The very first thing a student needs to know how to avoid plagiarism is knowing how to correctly cite work that is not their own. Citing work gives credit to the original author and helps make a student's work more scholarly. When citing work that is not yours, the student must use quotation marks. This shows that the student used an external source to gather the information presented in the document. Citing information that is not your own helps eliminate copyright infringement. An author's work is considered intellectual property, and using it without proper credit or written permission is