Plagiarism is presenting the written statements or ideas of others as if they were one's own, without mentioning that they come from someone else. Plagiarism is unacceptable in the university and contradicts basic intellectual honesty. If plagiarism arises from laziness, it shows a lack of virtue and work ethic. If it arises from a desire to take credit for others’ work, it runs counter to the honesty and humility necessary for intellectual work. No one is asked to be a genius or make great discoveries. In both academic and professional life those who succeed are usually those who possess virtues such as good work ethic, honesty, and humility.

Nowadays, technology has made accessing and processing information easier and easier. With a couple of clicks one can fill several pages with materials of (apparent) good quality. Therefore, it is more important than ever to cite and provide the necessary references to the sources used. At the same time, technology has made it even easier to discover plagiarism.

Some examples of when you should reference the work of another person:

● When quoting text, quoted words should be in quotation marks, and an exact citation to the source used must be included.

● When using the idea, statement, or formulation of another person, but not verbatim, use a footnote with “Cf.” or “See”.

● References to other works may also be used to support an idea that is one's own. In this case, one can write, “This idea is also found in...” or “This is also explained in”, followed by the appropriate bibliographic reference (such as Cf. or See).

● In general, an author should cite all sources that were used in the creation of a paper, whether in footnotes, in-text citations, or even if only in the bibliography provided at the end of the paper. This helps the reader know the sources and intellectual context of the paper.