How to Avoid Plagiarism

Plagiarism is passing off someone’s concept, idea or work as yours. In simpler terms, it is stealing someone’s work.

Plagiarism is as basic as copying someone’s text verbatim and attaching your name to it. Another name for plagiarism is ‘intellectual theft’.

Like any other kind of theft, intellectual theft is seriously frowned upon, as it does not only involve taking something that does not belong to you, but also making financial gains from the theft.

Even though plagiarism is mostly a deliberate act, you could be committing this crime without actually meaning to or realizing what you are doing. So, here are ways to avoid plagiarism.

Don’t Copy Verbatim

There are various types of plagiarism. However, the most common and obvious is copying another person’s work word for word.

To avoid the pitfall of intellectual theft, don’t copy someone’s work verbatim.

You can generate or come up with new ideas from reading someone’s work. Copying it, on the other hand, is unacceptable.

Use Quotes

Extracts and excerpts are permitted in the world of content creation, as long as the author of the cited text is given credit.

If you want to quote something that another writer has said or written, simply quote the excerpt verbatim, enclosing it in quotation marks and putting the name of the author and the title of the book, article or speech culled from.

You could insert a quote into your writing in various ways. For instance, you could write: According to Carl Jung, ‘You are what you do, not what you say you‘ll do.’.

You could also introduce the quote first and then say who wrote it. For instance, ‘The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely’ says Carl Jung. It’s that simple.

Quotes give your work credibility and show that you have done some research on the topic you are writing on, particularly if you are writing an academic paper.

However, don’t overload your thesis with quotes from other writers.

The essence of academic research and writing is to come up with a new perspective on a field that has been in existence, thus building on previous works of other academicians.

It is, therefore, of importance that you make your input on the subject matter; that is the crux of your thesis, and not a compilation of previous research by others

plagiarism

Read Broadly

One major reason why people plagiarize others’ works is that they do not have ideas of their own, either because they do not read or they read only a few books or a few authors.

Reading broadly expands your mind and your register. It also exposes you to various ideas; both familiar and unfamiliar.

When you read across different genres and various writers, you are likely to come across various styles of writing, and this would help you build your unique writing style.

Having a style helps your readers identify your unique voice as a writer.

Another benefit of vast reading is that it stimulates the brain and helps you come up with new ideas easily, and as often as you need to.

When you read regularly, you are more likely to avoid plagiarism.

Keep track of your sources for easy reference

In the course of reading various books, you could forget which exactly you got an idea or an excerpt from. That is why it is important to take note of the source of each quote, as soon as you get the quote.

This will save you the trouble of browsing through the books later to find the exact one you culled a quote from.

Having the details of your quotation source would encourage you to get the exact quote verbatim, cite correctly and credit the right source. This will help you avoid plagiarism.

Use your Original Idea

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to create original ideas.

Originality is refreshing and saves you a lot of trouble.

To come up with original ideas, you have to make out time to think. Look at issues from various angles and think of new ways to address them or ways to come up with different, better results.

When you are having a thinking session, always keep a notebook close by, so you can take notes of ideas that come to you. A voice recorder could also serve such purposes.

Check for plagiarism

To ensure that plagiarism has not crept into your writing undetected, you could do a plagiarism check.

There are websites and applications that conduct checks for duplication or verbatim copying of sentences or structures as little as phrases and strings of words.

Usually, such checks are done when you have finished writing.

Plagiarism is a serious offense.

Stealing someone’s intellectual property is unprofessional and can make you lose credibility, once the theft is discovered.

With the steps above, you would hopefully be able to avoid this pitfall that has discredited many a writer.

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