Plagiarism

A proper research paper must include sources because it is not truly research without looking up information from other references. However, using someone else’s ideas as your own is known as plagiarism and is illegal. The use of plagiarism is prohibited because it is the stealing of another person’s idea or concept and claiming it as your own. It is the same as stealing a physical item from someone because the idea you are claiming in your paper belongs to the originator of an idea. Sources are absolute necessary in a research paper because the point of researching is investigating materials and sources on which you base your ideas. Moreover, the importance of writing a research paper is the inclusion of your own ideas, so therefore, so therefore, by copying another person’s ideas you are not adding anything of value. A writer creates support for his or her argument by using these sources that are to be cited. To prevent plagiarism, a writer must include a works cited to provide a place to organize their references. In the case of using statistics and quotes, I make sure to cite my sources on my works cited page, as well as including the source inside parentheses after the quote or statistic.