What does it mean to "plagiarize"?
Answer
Plagiarism is when you intentionally or unintentionally use another person's words or ideas without giving them proper credit (i.e. citing them) and pass off their ideas or words as your own. At it's most basic level, plagiarism is intellectual theft.
The CSCU Student Code of Conduct defines plagiarism as "the submission of work by a student for academic credit as one’s own work of authorship which contains work of another author without appropriate attribution."
Did you know that the word "plagiarize" comes from the Latin word for "kidnapper" thereby implying that some who plagiarized has stolen another person's words or ideas? (from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)
For further explanation please see the CT State Citation guide