Plagiarism is the use of ideas or works from other people without the use of a citation or reference. Giving credit to the original authors allows the work that the original author did to be recognized and given the credit it deserves.
The easiest way to avoid plagiarizing is to read the article you would like to use, summarize the portions you would like to use it in your own words, and use parenthetical citations as well as a works cited page for each of the sources that you use.
Avoiding plagiarism not only gives credit to the authors of sources used in your paper, but it also gives your argument ethos. When you provide your readers with reputable resources, it shows that there was a lot of thought and research put into your argument.
I will most likely use this image, or a similar one, for my visual aid in my paper. My paper is about health insurance for smoker where I am taking the stance that it should be higher than non-smokers. This image shows several different ways that smoking kills each year. 