Preparing college or university research papers is never easy, but the most challenging bit is gathering information and presenting it correctly to make the work look professional for higher grades. It is paramount to build on previously done research or ideas and then top them up with your own information, but many students often fall into the trap of plagiarism. This brings us to the big question, “what is the best way to avoid plagiarism?”
Keep reading as we delve deeper into the concept of plagiarism to determine what it is and the strategies to avoid it. The paper also digs deeper to explain how to fix plagiarism to avoid getting penalized. Finally, we will tell you some tips on how to plagiarize successfully. Note that working with professional homework writers can guarantee your research papers zero plagiarism.
Table of Contents
What Is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is one of the serious unethical practices of using ideas, words, or texts of other researchers/authors or even own previous works, without acknowledgment.
It is a major problem today in academia and the primary reason why some papers, reports, research work, and essays are retracted.
Types Of Plagiarism
As you think of how to not plagiarize a research paper, know that it is only possible by first understanding it falls into different categories. Here are the most common types:
- Complete plagiarism: This is simply copying the entirety of another person’s work and presenting it as your own. It is considered the equivalent of intellectual theft and the most serious type of plagiarism.
- Source-based plagiarism: This plagiarism happens because of the source used. It can result from misleading citations, misdirecting citations, data falsification, or data fabrication.
- Direct plagiarism: This is similar to complete plagiarism but differs in that only some sections are copied and pasted.
- Accidental plagiarism: Accidental plagiarism happens when students plagiarize their work without recognizing it. Although it happens unintentionally, the consequences are similar to those meted to people who plagiarize on purpose.
The above four types of plagiarism are the most common, but there are other categories that you should also know about, including mosaic, self-plagiarism, and inaccurate attribution.
Consequences Of Plagiarism
In most colleges, plagiarism comes with grave consequences, and the best idea is to avoid it at all costs. Most colleges have academic integrity committed to police students. If you are caught and proven to have plagiarized your work, here are some possible consequences.
- The degree you are pursuing can get canceled.
- Getting expelled from college and being banned from other colleges in the country.
- Your paper getting canceled and being required to redo it.
- The first instance of plagiarism often attracts a warning, while subsequent instances can result in expulsion.
Best Strategies To Avoid Plagiarism In Research Papers
No one wants to get his/her research paper or degree canceled because it could bring your career screeching to a halt. If you have always wanted to become a doctor, engineer, pilot, or tech expert, it is paramount to have good grades but “how can you avoid plagiarism?” Here are the best strategies:
- Keep Track of Your SourcesOne of the reasons why students plagiarize their research papers or essays is because they forget where the ideas were borrowed from. Therefore, they unintentionally present them as their own. To avoid plagiarism you should keep the research notes organized and populate the list of citations as you continue.When preparing notes, ensure that your thoughts are clearly noted and statements that require citation marked. Any text that you copy directly from the source should always be put in quotes.
- How Do You Avoid Plagiarism When Quoting?Using quotes when writing an essay implies that the piece of information, perhaps a phrase, entire sentence, or paragraph, is copied from the source.
To avoid plagiarism when working with quotes, you need to introduce the piece or section using your own words and add the copied text enclosed in quotation marks. Then, make sure to give credit to the source/ author.
Even if you are borrowing an idea from your previous work, perhaps a research paper or book, you must credit the source. If you don’t, it will still be considered plagiarism.
Because you are working on an assignment, the quotes should be used sparingly. If there are too many, there is a risk of the work looking unprofessional and getting a poor grade. Consider using quotes when:
- An exact definition of an item, phenomenon, or process is required.
- Paraphrasing a text without eroding its meaning is impossible.
- The assignment requires the analysis of language using original quotes and texts.
- When targeting to maintain the style and authority similar to that of the source under consideration.
Below is a demonstration of how you should quote directly from the source. Note the use of quotes and the source at the end of the sentence.
Original Text:
“The Arctic regularly serves as a poster child for dangerous anthropogenic climate-change impacts in media reports,” Michael, B. and Simone, R. (2020).Quoted Incorrectly:
In modern society, the Arctic regularly serves as a poster child for dangerous human-induced climate change impacts in publications by the media.Quoted Correctly:
In the modern society, “the Arctic regularly serves as a poster child for dangerous” human-induced “climate change impacts” in publications by the media (Michael and Simone, 2020) - Avoiding Plagiarism When ParaphrasingParaphrasing is a way of using one’s own words to explain something that has been borrowed from another source, such as a book or journal. This does not mean that you simply change a few words here and there in the sentence. Rather, you need to rewrite the point from the author to demonstrate that you have grasped the content.The best way of doing this is by reading through the text, briefly jotting down the main points, and then bringing out the idea in your own words. Remember that since you are borrowing an idea, the section you are writing must give reference to the source. Below is an example of a well-paraphrased text.
