Tips to Avoid Plagiarism While Writing Scholarly Paper

Plagiarism can be committed both ways, either deliberately or accidentally. However, we can avoid plagiarism by paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing is the best way to avoid plagiarism while writing a scholarly paper. If you change another author’s words or vocabulary by using synonyms and adding citations of the source, it works to avoid plagiarism. Anyhow, the paraphrasing of a text can be considered plagiarism if the researcher writes too closely to the original text, even if the source is cited. In this case, you must go for quotation instead of paraphrasing.

This means that paraphrasing and plagiarism are connected.

Let us help you through this and provide you with comprehensive insights into the effective ways to avoid plagiarism.

First of all, we would like to discuss plagiarism and then we will move forward to tell you about the quick tips that you can follow to achieve uniqueness while writing your scholarly papers.

What is Plagiarism in Research?

As we mentioned above, Plagiarism involves stealing someone else’s words or ideas and presenting them as your own. There are four major types of plagiarism that include:

➔       Direct Plagiarism

The act of claiming someone else’s idea as your own without providing any citations. It is never accepted in research works.

➔       Mosaic Plagiarism

It is also known as “patchwriting“. It occurs when a writer borrows some words and phrases from the source without adding any quotation or citation. The writer changes a few words and sentences with a bit of change.

➔       Accidental Plagiarism

It occurs intentionally when the writer misquotes the wrong author or gives credit to someone other than the original author.

➔       Self- Plagiarism

It is a re-use of your work that has already been published. However, they’ve added or changed a few words and statements to produce the new task.

Why Should Students and Researchers Avoid Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is an ethical issue, and avoiding plagiarism is paramount for a student and researcher because it compromises integrity. Moreover, the submission of plagiarized work is considered a theft of the original author’s idea.

For the students and researchers, plagiarism can be a reason for the rejection of their submitted proposals and projects. Therefore, they must escape it no matter what.

There are many ways to remove plagiarism but still, the majority of the researchers fail to craft unique and clear content for their scholarly papers. Let’s move forward to discuss the most effective tips that you can follow to avoid plagiarism while writing your research papers.

How to Avoid Plagiarism in Academic Writing?

Students and researchers can create plagiarism-free text for their scholarly papers by following these simple but effective tips:

➔       Conduct an Organized Research

One of the simplest and easiest ways to avoid Plagiarism is organizing the data. In academic writing, research is the foremost thing. It should be well organized. Most importantly, when you craft a scholarly paper, you need to carefully organize the collected data. For instance, you can use Excel spreadsheets to compile all the information as required.

➔       Do a Proper Resource Evaluation?

Locating the authentic resource is one of the most important steps toward avoiding Plagiarism. All the available sources are not equal. They all are not providing authentic and reliable information. Resource evaluation is essential. Always obtain information from reputable and prominent academic journals.

➔       Always Use Plagiarism Checker

You must analyze your scholarly article using an effective plagiarism checker to make sure that it is completely unique. It will take only a few seconds to highlight if your passages contain any duplicate sentences.

➔       Quote the Important Statements

The researchers can simply use the exact wording or statements of other authors and then add citations to give credit sources. Once you cite the quoted statement, it isn’t considered plagiarism. However, you need to avoid over-quoting.

➔       Be Original as Much as You Can

It is essential to add words and create unique text, but none of these should change the originality of the text.  Be original, vivid, and authentic while writing passages for your research paper. It is important for your scholarly paper to stand out from the rest.

➔       Create Your Own Style

You should develop your unique style while writing. Focus on structuring your words and organizing your information in a way different from other writers.  It will be easy to avoid plagiarism when you follow this approach, and you will be able to create unique content as well.

➔       Leverage Paraphrasing to Achieve Uniqueness

Paraphrasing works against plagiarism. When you use unique words to express the idea of some other author. Anyhow, you must include citations whenever you paraphrase a statement in your research paper.

➔       Never Forget to Include Citations

Undoubtedly, it is non-negotiable. You must add the in-text citations to avoid plagiarism in your scholarly paper. In case you paraphrase a quote of another author but forget to cite it, you will be accused of plagiarism. So, always acknowledge the original sources in your research.

➔       Try to Quote Your Own Published Works

You should always reference your previously conducted research works in your new research papers. It not only helps to validate your current findings but enables you to avoid self-plagiarism as well.

➔       Proofread Before Submission

Recheck your work multiple times to evaluate it and discover the mistakes before submitting it. It is necessary in order to make sure that your article is unique, clear, and concrete as required. For sure, you can never compromise on the quality of your scholarly paper if you want it to be accepted.

➔       Take a Second Opinion

Take a second opinion if you can have it. Sometimes the teachers, supervisors, and other researchers can help the best identify gaps in your scholarly paper. Therefore, you should always consult with another scholarly author about your research write-ups prior to submission.

Bottom Line

To publish an authentic scholarly paper, it is essential that the author reads the sources extensively, puts down their thoughts with appropriate citations, and properly uses quotation marks whenever necessary to avoid Plagiarism.