In today’s society, plagiarism of intellectual property is common. The current ubiquity of ideas, plans, and scholarly research, and the easy access to them, make this issue especially relevant. It is easier, frankly, to misappropriate the work of others than to attribute credit. 

The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) provides a general definition of plagiarism in its newsletter published in December, 1994. Plagiarism is considered to include "both the theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another’s work. The theft or misappropriation of intellectual property here includes the unauthorized use of ideas or unique methods obtained by a privileged communication, such as a grant or manuscript review. On the other hand, the substantial unattributed textual copying of another’s work refers to the unattributed verbatim or nearly verbatim copying of sentences and paragraphs which materially mislead the ordinary reader regarding the contributions of the author. However, the limited use of identical/ nearly identical phrases would not be considered plagiarism if it will not mislead the ordinary reader." The Office of Research Integrity provides a useful guide to ethical writing to help writers avoid plagiarism. Also, there are many helpful virtual tours on YouTube that offer insight into plagiarism. For example:

 According to the Office of Research Integrity, there are three basic forms of plagiarism:

In addition, based on the Writing Guides provided by Colorado State University, the most common forms of plagiarism share some key characteristics: lying, cheating, and stealing.

However, plagiarism remains a complex issue and a significant challenge to educators who must instruct their students on how to avoid it. In order to address the problem effectively, it is important for educators to identify and understand the many misperceptions among their students in regards to plagiarism, making every effort to correct those misperceptions.