Sources used in this document:

In principle, plagiarizing by paraphrasing can occur both deliberately, such as where the writer is fully aware that reproducing the ideas of another in different words without credit is plagiarism, as well as entirely unintentionally, such as where the writer genuinely believes that rewriting the material in all-original words is sufficient to make it original writing (Foster, 2007). As a general rule, the only types of information that do not require a reference are factual statements that are commonly known and purely historical facts that are widely available in reference works. Conversely, any opinion or analysis presented in original work must be credited to the author irrespective of what words are used to convey those ideas (Foster, 2007). One of the simplest ways that tutors, editors, and proofreaders can help writers avoid plagiarism is by asking them whether they are the original source of specific ideas and reminding them that any idea that comes from another person must always be credited to that person.

Conclusion

This article was tremendously helpful to me. I realized that I have, in the past, probably been guilty of unintentional plagiarism because I may have reproduced the intellectual ideas of others without crediting them appropriately because I was genuinely unaware that completely rewriting them so that all of the words were entirely original was not enough to make those ideas mine. This article taught me how important it is to continually ask myself whether every specific idea expressed in my writing is original or whether it represents someone else's ideas but in my original words. I believe that my understanding of the definition of plagiarism is now sufficient for me to avoid ever committing it unintentionally.