What is plagiarism? Not crediting information from another author's ideas or words, or sites with facts, visuals, artwork, music, and more.
Based on the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (see the link below), Standard Research and Publication, 8:11 Plagiarism, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2010) pointedly states, "Researchers do not claim the words and ideas of another as their own; they give credit where credit is due" (p. 15). One can easily see the straightforwardness of the word choice and principle the Publication Manual references in one compound sentence. The informal language used eliminates debate or what if or excuses. It is considered unethical to plagiarize.
When incorporating another author's words, ideas, format, or outline into one's own work, proper credit must be given to that author.
What is self-plagiarism?
According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2010), the same as when "researchers do not present the work of others as their own (plagiarism), they do not present their own previously published work as new scholarship (self-plagiarism)" (p.16).
Students also have difficulty understanding the rationale behind not using previously written papers or passages from them for other classes or instructors and presenting them as new original work in a different written assignment. Self-plagiarism occurs when students take information they used previously for a different assignment and do not provide proper citation indicating inserted portions in the current paper from its original source.
One can find many articles published through databases or on the web about plagiarism. The terms used will greatly determine what types of information one finds. Below are some examples of search terms and combinations of terms:
