Plagiarism is using someone else's words or ideas without properly acknowledging the source. It is intellectual theft, and is taken very seriously by academic institutions worldwide. Unfortunately, we have had several recent experiences with plagiarism in some of our species accounts contributed by students. As a result we will be actively looking for evidence of plagiarism in accounts submitted to our editing staff. This includes critical review of your references and of prominent online sources; it may also include using plagiarism detection software, which has become very powerful in recent years.
The key to avoiding plagiarism is to
See our Guidelines for Contributors for detailed instructions on how to cite references. Accounts in which references are not properly cited will not be published. For a comprehensive review of plagiarism, and an example, please see this page: http://www.lib.umich.edu/handouts/plagiar.pdf
Plagiarism is illegal and dealt with as a serious offense. Any ADW account in which plagiarism has been detected will not be published. The ADW staff will inform your instructor, recommend failure of the assignment, and encourage your academic institution to take strict disciplinary action. Penalties for plagiarism vary among institutions but can result in expulsion. If material you have plagiarized does get published online, the original author may legally prosecute you.
Bottom line: don't do it!