How To Avoid Plagiarism

Finding all the information you need to include in your essay is not an easy task as it is impossible for you to come up with all the information you want to write in your essay. Any academic work requires deep research and analysis of the already existing data. 

In most cases, students do not take first-hand information for their essays or research papers as they go for already published data. In this case, falling victim to plagiarism is very easy. Plagiarism is a very serious offense especially in the academic field as it can lead to the cancellation of your work. 

Although plagiarism can happen unintentionally, copying someone else’s work and submitting it as yours can cause disastrous results. To maintain the credibility of any information you include in your work, you must make sure you follow all the necessary steps to avoid plagiarism when writing your essay. 

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism can be referred to the borrowing and copying of other people’s work and ideas without crediting the owner or the source. It is a very serious offense that involves stealing and theft. Using another author’s ideas or words accidentally without proper citation or due to carelessness is also referred to as plagiarism as it involves passing off another person’s work as your own.  

What is considered plagiarism?

1. Direct plagiarism 

This refers to the act of copying another person’s work word for word without crediting the original author. It involves copying information directly from books, articles, or a website. It also includes a case in which a student copies another student’s assignment or someone else’s ideas without giving credit to the owner. 

To fix plagiarism in your essay, you have to cite all your sources properly by including in-text citations and a reference list in your essay. In case of any doubt, always make sure you give credit to the original author. It is also important to learn how to write an essay outline and use it to make sure you don’t miss out on where you are supposed to cite your sources. In case you are still confused, you can get help from Assignment Essays and you can be sure to get 100 % plagiarism-free work. 

2. Mosaic plagiarism

This type of plagiarism occurs when a writer borrows ideas and language from another source and combines them with their original work. Although this type is not immediately obvious, it can still be serious just like copying and pasting direct quotations word-for-word. This is because it involves copying another person’s work without crediting the original source. 

Mosaic plagiarism is dishonest, illegal, and can be harmful. Apart from resulting in bad grades, and the possibility of disciplinary action, it also denies the student the opportunity to learn how to cite credible sources properly. It also makes it hard for the reader to understand where the information used in the essay was borrowed from. 

3. Minimal references to partial quotations

This type of plagiarism occurs when you use a small portion of another person’s work without giving credit to the owner. For instance, when you quote a sentence or two from a book or a journal without mentioning the author’s name or if you forget to use quotation marks. 

For instance, let’s say you want to write a research paper about the Atlantic slave trade. You come across this sentence in a book “The Atlantic slave trade from Africa to the New World might well have been the largest maritime migration in history”. If you use this sentence in your research paper without including a reference, in-text citation, or quotation marks, your paper will be plagiarized. 

You can still be accused of plagiarism in a case where you have used another person’s ideas without crediting the owner even if you have not duplicated information directly. If you want to avoid or fix plagiarism in your essay, always make sure you cite all your sources. 

4. Paraphrasing without citation

Paraphrasing is the action of taking someone else’s ideas or concepts and explaining them in your own words. This is one of the most common practices in the academic writing field because it allows a writer to avoid direct quotes. It also helps a writer in synthesizing information from different sources. When paraphrasing, also make sure you are not using another person’s ideas without crediting the original source. 

To keep track of your citations, you can use a citation machine plagiarism checker. A plagiarism detector allows you to identify traces of unintentional plagiarism. With this, you can write a paper in your own words and ensure that your work is 100% original. 

5. Misrepresenting material as “common knowledge”

This type of plagiarism occurs when you use something considered “common knowledge” without citing the source. Misrepresenting materials as common knowledge is one of the most severe types of plagiarism because something can be known by everyone in your class but there is always a place where we learned it from.  

Please note that what is considered common knowledge can vary depending on the context. For instance, just because everyone in your class knows about a certain historical event does not mean that it is considered common knowledge in history. To avoid plagiarism, you must credit all your sources even for something that is considered common knowledge. 

6. Inadequate citation of the paraphrase

When writing an essay, it is important to ensure you cite all your sources properly to avoid plagiarism. Inadequate citation of a paraphrase occurs when you fail to provide enough information about the source material. 

Please note that including the author’s last name is not enough as you are supposed to include the page number and any other specific reference points. If you fail to cite work even after paraphrasing, it might seem like you are trying to pass another person’s ideas as your own. Thus, in order to avoid plagiarism, you must learn to be clear and concise when it comes to citing sources used in your work. If you have a hard time citing your sources or paraphrasing, you can always buy a plagiarism-free essay from Assignment Essays. 

7. Plagiarism in graphs, charts, figures, or images. 

You can use graphs, charts, figures, or images to pass information concisely and attractively. Whenever you want to use these materials, always remember that they are protected by copyright law and failure to cite their sources will be considered plagiarism.

To avoid plagiarism when using graphs, charts, figures, or images, you can decide to create your own original content or you can decide to use materials that are in the public domain or that have been licensed for reuse. If you decide to reuse another person’s work, always make sure you give the necessary credit to avoid plagiarism.

How does Turnitin detect plagiarism?

Turnitin is one of the most widely used plagiarism detectors in the academic field. It is widely used by instructions as a plagiarism detection software to scan students’ work for plagiarism. It shows your tutor that you delivered original work by using your own ideas and using quotation marks and in-text citations in cases where you used ideas from other sources. 

Turnitin compares your work against billions of web pages and other documents by looking for passages that match or closely resemble the text in your work. In case a match is found, the paragraph is flagged and a link to the matching source is provided. 

Turnitin uses a proprietary algorithm to calculate a “plagiarism score” for each paper scanned. The score includes a percentage of matching text, the length of the document, and the number of cited sources. Lecturers can use these scores to quickly identify papers that are plagiarized. 

Please note that because Turnitin identifies accidental plagiarism, you must be mindful of how you avoid unintentional plagiarism. You can use a plagiarism detector and in case you have inadequate time get a professional essay writer to write the essay for you. 

Why do students plagiarize their work?

Taking another person’s work and passing it as your own is wrong. Even if it is wrong, it is very common among university and college students. The following are some of the major reasons why a student might be tempted to plagiarize their work.  

1. Fear

Although there are many reasons why a student might plagiarize their work, the emotion of fear is one of the major causes. The fear of getting a bad grade on an assignment or failing the course is one major reason why students plagiarize their work. 

Some students believe that they have a better chance of getting a good grade when they copy content from a more legitimate source. They fail to think about what might be the final result because the consequences of getting caught with plagiarized material can be much worse than just getting a lower grade on an assignment. It is better to get a lower grade than suffer the consequences of delivering plagiarized material. 

2. Lack of research skills

Some students joining the university lack the skills for thorough research and many first-year students search the books and journals in the university library wrongly and copy the materials straight from the source. A student with inadequate research skills or one who does not know how to use the information they get online in writing their work can look for help from their lecturer or get help by reading materials that explain the same from the library. Here they can learn how to research and write a research paper in simple steps. 

3. Poor time management skills

Some students might know how to research and write great research papers but lack time management skills. With poor time management skills, they might postpone working on their assignments until the last minute. With the deadline around the corner, they might end up plagiarizing their work as they struggle to complete and submit the work within the deadline. 

As a student is important to keep track of your time and schedule. Always have a plan and take note of all approaching deadlines. Set aside time to work on every assignment giving the most urgent assignments first priority. 

4. Lack of interest in the subject/project

Students are supposed to have the drive to carry out research for a particular subject but unfortunately, some students may lack interest in some subjects. In this case, they can decide to combine information from different sources without original input which will result in plagiarism. 

5. Confusion

Although some students do not intend to commit plagiarism, they might be confused about what plagiarism is. Some do not even understand the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing. In this case, they end up committing plagiarism instead of paraphrasing. Thus, it is important to understand the difference between these two terms.   

6. Careless note-taking

Most students accidentally plagiarize their work while doing initial research. In this case, during the note-taking phase, directly quoted material from various sources and paraphrased materials get mixed up. In the writing stage, the student cannot differentiate between the two. To avoid this mistake, you can decide to mark any paraphrased materials with a “p” in the note-taking stage to avoid confusion when you start writing your essay. 

7. Peer pressure

Some students fail to understand what effort other students in their class put in to get better grades. They might not care about the importance of doing a certain class project and the importance of the project in making them understand certain topics better. In such a case they might end up plagiarizing their work in an effort to get better grades than their classmates.  

If you can avoid most of the factors mentioned above, you are in a better position when it comes to delivering plagiarism-free content. A plagiarism-free paper will get you a good as well as earn you respect from your peers. 

Consequences of plagiarism

Most academic institutions take plagiarism seriously and it is important to discuss the possible risks you can face for submitting plagiarized papers. Most consequences of plagiarism are very severe and they include the following courses of disciplinary action by academic institutions.

1. Low grades on assignments.

 In case your professor finds out that you delivered plagiarized work, they can decide to award a zero grade depending on the percentage of plagiarism. This might have great repercussions as getting a zero in one assignment can reduce the final grade of the module drastically. 

2. Failing a course

In some cases, your learning institution might decide to fail you the whole module as a result of submitting a plagiarized assignment. As a result, it might take you longer to graduate as you must repeat the failed module. 

3. Loss of degree

Once you are caught submitting plagiarized materials, your university’s review board might decide to revoke your degree. This can be a very big blow to your reputation and career prospects. 

4. Public shaming

In case your university decides to make an example out of your plagiarized work, this might bring great shame to you in the form of public shame. This might lead to you losing trust in the eyes of your peers and academics alike. 

5. Additional tasks

Once it has been proved that you submitted plagiarized work, the disciplinary committee might decide to give you tasks you must complete proving that you have realized your mistakes and you are ready to make changes. This could take a few hours or days of work in addition to other assignments that you will be working on. For example, you can be requested to complete a 5000-words essay that talks about the consequences of delivering plagiarized content as a college student. When writing such as essay, each claim must be supported with a variety of valid sources. 

