Plagiarism

[hollydolly]

Or what is copied could be done in italics.

Either are easy to use and make it obvious that the info is not directly from the poster.

Which whenever I'm copying and pasting from another source is what I always do...

 

[Murrmurr]

This goes for artwork too! Quotes from other sources should always have quotation marks around them
and the name of who originated the thought. Good point Della!

That's what I was going to say. It's a good idea, and I sometimes forget, but I do write "per so-and-so" or "paraphrasing." I don't usually include links, though, because not everyone here can access the page or whatever.

 

[Sunny]

I think the length of the quote has a lot to do with whether it is plagiarism or not. If you write a short sentence, say about 6 words or less, and it turns out that someone else has written those exact 6 words, I don't think you can call it plagiarism, unless you're frequently "just by accident" using the exact words that appeared in a publication, that were written by that same person.

And what about unpublished writings, such as the things we post on forums like this one? Can you really call it plagiarism? Not legally, but following the descriptions in my first paragraph, maybe it is. It is certainly ethically wrong, if you deliberately try to make it appear like your own writing.