What Is Plagiarism in Academic Writing?
Plagiarism has become a severe problem in many fields of social life with the advance of technology. Though it is often associated with school and written assignments, plagiarism can be encountered in arts, business, and scientific research.
What should you consider plagiarism? It usually includes using someone’s ideas, words, or results of research as your own. You can easily avoid it if you cite the work you have been using with the correct indication of the source. Or you can avoid plagiarism with the help of professional essay writers who know how to the most unique writing job.
Table of contents
- Plagiarism Types
- Plagiarism Can Be Accidental or Deliberate
- Why Is It Bad to Plagiarize?
- Academic Environment
- Arts and Creativity
- Plagiarism Has Bad Outcomes
- Is It Easy to Detect Plagiarism?
- How to Choose a Plagiarism Checker
- How Reliable Are Plagiarism Checkers?
- How to Avoid Plagiarism?
- Final Thoughts
Plagiarism Types
The types of plagiarism are different depending on the method you use to write about someone else’s work. You can ‘copy-paste’ the idea directly, paraphrase the passage or sentence, or adapt the work to your needs.
Main types
As for academic writing, you can face such types of plagiarism as:
- Plagiarizing entirely. It means that you copy the whole work without changing it.
- Plagiarizing mosaically (patchworking). You make a compilation of sentences or passages taken from different works making a new text.
- Incrementing. You copy just a certain idea or a paragraph and insert it into your unique text without any citation.
- Self-plagiarizing. You use your previous paper and copy the passages from it but this work has already been published or submitted.
Text files are what can usually be plagiarized. Though, there are some other things that you can copy, such as music, images, artwork, or data. If somebody else has created all this, you cannot use the pieces without an appropriate citation.
Plagiarism Can Be Accidental or Deliberate
Deliberate plagiarism can happen in academic studies or business work. For instance, if a student submits a paper, they do not write, or a company uses a website design developed for some other client without any permission.
However, in the academic environment, deliberate plagiarism is not so often because all the students know well what they can lose while doing it.
Why is accidental plagiarism more common?
- They forget to cite the quote or miss the quotation marks.
- Some students may think that if they paraphrase the original text with the help of the synonyms only, the work will be original.
- Students mention an idea they liked without giving information about its author.
- Citation is present but with the wrong indication about the author.
- A reference list is completely missing at the end of a paper.
Why Is It Bad to Plagiarize?
Plagiarizing someone’s work is wrong because you steal the ideas you have not put forward. If you do not mention the source, it is inappropriate. That is why experienced writers always make sure that all sources they use are citied and put to use in paper correctly.
Academic Environment
Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty. Your professors or readers of articles are likely to believe that the work you have presented is your own.
- You just take the work you have not done, and that action can mislead your audience about your achievements.
Of course, you can use others’ ideas to create a strong academic background, and it is usually one of your writing goals. However, you need to divide your words and those which other people produced. Your readers should understand where your ideas are coming from and how well you have developed them.
Arts and Creativity
People who create something in music, art, or design, believe that if someone else has used their idea, it is theft. They feel abused because they do not get the appropriate recognition and income for their work.
Any creator makes masterpieces with the help of inspiration.
- You can be inspired by such pieces too but be sure to give credit to their authors if you use them.
Plagiarism Has Bad Outcomes
Everything depends on the field you use plagiarized work.
The result
If you use someone’s creative work as yours, the outcome may be negative. At university, you may fail the course, be dismissed or lose your good academic reputation. In other fields, you can encounter legal issues.
Of course, if you use someone’s work privately, without publishing it, you can do it without any serious consequences. Nevertheless, be attentive if you want to submit the assignment based on plagiarized materials.
Is It Easy to Detect Plagiarism?
At first sight, it may seem that plagiarism is impossible to detect. Do not trust this feeling. Your experienced professor can see it at once if the paper is not formatted properly or the content does not comply with your previous style. It can also sound familiar to your supervisor, but they still can check it by just using a Google search.
Try plagiarism checker
Most academic institutions use special plagiarism checkers. These programs show well the similarity of your work to other papers.
Most online plagiarism checkers use the same algorithm. You upload the paper, and the tool does scan-detecting of any likelihood to other sites, articles, or multiple sources. After completing scanning, it shows you the similarities, if any, and the percentage of plagiarism found. It is necessary to add quotations in the place highlighted by the instrument to avoid problems.
Such plagiarism checkers are accurate because they use modern technology and vast databases.
How to Choose a Plagiarism Checker?
You can get lost with many plagiarism checkers available on the online market today. So take a look at free and paid options.
Keep in mind!
- Free checkers detect not all copied material, but they are still solid help. They are suitable for those students who cannot spend money on paid versions.
- 'Freemium' checkers provide both a free and premium payable version. You will never know whether you have got a completely reliable check when you have used it for free.
- Paid checkers are the most appropriate ones for your academic needs because their wide databases also allow for detecting the paraphrased pieces. You can either subscribe to them or utilize a pay-for-use option. Still, they are not cheap.
So, you can try our free plagiarism checker and find out yourself whether it is good.
How Reliable Are Plagiarism Checkers?
Most online checkers provide full confidentiality and privacy. You can be sure that the paper you have uploaded will never be used in some other work.
However, it is important to read their Terms and Conditions carefully to avoid unexpected outcomes.
How to Avoid Plagiarism?
- The most reliable and well-tested way to avoid plagiarism is always to cite the sources. You may need to integrate the pieces in your text to ensure that you have paraphrased and quoted them properly.
You may also ask whether you need to cite all the pieces of information you have used. In general, yes. Though, if this information is common knowledge, you do not need to cite it.
Example when you do not need to cite the source:
If you say that the Mariana Trench is the deepest location on Earth, you do not need to give reference to any source.
Nevertheless, if you are not sure that the information you use is commonly known, it is always safer to cite it. Or you can request help from a professional writer who knows ways how to avoid plagiarism.
Final Thoughts
Now, you know what plagiarism is in academic work and other fields. Be aware of the possible accidental plagiarism any time you are going to publish your paper.
- We recommend checking the presence of plagiarized phrases or ideas with the help of a reliable plagiarism checker and changing every doubtful statement.
You can avoid plagiarism in your academic work if you cite everything that you have taken from other academic papers or research results. Be attentive to the citation styles which your academic institution requires. Use a reference list at the end of every assignment, paper, or article to make a substantial academic background for your research results and let them feel trustworthy and reliable.