6. Official warnings

Your learning institution can decide to send an official warning to you and your sponsor via mail. This can result in serious consequences when it comes to funding as your sponsor can decide to withdraw their financial support.  

7. Expulsion from the university

In case of a very serious violation and especially when it is a repeat offense, you might be expelled from your learning institution entirely. Once you have been expelled, getting a re-admission to another university might be difficult due to the negative record. 

9. Destroyed academic reputation

This can be the worst consequence of all. Once you destroy your academic reputation, recovering it might be very difficult. Most jobs require a university degree and this might end up affecting your career in a permanent way. 

9. Monetary Consequences

In case the author decides to sue you for plagiarizing their content, the author may be granted monetary compensation. In the case where a journalist works for a magazine, newspaper, or other publisher, or even if a student is found plagiarizing in school, the offending plagiarist might have to pay monetary penalties.  

10. Damaged reputation for the university 

The reputation of any learning institution that allows students to plagiarize content might be destroyed. With social media traveling as quickly as it does, the story circulates as soon as plagiarism takes place and future students who spend thousands of pounds on university tuition might not want to attend a university with a bad reputation. Thus, any learning institution should strive to discourage and stop plagiarism within its premises. 

From the above, you can clearly see the results of submitting plagiarized content and why it is important for you to fully understand what you can do to avoid and fix plagiarism. In case you found yourself at a loss, you can seek help from Assignment Essays. 

How do you avoid plagiarism in your writing?

Finding information on any topic on the internet is very easy. Even with all this information available, committing accidental plagiarism by only using a few words or ideas from another writer is very possible. Whether you are a student, a blogger, or a professional writer, it is always important to ensure you use your own words and ideas. Otherwise, always make sure you cite all the sources used in writing your work to avoid plagiarism. In case you are worried about writing a hook for an essay or need essay help services, don’t hesitate to contact Assignment Essays for assistance. 

The following are important steps you can take to avoid and eliminate plagiarism in your work.

1. Use a wider range of sources

When you read multiple sources, it means that you will get a wider vision and you are in a better position to understand the topic better. Reading a single source means that you won’t have much to write about as you do not have enough knowledge to come up with your own original ideas. 

2. Develop your own unique style

At the university, you should have your style of writing. Always try to be clear and concise in any content that you write. If you decide to use words and phrases that you do not use frequently, the work might look different from your other work and your teacher might suspect you of cheating. 

3. Citing and referencing

The best method you can use to avoid accidental plagiarism is by pointing out in the body of your assignment every part that is not your own. After this, give full details of the sources to allow for the lecturer to check where you got your data. This is referred to as citing and referencing and should be a continuous process. You should not leave it until the end as it might result in you missing a few sources. You should include in-text citations for every piece of information you borrow from other sources and ensure all these sources are added to your reference page.   

4. Taking notes 

Whenever you are doing a literature review or reading for an assignment, always make sure you take notes about the author, title, and page number for the books and journals and web addresses for websites. This will save you time when it comes to creating the reference page and it will also help you keep track of all your sources in case you need to refer to them in the future. 

5. Use quotation marks

When you copy information from other sources word-by-word, always make sure you use quotation marks. In this way, the reader will understand that the words were borrowed from other sources in which case you will not be accused of plagiarism. 

6. Proofread your work

Proofreading does not take a lot of your time but it is important to go through your work once it has been completed to ensure you eliminate any errors that you might have missed when writing your essay. The process takes only a few minutes of your time depending on the length of your content but the benefit of proofreading is immense. Most of the issues and errors in your paper will be more visible during the proofreading process. 

7. Make it a priority to do your own work

In case you have doubts about a subject or a topic you can consult your instructor but you should never result to cheating by asking your friends to do the work for you. Some students even request copies of old assignments to copy from which is a severe form of plagiarism that should be avoided at any cost. Always focus on doing your own work to avoid severe punishment for delivering plagiarized work. 

8. Start working on it early

No matter how easy or short your assignment might seem, always make sure you set aside enough time to read and understand the source material before you start writing the essay. Most students have stated the cause of plagiarism as lack of enough time. 

If you underestimate the time you need for the research and writing, you might end up rushing at the last minute in which case you will end up plagiarizing your work from the source material when you realize that you do not have enough time to read and understand everything. Please make sure you have enough time to work on your assignment before the deadline. 

9. Use a plagiarism detector

Once you are done working on your paper, always make sure you scan it through a plagiarism detector to understand the level of plagiarism in your work. In case you might have forgotten to use quotation marks, cite, or references a source, you will have enough time to fix the error before you finally submit your work for grading. 

Avoiding plagiarism in the academic field is very important. It is also important to give credit to other writers when you use their work in writing your own by acknowledging the roles played by the information. This shows respect for the work and the author.