How to Avoid Plagiarism in Writing Papers

When you’re writing a piece of text, it’s indeed fun to write whatever you want without the hindrance of different factors or mistakes. You still have to remember becoming mindful of the content you’re writing. The best writers know how to avoid plagiarism.

If you’re a technical or academic writer, you have to be mindful of tendencies of plagiarism in your paper. These levels of writing require high regard to watchfulness with such aforementioned mistake. It doesn’t just untidy your reputation, but may bring you into trouble if the owner of your plagiarized content decides to sue you.

Such caution doesn’t only apply to academic or technical writers, but to ordinary people like you. Multiple times, there have been common people who faced charges due to plagiarism. Think about the feeling of being in prison should you decide to copy-paste someone else’s work.

Through this article, you will discover ways on how to avoid plagiarism.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism uses words or ideas (either planned or accidental) of another author/researcher or your work without proper acknowledgment. Academic and intellectual offenses constitute plagiarism, which can result in severe consequences, such as paper retractions and loss of author credibility and reputation.

As a concern, academic publishing is prone to plagiarism.

It is therefore imperative for researchers to develop their knowledge of plagiarism. Academic traditions and nuances may not insist on citing the source of words or ideas in some cultures.

A global academic code of conduct requires this form of validation, however. Other non-native English speakers face a more significant challenge of communicating their technical content in English while being ethical.

One of the types of plagiarism includes academic plagiarism.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

To avoid plagiarism, you must possess good writing skills. Although extensive advice on writing skills is beyond this module, below are some writing tips that will help you get started.

1. Cite Sources

As long as you’re writing on your work and cite a source whenever you use it, you’re not plagiarizing, right? Well, there’s more to it than that. Sometimes, you might use words or phrasing similar to that of the cited text. This, of course, is plagiarism that you have to avoid every time at all costs.

Extrinsic evidence is essential in academic writing, but those sources must become appropriately utilized. The use of paraphrasing and quoting from outside sources can be helpful.

Your sources will vary depending on formality. When referencing a blog article, you can often link to its source.

You may also want to mention the original author’s name or the URL of his website. This is to let your readers understand where you’re getting your information at a glance.

Additionally, you will generally need to use a specific format for citations for more formal papers.

2. Take Your Time Researching

Your work and research should not be delayed.

Research takes time to do. Procrastinating makes it increasingly likely you will run out of time or be under pressure.

In addition, this kind of pressure can lead to sloppy research habits and bad decisions. Research well in advance, and seek assistance from your professor, librarians, and other campus support staff, when needed.

3. Commit to Your Research

Have commitment to your research. Spend the time necessary to do it right and never plagiarize. Know that this research will be your success. Commit to making it happen.

4. Make Sure to be Scrupulous

You might want to label in the notes your own ideas (write “ME” in parentheses). It also includes ideas and words from others (write “SMITH, 2005″or something else to indicate author, source, source date).

Keep a record of the sources you consult and the ideas you take. Since you’re writing a paper, you’ll need this information for your bibliographies or references list. You’ll benefit from good organization from the start.

5. Use Plagiarism Checker Tools

Tools like INK, Turnitin, PlagScan, Wanye, and Safeassign can check your work for plagiarism. It would help if you used an online plagiarism checker to ensure your research remained intact and didn’t look suspicious. With plagiarism checkers and these other tools, you can identify if your writing has been plagiarized by someone else.

To Wrap Up

Understandably, we find this subject overwhelming. However, it is possible to avoid plagiarism with a little bit of research, diligence, and careful preparation.

If you are not careful, it can lead to many problems that would probably be hard to avoid. Furthermore, if you struggle with plagiarism, it’s wise to use professional services to handle all of this for you.

Doing so will ensure that it doesn’t happen on your paper. Plagiarism checkers will provide you with a great reference and guarantee that your report will be flawless.