Enclose any direct quote in quotation marks. If the text in your source is too specific to summarize or is especially well written, then use the author's exact words in a quote; this allows you to include experts' words directly, but without making it look like you're pretending you wrote it. Cite the author of the quote and the page number where the quote is located in the original source.
Avoid rewriting a source's information in a similar way, using somewhat different wording but incorporating some of the same phrases or following the same method of organization. If your paper mimics the resource's text too closely, then you have not truly created original material. If you cannot summarize the information in a significantly condensed manner or discuss the ideas from your own original perspective, then quote from the source directly.
Cite an appropriate source when you include specific information in your paper. You can mention common knowledge or discuss your own ideas without citing an outside resource. If, however, you present precise data or scholarly facts that you did not personally prove or establish, then you must cite a source for verification, or else you will commit a less obvious form of plagiarism---taking credit for information that you did not generate.
Reference the source of any idea or concept that you incorporate into your paper unless you personally, singly thought of it. For example, if you read about it in a book, then cite that book, and if you learned the concept from a government agency, then cite the agency. Less obviously, if another person gave you the idea, then cite that person.
Include sufficient information for each source that you reference. In the body of the paper, cite the author of the source, at minimum. If you quote from the source directly, add the page number of the quote. When following APA style, also cite the source's date of publication. If you're following Chicago style, then include the source's full publication information in a footnote.
Present this information in the text of the sentence that introduces the information or include it at the end of the sentence, either in parentheses or in a footnote.
In the paper's bibliography, include enough information that readers can locate the original sources: author, publication date, title, publisher, etc.