Did you know that 94% of college students have committed plagiarism in one way or another? Imagine taking your time to craft a high-quality paper only to discover later that someone has taken your work and claimed it to be their own. This is not only demoralizing but also hurtful. Plagiarism is a cardinal sin with severe consequences, including damage to one's reputation. Schools take issues of plagiarism seriously, which is why you must ensure your work is free of plagiarism.
In this guide, our top research writers will define plagiarism and delve into all the strategies to help you know how to avoid plagiarism when writing a research paper.
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Plagiarism in research refers to the presentation of other people's ideas or information from published and unpublished material, even with the author's permission, without giving them appropriate acknowledgment. It also refers to reusing your own material without providing a proper citation.
In the medical field, plagiarism is defined by the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) as the use of other people's ideas without permission and presenting them as your own and not coming from another source. Plagiarism could occur at any stage of research, from planning to research and writing.
Not every word from materials should be cited to avoid plagiarism. There are certain words, phrases, and information you can use to avoid being accused of plagiarism. These are:
Additionally, there is no need to cite common knowledge. So, what is common knowledge in research?
Common knowledge refers to information that many people are aware of, such as urban legends, folklore, or famous historical events. It is facts that are beyond dispute, don't raise doubts, are easily verifiable, and are found undocumented in various credible sources.
When writing your research paper, ensure you are aware of information that readers already know or that they can easily find in other sources. This way, you will know how to avoid plagiarism.
There are four forms of plagiarism: direct plagiarism, self-plagiarism, mosaic plagiarism, complete plagiarism, and accidental plagiarism.
This refers to copying a section of a person's ideas word for word without giving them credit. In other words, direct plagiarism is copying and pasting work from the original source into your own work.
The Northern Illinois University states that even if you eliminate a few sentences or phrases from the sources without crediting the author and pass them as your own, then that is direct plagiarism.
Also known as auto-plagiarism, self-plagiarism occurs when you reuse your own work that was published on another platform.
At face value, this does not seem like a problem because it is your work, which you took time to research and write. However, is it really a problem? Self-plagiarism is a problem because it is passing your old work as something new. You are essentially misrepresenting the effort put into conducting research and writing the paper.
Additionally, self-plagiarism is an issue if you are in the professional field working for someone. Whatever you write becomes someone else's work. Recycling this work for subsequent clients is plagiarism.
In simple terms, mosaic plagiarism refers to copying and pasting multiple texts from various sources and integrating them into your work without attribution. Unlike complete plagiarism, mosaic is not word-for-word copying; it is bad paraphrasing, where you put ideas into your own words by changing words here and there.
Mosaic plagiarism is bad because it misinterprets originality. In other words, it gives readers a false impression that you have conducted research when, in fact, you have used other people's work.
One of the most common forms of plagiarism is accidental plagiarism. This is when you unintentionally use other people's ideas and arguments as your own and do not acknowledge the writer.
Can you really be at fault for committing accidental plagiarism? The answer is yes.
Even if you did not mean it, it is still plagiarism.
Accidental plagiarism occurs in two ways; one is when you do not know how to paraphrase, quote, or cite your sources. The second reason is out of ignorance.
The most serious type of plagiarism is complete plagiarism. This occurs when you take another person's research paper or manuscript and submit it as your own.
One of the common ways this happens is when you download a paper from the internet and only change the names, then submit it as your own.
Every college and university stresses the importance of avoiding plagiarism. The writing departments very well understand the worse effects of plagiarism. Failure to adhere to the integrity guidelines that enforce plagiarism policies could land you in trouble with your professor and the institution.
The following are all the reasons why plagiarism is bad. Learning this will help you know how to avoid plagiarism when writing a research paper.
Originality refers to the creation of new ideas, theories, methods, concepts, etc. When you copy other people's work and pass it as your own, it means you have not done anything and are essentially repeating what is there. Additionally, when you research a problem that has already been reported, then that is unoriginal.
Originality is important in research because you are producing work that has never been seen before and thus continuing the field of sciences. Even if you build on the work of others, as long as you acknowledge them and use them to create new information, then there is no problem.
Plagiarism in research is wrong in the same way as stealing other people's vehicles. You are taking something that you did not work for and claiming it as your own.
