It was the best of times, and pretty much the worst of times. I felt borne back ceaselessly to the past. OK, the above words are not really mine. But hey, I changed them slightly. I thought nobody would notice.
Plagiarism is a serious offense.
Some plagiarism may be accidental, but most is usually deliberate. In the classroom, punishment for plagiarizing is both swift and severe. In writing a research paper, you must be prepared to document everything you get from outside sources. If you fail to do this, you set yourself up for the charge of plagiarism. If you copy the exact words of another, whether these words are spoken or written in print or electronic form, you must enclose the words in quotation marks and cite the source.