Introduction
The best way to avoid plagiarism is not to plagiarize the work intentionally.
It might sound simplistic, but some people can perceive themselves as copying just a few concepts or ideas that will help them meet their deadlines. This might be suitable for the corporate setting, but it is a fool’s game in academic writing.
Thus, unintentional plagiarism is common, but since it is considered unintentional, it does not make it an expectation. The rest of the paper examines how to avoid common practices that risk unadvertised plagiarism in your research paper.
While you must know how to avoid plagiarism, some of you might be completely unaware of the concept.
In this article, we will emphasize tricks and tips for avoiding plagiarism in your research paper.
What Is Considered Plagiarism In A Paper?
Copying someone else’s work as a reference for writing your work is considered plagiarism. But, if you cite the source, it adds credit to the author as well as supports your evidence.
Thus, look at things and practices that constitute plagiarism and that you need to avoid while writing a research paper:
- Avoid using direct quotations without using quotation marks.
- Cheating by copy-pasting.
- Do not use in-text citations and source the reference of the article used.
- An incorrect reference style can lead to plagiarism when detected using a plagiarism tool.
- Using someone else’s work as your own without any citation and acknowledgment.
As a student, you must be utterly mindful when adding citations and references to avoid plagiarism and protect yourself from academic dishonesty.
So, carefully consider these points and save your research paper from cancellation or deduction of marks.
Tip To Avoid Plagiarism In Your Research Paper
The majority of research and academic institutions generally have zero-tolerance policies toward plagiarism.
However, some journals sometimes allow up to 12% to 15% plagiarism in a research paper.
What can you do if you need to learn how to remove or avoid plagiarism without a specific strategy? Here is a list of tips to help you avoid plagiarism in your research paper.
1. Conduct In-depth Research
To avoid plagiarism, you must conduct your research for your thesis or dissertation paper.
Thus, before writing your introduction or thesis statement, you must cite the text sources in your academic research. This will help you avoid plagiarism detection when you upload your file to Turnitin.
However, the concept or theory you use as a reference ensures you paraphrase them accurately without leaving any trace of plagiarism in the research paper.
In addition, you need to understand the research’s thesis and topic and aim to avoid quoting, copying, and paraphrasing the text already in the database. If you are running out of time and your deadline is near, hire a paper writing service. This will be helpful as paraphrasing takes sufficient time.
2. Express Main Ideas In Own Language
Instead of copying or pasting the sources’ ideas or concepts, you can explore what you have to say about them.
Moreover, ask yourself what innovative perspective or concept you can contribute to your writing that is entirely your own.
Therefore, try to keep in mind that if you are referring to a source’s idea to frame your own point, you will still need to cite the source.
So, recycling some of the previously used words can be tempting if you are writing on the same topic in different assignments. This is known as self-plagiarism. You need to avoid them from further plagiarism detection.
3. Change The Sequence If Paraphrasing
There must be more than paraphrasing a particular concept or idea to avoid plagiarism.
So, knowing the right technique for unplagiarized and effective paraphrasing is important. So, altering a phrase or a word with its synonyms in a sentence structure is a tapestry.
For instance:
- Original sentence: icebergs are increasing exponentially due to global warming.
- Good paraphrasing: global warming leads to expeditious and extensive icebergs and defrosting.
- Bad paraphrasing: Icebergs are defrosting at a massive speed due to global warming.
4. Use Quotation Marks
It is always better to write something in your own words rather than just copy-pasting the definition or saying by a particular author.
Thus, to avoid plagiarism, you should use paraphrasing or summarised techniques.
Here is a quick way you can fix the issue:
- Original sentence: AI is on the rise, leading to greater demand for emerging tools.
- Warong way of saying it: The use of AI in the present days is resulting in greater demand for emerging technologies.
- Proper use: The application of AI in technology is on the rise, leading to massive demand for innovative tools.
5. Citing Own Material
If some of the material you are using for the research paper was originally used in your present class or previous academic year, then you must cite it yourself.
You only need to treat the text the same as you would for someone else.
While it might sound appropriate, using material you had used before is called self-plagiarism, and it is not acceptable.
6. Make A Reference List
Ensure you use a reference list, as it is mandatory nowadays.
But you can be reassured if you are not aware of the full details of how to generate one. All you need to do is use Google Scholar or cite this for me and create citations for your sources.
Therefore, maintain a reference list in a separate file and incorporate it at your research’s end.
Hence, the reference list will help you pass the test easily without revealing any similarity to the work already present in the database.
7. Check Content With Plagiarism Checker
While researching a topic, certain sentences stick with you so well that you end up including them.
To save yourself from these situations, ensure to check your entire piece of work. Thus, you can use an online plagiarism-checking tool to help you catch the issues before making the final submission.
Why Should You Avoid Plagiarism In Academic Writing?
You need to avoid plagiarism for the following reasons:
- To avoid hampering your reputation in the class or workplace.
- To ensure academic integrity.
- To ensure ethical research practice.
- Credit should be given to the authors of the work you are referencing because it is a form of respecting someone’s work and effort.
Wrapping Up
This, adopting measures and watts stated in the above section, allows one to submit a plagiarism-free paper.
However, you can use a plagiarism checker to ensure the uniqueness and novelty of your paper. This will mark out the faulty areas and assist you in making rectifications in the required areas.
However, these tips and tricks can help make your research unique and enhance the quality of your paper with constructive information and language use.
