The most dangerous threat to your career and reputation is to be
suspected or accused of plagiarism.  Once such a rumor is started, it
is almost impossible to stop it and its effect on your career is
lethal.  People will always consider you suspiciously and will avoid
you like plague.  

On the other hand, we all get inspired from other people's work. This
reason is why we read, attend conferences, discuss with colleagues,
etc.  Sometimes, we are not even able to trace the origins of our most
"creative" ideas or genuinely forget to acknowledge the source of
inspiration.  

So, when does plagiarism starts and how to avoid it?  I do not have
the answer to either question.  However, here is my advice to you:

- Work hard on being as honest as possible.
- Faithfully cite your sources.  
- Acknowledge your error when in fault (don't worry, 
  this will happen often).
- Quote other people's work and do not use it as your own.

When you are writing a paper with colleagues, you (as a 
group) may borrow sentences from documents by one or more 
of your co-authors.  This is acceptable, provided you cite 
the references where those statements first appeared.

When you are writing thesis, you may NOT use any chuncks 
from theses or papers of colleagues.  You must clearly 
enclose the borrowed statements as quotations.

- For a short statement, you can add it within double-quote
  and provide the reference.  Any words you alter should between
  square brackets.  Example: 

  "The sky [in Nebraska] is always blue..." [John 1999])
  
- For a long statement, use the quotation environment of 
  LaTex, while always using the square brackets to enclose
  any words not in the original text.  Example:

  \begin{quote}
  At an event beginning at 10 this morning, the University of
  Nebraska-Lincoln and Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital will jointly
  announce and celebrate receipt of a significant grant from the
  National Institutes of Health. The event will be held in the Lau
  Conference Room at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital's Institute for
  Rehabilitation Science and Engineering, 5401 South St. \\
  \hfill{[UNL web page, 2004]}
  \end{quote}

- If you are using a figure drawn by another person, it is
  IMPERATIVE that you cite, in the caption of your figure,
  the document where the figure appeared.  Otherwise, you 
  are claiming it is yours, which is totally unacceptable.


___________________________________________


Your committed advisor,

-Berthe Y. Choueiry
choueiry@cse.unl.edu

Sep 2nd, 2004.