Imagine how upset you can get when you come across to know that somebody else has used your technique or writing and published it without mentioning your name. That somebody will be considered a thief because he has used ideas without acknowledgement. The word plagiarism applies to the same logic not only to the ideas but to the choice and arrangement of words. The students of colleges and universities usually are very much familiar with plagiarism. When students are assigned writing tasks, they are also handed in comprehensive guidelines that clearly state their assignment should be unique and plagiarism free. If any project is not unusual, then it might get rejected by the professors, and ultimately students will lose their academic grades. In this blog, we will discuss a complete guide on how you can avoid plagiarism while writing a research paper.

What Is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism means using someone else’s words or ideas without properly acknowledging the original author. Sometimes plagiarism involves stealing someone’s work, but most of the time, it happens accidentally through carelessness and forgetfulness. However, when you write a research paper assignment, you depend on the work of others and use different credible sources for evidence and data. 

Plagiarism is the unethical way of copying another author’s work or idea, whether intentionally or unintentionally, without providing proper acknowledgment. It is an academic crime that can have many consequences, so it is difficult for students to get a better knowledge of plagiarism. Moreover, students often need the guidance and support of an assignment helper who can assist them in proofreading and editing their research papers. 

Why Should You Avoid Plagiarism?

As discussed above, plagiarism is an ethical issue and anyone who submits plagiarized work is committing theft. However, avoiding plagiarism is predominant as a writer as it involves your integrity. Besides losing your professors’ and peers’ trust and respect, it can cost you valuable professional referrals and future career advancement. In addition, it takes away the credit from the original author, which can be more troublesome if the author takes legal action against you. 

What Are The Different Types Of Plagiarism?

The act of plagiarism is not restricted to the word; including a diagram or an image without an attribution is also plagiarism because it is using someone else’s idea. More immoral is not borrowing itself but borrowing without attribution or acknowledgement. Although, the types of plagiarism can be different and be categorized as follows-

• Source- self-plagiarism is one such category.
• The degree of plagiarism involves verbatim plagiarism, which means copying the original text from word to word. In contrast, scattered plagiarism refers to copying small pieces of text that occur throughout the body of a research paper.
• Type of content plagiarism involves copying an image, a table, or an equation mainly developed by another researcher.
• Intention or absence of it- plagiarism is intentional when the person who commits it does it knowingly or unintentionally when the person is unaware of what creates plagiarism.

Ways To Avoid Plagiarism In Research Paper:

Avoiding plagiarism is easier for you as now you know the meaning and different types of plagiarism. Follow the below tips to avoid plagiarism while writing your research paper or any other assignment.

• Cite Your Source-

While referring to an idea or words that are not your own, you must add a citation in your research paper that describes the source’s full name, the date of its publication and any other element required by the style guide you are adhesive to.

• Include Quotations-

If you include another source’s wordings that are not yours, verbatim, then one of the simple yet effective ways to avoid plagiarism is by using quotation marks around the text that mean the words are not your own. Moreover, a direct quote should cite the source so the readers know who the selection is from.

• Paraphrasing-

Paraphrasing means rewriting a source’s idea or information into your wording without changing its meaning. The fundamental is to do it without changing the importance of the concept. But it would help if you were careful while paraphrasing as it can also slip into plagiarism when it is not done correctly. To successfully implement paraphrasing without plagiarism, you need to reword and format your writing initially. Also, avoid using too many similar words or phrases from the source. Here it would be best if you remember using someone else’s idea, so include a citation to the original.

• Express Your Idea-

Rather than imitating the source’s idea or words, please explore what you want to say about it. You can think and present your unique point and contribute it to your writing. But remember that if you are referring to a source’s idea to frame your issue, you will still need to follow the guidelines mentioned above to avoid plagiarism. 

If you are writing on the same topic for numerous assignments, it can be tempting to convert some of your previous works, which is called self-plagiarism. The risk involved with self-plagiarism is higher than if the professor did not allow you to reuse your old work.

• Use a Plagiarism Checker Tool-

While researching any topic, some phrases or sentences might attach to you so well that you recklessly include them in your writing without a citation. However, after putting all the effort into avoiding plagiarism, if you are still in doubt, you can work on the best online plagiarism checker tool to help you catch these issues before your final research paper submission. These tools allow you to know whether or not parts of your writing are plagiarised and can even highlight some specific words and sentences to identify where the text originated from. 

Final Thoughts:

In the above discussion, we have mentioned helpful suggestions for avoiding plagiarism from your research paper and other assigned tasks. Moreover, to be more aware of what causes plagiarism, figuring out how you can prevent plagiarism needs daily practice.