"Plagiarism is the act of taking the writings of another person and passing them off as one’s own. The fraudulence is closely related to forgery and piracy—practices generally in violation of copyright laws." (Encyclopedia Britannica Online.)
There are, however, two things that are not plagiarism:
But what about fair use? Fair use allows some exceptions, for example, as a teacher I can photocopy small portions of a book for my class for educational purposes but I couldn't copy the whole book or sell it for a profit, despite my intentions.
All quotes (or photos, or videos, etc.), even paraphrases, must be attributed to their author/creator.
Paraphrasing is re-writing someone's thoughts in your own words. See, How to Paraphrase.
Each member of the university community is responsible for abiding by the Academic Honor Code at all times.
When writing a research paper, you will need to analyze and incorporate the ideas and concepts of your sources into your paper. Learn more about the process from the sources below.
Synthesizing Sources: From the Purdue Owl Writing Lab
Synthesis: From the University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center