Plagiarism is the process of using or copying someone else's work or ideas, and passing them off as your own.
Plagiarism is viewed as a form of cheating and is a serious academic misconduct.
The most common forms of plagiarism are:
• cut / copy and pasting material from the Web
• copying the work of another student (past or present) including essay material, laboratory data or computer source code
• copying course material or lecture notes
• copying material out of a textbook or journal
You can help avoid accidental plagiarism through the proper attribution of source material (i.e. correct referencing). Always make sure you take time to reference accurately and don't be afraid to ask for help!