Students often believe that the only way to plagiarize is to copy another person's work word-for-word. In reality, teachers are also on the lookout for:
- Self-plagiarism — where an author's previous work is quoted without proper citation
- Patchwork and mosaic plagiarism — pulling together bits and pieces of paraphrased content into something that might seem "new" but is plagiarized
- Accidental plagiarism — forgetting to include an in-text citation or listing the incorrect author as the source of a quote
While these seem like minor offenses, universities often adopt a "no tolerance" policy for unintentional copyright infringement.