When writers intentionally or unintentionally present another person's words, ideas, or work as their own, they are committing plagiarism.
Most students know that passing off another individual's paper as their own is plagiarism.
However, fewer students understand that accidentally including someone else's sentence in their writing without quotation marks and a reference is plagiarism, too. First, effectively integrating source material from the experts with your own ideas and accurately referencing that source material can lend support to the argument in your paper and credibility to your reputation as a maturing professional in your field. Second, providing complete references enables readers who are interested in your topic to find out more about your research, easily. Third, just as you expect to receive credit for your work, other authors expect and deserve credit for theirs. In some cases, plagiarism can have legal consequences as well.