Scientists are still exploring the links between greenhouse gasses (GHG) and the growing challenge of global warming. According to Emily and Thomas (2019), emissions are trapped in the upper layers of the atmosphere, where they block heat from escaping into space. The effect is higher surface temperatures and associated problems like the thawing of polar ice.
- Always Cite Your Sources AccuratelyWhen looking at the best ways to avoid plagiarism, ensure that citing the sources is one of them. Whether you use quotes or paraphrasing, it is prudent to add in-text or footnote citations that show who the author of the source is.There is one more thing that you must do: ensure that every citation has a corresponding full reference at the end of the paper. This can be a reference list or bibliography, depending on the formatting style in use.
When issuing assignments, your class teacher or professor will always specify the type of formatting style to use. The styles can be Chicago, APA, or MLA, among others. If your teacher did not specify, consider following professional guides to know which style to use. For example, most papers in languages and literature use MLA, while science essays use APA formatting style.
Below is an example of an in-text citation and corresponding reference that should come at the end of the paper.
In-text citation:
The problem of deforestation is getting worse despite the efforts adopted by governments. According to Jennings, the challenge is caused by disconnect between local actions and the global impacts. Therefore, there is a need for more capacity building to help local communities appreciate and feel proud custodians of forests.Reference Page:
Jennings, E. (2020). Protecting Our Forests in the 21st Century. London: Longhorn Publishers.Note that simply because some information was found online and does not fall into the main categories, such as books and journals, does not mean that it is not considered an academic source. You should also reference it and provide the correct link because someone, perhaps through a blog or company website, put the information there.
How To Fix Plagiarism
Earlier on in this post, we indicated that there are different types of plagiarism. Even when you put a lot of effort into ensuring that every idea, phrase, and quote is captured correctly, it is not uncommon to still find some unintentional plagiarism. The danger is that it will still count as plagiarism and attract severe penalties. So, it is important to also learn how to remove plagiarism, and here is one primary method of doing it: using plagiarism checkers.
Tips On How To Plagiarize Successfully
It is a dream of many students to identify how to not get caught plagiarizing. We must say that this is impossible, but there are a number of tricks that might work. These tips from a professional homework writer can help you to borrow some bits of other authors’ ideas, which qualify as plagiarism, but your paper appears 100% unique.
- Make Wikipedia Your Friend
Because Wikipedia is open to editing by anyone across the globe, it is discouraged by academic institutions. Most of them will even state that you should not use Wikipedia for research. Even with the discouragement, a lot of information on the site is pretty correct. Therefore, you can rush there, read about a specific topic, write down your paper, and reference publications in a related field. - Use Smart Paraphrasing
If you paraphrase a couple of sentences or paragraphs, a good plagiarism detection tool will note it. However, paraphrasing a larger text without employing the old tactics of simply replacing words with synonyms or adding adjectives might work. This means that you read the entire page or paragraph, grab the main point, and write it down. Even if you do not reference the author, the plagiarism detection tool will return 0% plagiarism. - Employ Online Rearranger Tools
This method is pretty controversial, but it can work in preventing plagiarism. It involves working with online tools that help to substitute words with their synonyms or extend sentences using adjectives. It can work because plagiarism checking tools used by schools and teachers check the sequence of words against different sources.
Use Professional Homework Assistance Service To Avoid Plagiarism
Now that we have looked at the best strategies for preventing plagiarism, it is time to get down to writing your essay or research paper. If you find how to remove plagiarism using the methods listed in this post challenging, know that you are not alone. Many are the students who spend a lot of time trying to answer the question, “What is one way to avoid plagiarism in assignments and get top grades?”
If you have limited time to handle your assignment, the topic is complex, or need to attend to other tasks; the risk of plagiarizing assignments can go up. Instead of thinking “who can do my homework for me?” and how to prevent plagiarism, consider working with our professional ENL homework writers. They know all the strategies for avoiding plagiarism and you can count on them for plagiarism-free work.
Apart from guaranteeing custom papers with zero-plagiarism, our online writers are reliable, and fast. Remember that we can help students with assignments in all disciplines. Our writing service is also cheap and secure. Visit our ordering page now and ask us to “do my homework now” for high-quality papers.
FAQ
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism refers to using another person’s ideas, creations, or writing as yours without acknowledging the source. It is an offense to copy another author’s work. Students working on term papers and essays may unintentionally plagiarize their work if unaware.
What are ways to avoid plagiarism?
Use plagiarism-checking software to detect plagiarized sentences or phrases in your writing before submission. Properly include citations, showing sources and references of the information you used in your writing. Also, you can use quotation marks for the text you copy-paste without rewriting it in your own words. Rewrite the information or ideas you gathered without altering their meaning, and cite your sources. Write your ideas about a topic without including another author’s work.
How can you avoid copying plagiarism?
Present your ideas on concepts. If you rewrite another person’s work in your own words, cite the source.
