The Oxford English Dictionary defines plagiarism as:
1. The action or practice of plagiarizing; the wrongful approbation or purloining, and publication as one's own, of the ideas, or the expression of the ideas (literary, artistic, jusical, mechanical, etc.) of another.
2. A purloined idea, design, passage, or work.
When you are writing a research paper, it is natural that you will include the words of the experts whose work you have read on the given topic. The important thing to remember when writing research papers, however, is that you must always cite (See our Citation page to check out how!) these experts and give credit for the use of their ideas along with your own. It can be a tricky thing to know what you should or shouldn't cite. To make this easier, we have included links to websites and tutorials below that tell you what you need to know to avoid plagiarism.
