Applying, analysing, criticising or quoting other people’s work is perfectlyreasonable and acceptable providing you always:           

1 attempt to summarize or restate in your own words another person’s work,theories or ideas and give acknowledgement to that person. This is usuallydone by citing your sources and presenting a list of references;or   
 
2 by always using quotation marks (or indenting lengthy quotations in yourtext) to distinguish between the actual words of the writer and your ownwords. Once again, you would cite all sources and present full details of thesein your list of references.       
 
Summarising in Your Own Words     
      
Here is an example of how this can be done.The extract below is a paragraph taken from a journal article. This is followed bytwo student summaries of the extract. As mentioned earlier, it is impossible notto use some of the words used in the original article, particularly when referringto the subjects of the discussion. But the aim should be to try and put the idea orargument into your own words as best you can.