Writing Your Research Paper? Be Careful Not to Plagiarize |
Posted: January 15, 2018 |
No one likes to plagiarize, but situations make them do so. While some people do it intentionally for various purposes like the easiness of work, meeting short deadlines, and passing a difficult paper, some others do it unintentionally. First, let us see what really constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism, in simple terms, involves using someone else’s text without acknowledging the source material and without quotation marks. Therefore, many students have developed the belief that it is not considered plagiarism if the text is paraphrased and used without acknowledging the source material. However, the reality is that using somebody’s idea, in any form, without proper acknowledgment is plagiarism and is highly unethical. In fact, this is not the whole picture of what is considered plagiarism. Some students try to paraphrase the source material they use but end up changing only a few words and phrases and using much of the original material in the same structure and progression. This can put you in serious trouble because this is considered plagiarism. Moreover, too much dependence on someone else’s material, even with proper citation, is considered plagiarism because your paper is relying too much on other people’s ideas. There is another category of smart plagiarism. This category of students relies on secondary sources to gather information to write their paper and then cite primary sources which were not originally read and hide the secondary sources from where they obtained information. Some students are even smarter. What paper writers do is to create an impressive reference list which contains a number of sources which are visibly relevant and attractive. Some of these students might not have read these sources, and some even might have forgotten to cite them in the assignments. Have you heard of self-plagiarism? It happens when student steals from his own previously written work either partially or fully and fail to acknowledge the same. Well, now it is clear that plagiarism is a complex business and if not careful, you are in danger of getting punished for plagiarism which is considered the worst case of academic dishonesty. How can I Stay Away from Plagiarism? There are two important elements which deserve attention if you wish to avoid inadvertent plagiarism; proper paraphrasing and proper citation. So let us start with proper paraphrasing. Paraphrasing involves using the information from another source in your paper by communicating their ideas in your own words. So, in paraphrasing, the basic concept is that use as few words as possible from the original source and make sure that the meaning is not changed. Even though the words are changed altogether, you are supposed to cite the source. Now, regarding citation, it is important for you to be familiar with the appropriate citation style before starting your paper. There are many citation styles including APA, MLA, Turabian, Chicago, Harvard, and so on. Well, that is easier said than done. Isn’t it? It is at this juncture that many people like you depend on our service for online custom essays. We write all types of papers of all difficulty levels and subjects. Our papers are affordable, plagiarism-free, and quick. Try our service now.
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