is unprofessional and unethical.

"Plagiarism" comes from the Latin word meaning "to kidnap." It is the act of presenting another person's ideas as if they were your own. Examples include:

• Copying someone else's words verbatim (word by word) without using quotation marks.
• Paraphrasing or summarizing someone else's words without citing the source.
• Quoting someone inaccurately.
• Accidentally or intentionally misrepresenting someone else's words or ideas.
• Citing the wrong source.
• Using text, images, graphics, charts, drawings, video, audio, or other files that you did not create yourself and have not cited.

Plagiarism is identity theft and considered a crime.