Scientists, researchers, and writers put an incredible amount of effort into conducting research and writing papers. When you take their work and pass it on as yours, you are violating the principles of honesty and integrity.
Academic institutions value academic integrity and take plagiarism cases, particularly plagiarized research. This is because it could affect people's lives, especially in the medical field.
As a student, if you are suspected and proven to have committed plagiarism, the institution could suspend or expel you from school.
One person who faced academic consequences for plagiarism was Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who was accused of plagiarizing his doctoral thesis. The former German Defense Minister was accused of grossly violating standard research practices by copying and pasting passages from a newspaper article and a paragraph from the US embassy's website without acknowledging the authors.
The allegations led to an academic investigation that led to 50,000 academics signing a letter to remove him from his role in the government and strip off his Dr. Title.
Education institutions and scientific communities are defined by their reputation to attract funding students. When an institution is known for the wrong reasons, it will erode the trust of stakeholders.
If you are a researcher and choose to use other people's work without crediting them, the journal may retract your work and discredit you, thus damaging your reputation. Additionally, other publishers and journals may be reluctant to accept or publish your work.
Creativity is an essential skill in research as it allows researchers to approach complex problems from new angles and devise unconventional methods to solve research questions. When plagiarism is allowed within scientific communities, researchers will be unable to sharpen their skills in relation to the chosen field, thus reducing the capacity for creative thinking.
Additionally, plagiarism makes it difficult for the free exchange of ideas within the academic community, thus impeding progress and creativity.
When you steal the works of others, you rob them of their research. When they publish more work, they will be forced to cite “their" work, which you have taken ownership of.
If you steal research or preliminary results from young authors, they can give up on their subject even when they have dedicated months or years to dimming their light and deriving the essential skills of the field of science. Conducting research from scratch, collecting data, and interpreting results is essential for scientific exploration. Thus, plagiarism hampers these actions and shows researchers that what they are doing does not matter.
There are also legal consequences of plagiarism. If an author feels that their information has been stolen from them, they have the right to sue.
Several plagiarism lawsuits have reached the court. For instance, remember the song "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams? Well, the duo was sued by Marvin Gaye's Estate (2015), which resulted in a five-year legal battle. The two were accused of plagiarizing Marvin Gaye's 1977 hit song “Got to Give It Up." Eventually, according to NBC News, they were forced to pay 5 million dollars.
Follow these tips to avoid plagiarizing your research paper.
In the words of Confucius, a man who does not plan will find trouble at his door. This saying is true when it comes to research. Having a plan for how you will conduct research, review literature, identify sources to use, and prepare for the writing process can significantly help prevent plagiarism.
Divide your work into different milestones and set ample time for each. If there is a deadline, ensure you are aware of it so that you can manage time efficiently.
When you are able to plan your time, you will prevent last-minute rushes, which in most cases lead to inadvertent plagiarism. Good planning will also allow you to not only know the sources to use but also integrate them well into your research paper.
Moreover, good planning will allow you to finish your task on time and leave you more room to revise your work, identify plagiarized areas, and make necessary changes.
Effective note-taking is an essential skill that can help you prevent plagiarism. You may be asking, what do good note-taking skills have to do with avoiding plagiarism? Take notes during lectures, seminars, and when studying, which will help form the basis for research.
Good note-taking helps you focus and organize your information, gain a deeper understanding of the subject, and prevent plagiarism during the writing process.
Effective note-taking helps avoid accidental plagiarism, which is the most common form of plagiarism that occurs because of bad note-taking, especially when you don't remember where the notes came from.
If you are not sure how to take notes, the following tips can help:
Overall, whenever you write notes, ensure you distinguish your thoughts and ideas from other people's ideas. This will help you know what information needs to be cited.
Citations styles refer to a set of guidelines for citing sources used in research in your paper. They are a big part of avoiding plagiarism in research. Learning about the different citation styles and how to use them in your research paper can help give authors credit for their efforts and tell readers where they can find resources for further reading.
There are four most common citation styles for academic writing: APA, MLA, AMA, Chicago, and Harvard style. All these styles have specific rules for presenting outside sources in your paper to avoid research. Whenever you cite sources, ensure you add the author's name, the year it was published, and any other relevant elements required by the citation style used.
