A Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism can get you expelled from college. It further causes a stigma to the wider academic community that could render you to be “black-listed” in other schools.

The reason is simple -- it is due to the fact that plagiarism is a grave offense and a fraudulent act where one tries to own another person’s ideas and words. Being well aware of its consequence, it is then essential to avoid plagiarism and maintain academic honesty and integrity at all times. Listed below are some reminders for your guidance.

Understand the nature of your enemy

To be able avoid something, you must first know what to avoid. You also need to understand why some people do it. Again you must remember that plagiarism is stealing another person’s intellectual property. Now, plagiarism has two types: first, the intentional and second is the unintentional. The first type or the intentional plagiarism needs no further explanation as it is self-explanatory. In most cases, this type is a violation that cannot be forgivable by various academic institutions. The second type or the unintentional plagiarism happens due to citations done haphazardly. Do further research on plagiarism intensively and take note of pointers for you to avoid doing it yourself.

Gather enough knowledge on the rules

To know the rules on citation sufficiently will be an effective tool to effectively write your assignment and other academic papers. Citations have different technical formats for different purposes, even though they contain the same information. Having the capability to use the right type for different academic write ups will keep you bound to the rules and do your work in line with your teacher’s instructions. Most importantly you must be keen on which section to insert citation, when citations are needed and how to technically arrange the detailed information. Learn the rules properly and get a step ahead with writing your academic statements to completely avoid plagiarism.

Know why the rules should be followed

It is not enough for you to understand the rules of plagiarism, but what is equally significant is to understand why these rules exist. What would you do if one of your colleagues have copied a section of what you have written or cited one of your papers but was interpreted in the wrong way? Surely you will get annoyed and complain to the proper authorities. This is exactly why rules of plagiarism are put in place. It is to provide protection to the idea and intellectual knowledge of original writers or discoverers and have contributed to the advancement of intellectual development. It also serves to assist you discover new knowledge and articulate your ideas and opinions effectively in writing.

Reviews

[...]

All the great stories and poems was already wroten all what to need to do its write own version if all this great stories and poems.

[Ian D. Mooby]

As someone who was accused of plagiarism, I would love for more people who write to learn the truth about this subject.