Plagiarism occurs when a writer uses someone else's words or ideas without proper acknowledgement.
Plagiarism can be considered a combination of cheating, stealing and lying and is a serious violation in academics. In some institutions, plagiarism can be punishable by expulsion from a class or the institution. Everyone should know that copying someone else's work directly is plagiarism. In addition to directly copying someone else's writing, however, many other instances of unacknowledged use of someone else's work can be considered plagiarism. The apparently innocent dreams turn out to be quite the reverse when we take the trouble to analyze them.