Research on the effects of teaching the anti-plagiarism strategy of proper citations shows that students become more confident and are able to integrate sources properly within their research papers. You will also understand how to write a great annotated bibliography, which is essential as part of your research paper.
Once you understand the different rules for citations, it will be easy to use them in your paper (both in-text and in the reference section) to avoid plagiarism.
If you are not sure how to effectively use citations in your research paper, consider using reference management software. These are tools that will help you collect, store, manage, format, and cite references to ensure you cite the sources consistently and efficiently, according to the University College London.
Some of the best reference management software include Zoteros, Mendeley, EndNote, RefWorks, and EasyBib. Each tool has its own set of features, functions, and advantages and disadvantages. So, it is best to go through each one before settling for the one that will help you avoid plagiarism when writing your research paper.
So, you have located information from your research sources and are planning on using it in the paper. One way to include borrowed information from other authors in your paper is by paraphrasing. This refers to putting other people's words into your own and then including them in your research paper.
Paraphrasing doesn't mean changing the meaning of the information; rather, it means rewriting the words while maintaining their original meaning.
So, how can you avoid plagiarizing when you paraphrase? Well, the best way to do this is by doing the following:
Once you do this, you must provide the source of the information according to the formatting guidelines of the chosen citation style.
Use the following paraphrasing tips to ensure you know how to avoid plagiarism when writing a research paper.
Please remember, no matter the citation style used, you must cite the source in the text and provide an entry in the reference list.
I know you are probably asking, can quotation marks avoid plagiarism? Well, the answer is yes. If you are copying an author's words verbatim, you must enclose the information in quotes.
Whenever you quote, ensure you provide an in-text citation at the end of the quote before the full stop to tell readers where you got the information. For instance, this is how you properly cite a quote, " the war was devastating to both women and children" (Smith, 2023).
Putting the words in quotation marks is a way of acknowledging the author of the information and how to avoid plagiarism when writing a research paper.
But, just because you are using quotes doesn't mean the work won't be flagged as plagiarized; there are some things you must keep in mind whenever you use direct quotes in your paper. The following are the three rules for using quotations:
Just like with paraphrasing, always follow the guidelines by the formatting style used throughout the paper. This will not only help you avoid plagiarism but ensure uniformity in your work.
Once you have done writing your research paper, test for plagiarism by using detection tools. Plagiarism checkers or detection tools are software that checks for duplicate text within a document. These tools are designed to scan for similarities in wording, structural similarities, and paraphrased content.
Using these tools to scan your work is a good way to help you identify plagiarized content and correct them before submitting your paper.
Please note that academic intuitions use the tools to check for plagiarism in students' work. So, it is better to check before submissions.
Instead of relying on other people's ideas and information, consider writing your paper using your ideas. When starting with a blank canvas, you will be forced to rely on your ideas and arguments instead of the work of others.
The best way to write your paper from scratch is by first having a vast understanding of the topic, then brainstorming ideas and organizing them logically to make it easier during the writing process.
Next, conduct research on your subject by reviewing multiple sources to locate all the relevant information about your topic. Read these sources to gain a deeper understanding of the topic and research question.
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Finally, if all else fails, ask for help from an online nursing essay-writing service. A good website to get nursing assignment help like NurseMyGrade, has expert nursing writers who are familiar with all the ways of avoiding plagiarism and can help you write a high-quality nursing research paper. In fact, you can order a plagiarism report alongside your paper to confirm that your paper was written from scratch.
Nursing writers will tap into the vast knowledge, skills, and experience in writing and help you create a research paper that is of not only high quality but also original. The writers understand the consequences and have always ensured that no word, phrase, or sentence matches that of another author. They will also incorporate relevant sources and cite them appropriately in your paper.
By entrusting these writers, you can relax knowing that your research paper will be of high quality and contribute meaningfully to the field of nursing.
Writing an original and plagiarism-free paper is not a walk in the park but is necessary to uphold academic integrity. By understanding what constitutes plagiarism, the types of plagiarism, and the way of avoiding it, you can avoid it and ensure your work is original.
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