The Philosophy of Physics Writing Guide

The Oxford English Dictionary defines plagiarism as:

"The action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft." 

To avoid plagiarism, the APA recommends using citations in these cases:

• paraphrase (i.e., state in your own words) the ideas of others 
• directly quote the words of others
• refer to data or data sets
• reprint or adapt a table or figure, even images from the internet that are free or licensed in the Creative Commons
• reprint a long text passage or commercially copyrighted test item

(Publication manual of the American Psychological Association : the official guide to APA style, p. 255.)

Self-plagiarism is using your own written work that you have already submitted for another class or another assignment. If you are "double-dipping," you need to cite your previous paper and also include it on your reference page. Since you are not an expert, very rarely you should you need to cite your own work. 

You do not have to cite a source if the information is "common knowledge." This means that the information is something that most people would know without having to look it up. For example, the statement "Albert Einstein developed the theory of special relativity" is common knowledge that an educated science student would know and would not need to be cited.

Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s work, words, images or ideas as one’s own. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. The unacknowledged use of words, ideas, or data from any published or unpublished source, including Internet sources and other students. Any ideas or information a student obtains from a source, whether or not directly quoted, must be appropriately acknowledged and referenced.
2. Improperly quoting a source. Any phrase directly taken from a source must be placed in quotation marks and cited. Any failure to indicate a direct quotation is considered plagiarism, even if the source is cited. Any paraphrase (restatement of an idea in one’s own words) must be cited.

The instructor should clarify what constitutes plagiarism and correct citation within a given course.

- Excerpt from 2020-2021 NWC Student Handbook