Plagiarism is using other people's ideas, thoughts, words, or organization as if it were your own. It is the academic equivalent of stealing. Avoid it. Plagiarism is grounds for failing the course and could lead to expulsion from school. More important, a plagiarist learns little or nothing valuable from the experience. If you have doubts--even faint ones--about whether your use of sources constitutes plagiarism, discuss the problem with the teacher as soon as it arises. To paraphrase the words about poverty of the butler in Preston Sturges's film Sullivan's Travels, plagiarism is not the absence of something; it is a positive plague. It is to be shunned.