To put it plainly, plagiarism refers to taking credit for someone else’s work, and either not acknowledging them at all, or not properly crediting the original work from which you are drawing. If you are caught plagiarising, there could be serious consequences in the works for you.
Avoiding plagiarism should start early, which is why some school students might be familiar with the term. However, even though learners might know of plagiarism from very early on, cases of plagiarism still follow a number of individuals into their tertiary schooling, and later into their career life.
Although plagiarism does not necessarily have to come from a malicious place, as it might arise out of negligence, laziness, unpreparedness, mental strain, and other factors, the consequences remain the same. Therefore, it is important for students entering the tertiary space to make sure that they avoid plagiarism at all costs.
Since at the university level, students will be tasked with conducting essay and research projects, we shall start there.
The following are a few tips that might help a student avoid plagiarism in their university essays and other writing or research-based projects:
Collect information related to your argument
When writing an essay, conducting a research task, or doing any other work that requires you to draw from other sources, it is important to come up with an argument based on the knowledge you have attained from your sources, your own knowledge, and the task question.
This way, you centre around the parts of the sources that suit your argument best, creating an altogether new result, rather than just reciting what your sources say. This will help to add to the uniqueness of your final product.
Take notes in your own words
It is likely that many students have been told to paraphrase their sources in order to avoid plagiarism. Although that may be partly true, it takes more than just paraphrasing. Students will also need to exhibit proper understanding of the source.
If you are drawing information from any source, instead of taking down every piece of information, try to understand the content and take note of the most essential parts of it. Once you have done that, jot down what you have understood of the content in words that make sense to you and that are appropriate for your argument.
This way, you aren’t just paraphrasing, but engaging critically with the sources to weave only the most helpful information into your argument.
Cite everything that is not your own
When drawing from sources, if there is information that you would like to remain exactly the same as the author presents it, share that information in quotations so that you acknowledge that you are using someone else’s words.
Crediting the original source extends to all ideas that are not your own in your work. Even if you are employing an idea theorised by someone else in your own way, you still have to acknowledge whose idea you are drawing from and cite that person.
Edit and Proofread
This is a simple, but helpful task to perform when attempting to avoid plagiarism. Proofreading and editing your work will allow you to go back and see where you might have forgotten to credit someone, or might have misquoted your sources.
Although misquotes and forgotten citations might seem minor, they could affect whether or not your work borders into plagiarism. Proofreading will also help you to notice whether or not your work reads like your own, or like the work of your sources.
There are always more things that a student can do to avoid plagiarising, but these few tips should help get one started. If you are still uncertain, you can try to put your piece through a plagiarism checker, but make sure that whichever one you use is trustworthy and will not store and share your uploaded work to a third party.
