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In professional academic circles, plagiarism is avoided by learning and using the agreed citation style; such as MLA style, Chicago style, or APA style. Students will also be expected to learn and adopt the style that has been adopted by the university they are attending.

Generally speaking, facts that are common knowledge (for example, the date that WWII ended) need not be referenced, while facts that are not considered common knowledge in one's field must be cited. Similarly, a quote from any source, words or information, even if paraphrased, or any ideas not one's own must be cited. For instance, while it is acceptable to copy several paragraphs of text from a book and place them in a paper, if the source of the text (the author's name and title of the work) is not identified, even if the text is well known (for example, an excerpt from Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky), it is considered plagiarism.

Similarly, it is considered plagiarism to take someone's idea and then present it as one's own work. However, it is not plagiarism when two (or more) people independently come up with the same new ideas. This is commonly termed simultaneous inspiration, and comes about as the result of people exposed to