In its Academic Honesty Policy, The University of Central Missouri defines plagiarism as:
"Plagiarism - Plagiarism is defined as the borrowing of ideas, opinions, examples, key words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or even structure from another person's work, including work written or produced by others without proper acknowledgment. "Work" is defined as theses, drafts, completed essays, examinations, quizzes, projects, assignments, presentations, or any other form of communication, be it on the Internet or in any other medium or media. "Proper acknowledgment" is defined as the use of quotation marks or indenting plus documentation for directly quoted work and specific, clearly articulated citation for paraphrased or otherwise borrowed material."
Most students know that plagiarism (passing off another person’s work as your own) is a form of academic dishonesty and is strictly prohibited. It is possible, however, for an individual to be unintentionally guilty of plagiarizing-- by using another individual’s work without attributing the work to the original author or by changing another’s work only minimally. It is important to understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it.
("Plagiarism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 July 2017.)