Avoiding plagiarism first requires understanding what it is and then being careful in your research and writing process so you do not misappropriate someone else's words or ideas. Two key ideas to remember:
Legal scholarly writing requires complete citation of all non-original phrases and ideas. Direct quotations obviously require proper attribution, but so too do paraphrases, factual information, and other references to ideas that originated with someone other than you, the student author. For a thorough discussion of this matter, see chapter 6 of Scholarly Writing for Law Students:
Scholarly Writing for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, and Law Review Competition Papers by Additional useful resources to help you avoid inadvertent plagiarism include:
