In an electronic, "copy-and-paste" environment, it is all too easy to use someone else's intellectual property without appropriate documentation. Whether intentional or not, acts of plagiarism violate UHCL's Code of Academic Honesty, and all students have a responsibility to be knowledgeable about plagiarism and to avoid it.

• Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It (Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University) includes many helpful tips, including examples of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrasing and "common knowledge" facts, which need not be attributed.
   
• Georgetown University Honor Council's What is Plagiarism? includes direct, no-nonsense answers to such concerns as not having "the time to do it right" and the but-all-my-friends-are-doing-it excuse.
   
• Synthesis: Using the Works of Others (Writing Center and Mantor Library, University of Maine at Farmington) also offers clear guidelines, advice, and interactive quizzes on plagiarism and related issues of copyright infringement.

Plagiarism is an ethical issue, while copyright infringement is a legal one. If you would like more information about copyright and related intellectual property concerns, see Georgia K. Harper's (former Manager, Intellectual Property Section, Office of General Counsel, University of Texas System) Copyright Crash Course, Stanford University Libraries' Copyright and Fair Use, or Cornell University's Copyright Information Center.