Plagiarism

According to Webster dictionary, plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s ideas and passing them off as one’s own. In my research of looking up what plagiarism is, I found that there are several ways one can plagiarize. It is considered plagiarism when one copy and paste another person work, when one takes someone else idea and pass it on as their own and also when a person rewords another individuals work. The point that I do not understand is, if I reword something already wrote is that plagiarizing? When I’m doing research and I find something interesting and I use only a few words out the text is this plagiarism? I believe that plagiarism occurs mostly within school settings, because as a student, essays and research papers are required in most or all classes. The problem I have with trying not to plagiarize is when I have to write everything verbatim. Is rewording something already wrote plagiarizing? There are so many rules with plagiarizing how can I remember them all? I don’t feel as though rewording something already written should be considered plagiarizing. I believe I have great note taking skills but could use some help with citing my sources. I didn’t take plagiarism serious until I became a college student. I have been told that if someone commits plagiarism they can fail that class, be expelled, or even arrested. They should make rules of plagiarism more specific and narrow them down so that everyone not just professors will know the