8). These students are excited about breaking the rules and the possibility of being caught or getting away with it. Whatever the reasons may be it is academically unhealthy for students to engage in plagiarism. There are occasions when a student may unintentionally engage in plagiarism. There are essentially two types of plagiarism intentional plagiarism, which is an act of cheating and involves a deliberate attempt to deceive. These is also unintentional plagiarism where the student is guilty of a "misuse of sources" (Plagiarism: What is it? 2009, par.11). This type of plagiarism is accidental and often occurs where a student is unaware of the rules that govern citation as it relates to ideas. They student may also be sloppy in the use of quotation marks and in the act of paraphrasing. It should also be noted that there is a cultural component to plariagism, as writers from other cultural orientations may not completely appreciate the "sanctity with which American academics endow the concept of idea ownership (Plagiarism: What is it? 2009, par. 11).

To avoid plagiarism requires that the student learn and engage in proper citation. The correct in text citation format should be employed as well as the correct source referencing. Citation allows your readers to be able to identify the source of your quote and it gives credit to the original author of the quote. Improper citation is plagiarism because you have failed acknowledge that the idea or words are not yours and give credit to the original author. An example of this would be saying that improper citation also includes giving credit for theory. The idea of theory comes from another author but I have not given credit for it even though it is used. The idea comes from "The purpose and importance of citations"...

Common knowledge refers to ideas and work that are in the public domain. How this is actually determined is a matter of some dispute as some experts consider only facts as common knowledge while others limit it to the knowledge known in a discipline (Thompson, 2008, par.6). It would therefore seem prudent where an individual is uncertain that a particular fact is indeed common knowledge that you cite that information.
The extensiveness of the problem of plagiarism suggests that the pressures and challenges of academic life are often more than the individual can handle. It also speaks to a lack of respect for the work of others and the demise of personal creativity. All students will benefit from scrupulous attention to detail and a sharp eye for unintentional plagiarism. The academic future of the student depends heavily on avoiding plagiarism.