Skip to main content

Avoiding Plagiarism and Citing Sources

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism should be avoided at all times! According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to “plagiarize” means:

  • to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own

  • to use (another’s production) without crediting the source

  • to commit literary theft

  • to present as new and original, an idea or product derived from an existing source

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward.

To learn about how to avoid plagiarism, see plagiarism.org

More Information and Plagiarism Tools


Citing Sources

What is a Bibliography?Bibliography or Works Cited?

A bibliography or works cited lists all the sources you have used while researching your work. In general, a bibliography or works cited should include:

  • the authors' names

  • the title of the work or article

  • the names of the publisher

  • the publication date

  • the page numbers of your sources (if they are part of multi-source volumes)

  • The URL of the source, if viewed online

  • The date you viewed the content online (if applicable)

Example: 

image.png

Grade K - 5 Students

In grades K-5, the expectation is that students will have at least two sources to share in their list of references at the end of their project.  Students will learn how to create a title page and a contents list (if necessary), number their pages, insert an image (cite that image) and create a list of references at the end of their project.

Grade 6 - 9 Students

Middle-grade students must understand how to compile a bibliography regardless of presenting a book report, research report, PowerPoint, video or artwork. 

More Information

Tools for Creating Citations


Back to top