I'm writing a health report. It'* not a formal, just a general health report with no specific format (apa, mla, chicago etc)

However it requires three references and I found the best one online (that'* allowed) so I'm using that as an aid.

The problem is that I feel like I"m plagarizing (sp?). How do I determine if I'm fine, on the borderline or already plagarizing.

I'm not copying word for word but the sentence structure is alarmingly similar but there is no better way to write the sentnece.

Its not plagerism if you cite it. So just cite everything.

IMO, a good rule of thumb is that you take notes from the website in your own words, and then take the notes and use them in your paper. Really avoids any nastiness.

Echoing Logan'* sentiments:

"When in doubt, cite it."

iirc, plagarism is technically have more than 3 words the exact same, which i think is a little drastic

the best way i write papers, is seperate the sections with categorys and as i find info, i copy and paste it onto word. When Im done getting all the info, i just rewrite everything to make it all connect. That way your not writing word for word and your getting other sources in there. After you start and if you do it right, you'll have way more infomation then you need. So as you weed out information, it becomes more and more yours.

Some universities have electronic resources for finding plagarism, although I don't think it'* available to the public. IMO cite, to be safe.

cite it. write it in your own words as much as possible, then cite it right after. CYA or risk getting thrown out.

Yep. Cite it.

Yeah, during the school and college years, they teach you that you always have to come up with things on your own.

When you graduate and enter the real world, you'll learn that things don't work this way, i.e., if one of your teammates has already done something that you can build on or if you've done something similar on another project before, you use it, it makes things cheaper in the end!