instructors failed to detect or correct what you were doing doesn't mean that it wasn't/isn't plagiarism. "This can't be counted as plagiarism because I didn't have an intention to be dishonest/because I didn't know it was plagiarism." &gt;&gt; Sorry. The mistake is there, whether or not there was an actual intention to deceive. When relevant, however, the issue of levels of intent may be taken into account in the rendering of a disciplinary decision. "This can't be plagiarism because I know I'm not the type to do that/I didn't pay any attention to what the instructor or course outline said about plagiarism because I didn't need to since I knew that it didn't apply to me/you can't penalize me for plagiarism because I'm just not that type of person." &gt;&gt; Sorry. Everyone is capable of making mistakes. No one is immune. Very good people do make mistakes. Most students who commit a first offence never commit another one. You learn from the mistake, and then you go on. A very large proportion of undergraduate students who have had disciplinary judgments do later attain honourable graduation from UW. Avoidance of plagiarism in other types of assignments The offence of plagiarism - the theft of intellectual property - is not restricted to traditional written assignments such as essays. It can occur in other kinds of academic assignments as well: oral, musical, and artistic. The same rules hold: use of the intellectual property of another requires appropriate citation. Following are a few very