Your research paper is a collaboration between you and your sources. In the academic world, you are free to use the ideas of other people as long as you cite your sources.

Sources are cited for two reasons:

Borrowing another writer’s language, sentence structures, or ideas without proper acknowledgment is a form of dishonesty known as plagiarism, a serious academic offense.

These acts are considered plagiarism:

Definitions of plagiarism may vary; it’s a good idea to find out how your school defines and addresses academic dishonesty.

You must cite anything you borrow from a source, including direct quotations; statistics and other specific facts; visuals such as tables, graphs, and diagrams; and any ideas you present in a summary or paraphrase.

Images on the web must be cited like any other source; you may not simply copy and paste an online image into your work. If you use an image for academic purposes, you must give a complete citation, and in some cases you must secure permission for use of the image.

The only information that you do not have to cite is common knowledge, which varies by discipline and by subject within a discipline.