I will be reading every word of your papers. If I have any suspicions, I will submit your paper to an online plagiarism detection service. If the words on the papers you turn in are not your own words, I will know! If you turn in a paper that is not your own work, if even one small phrase is taken without citation from another source, you will receive an F on that paper. You will not be allowed to rewrite or make up this grade in any way. If there is a second offense, you will receive a grade of F for the class, and you will be referred immediately for disciplinary action. I'm going to say this again in another way. If you take even one small phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, from a website, or a book, or a magazine, and you don't give the source credit, your grade will be F on that paper. No questions, no arguments, no excuses. I'm sorry I even have to mention this. Most of you already know it, so I hope you're not offended. Research and plagiarism are (of course) two different things. I want and expect you to consult other sources (internet, books, etc.) but remember, you are responsible for ALWAYS making sure that you give credit to your sources. If you take information from another source, especially if you use the exact words of that source, you MUST state the name and location of the source. This is an English class, so it's best to use the MLA style for citations. But the style doesn't really matter, as long as the citation is there.