WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?
Plagiarism has many forms including deliberate cheating to accidentally copying from a source without any acknowledgement. So, whenever you use the words or ideas of another person in your work, you must acknowledge where they came from. Plagiarism is any unauthorized use of parts or the whole of any article without giving proper credit to the original author/researcher. It is unethical copying of any writing. It is basically considered theft, and therefore it takes away the originality and trustworthiness of the content.
The content creators, including the bloggers, researchers, and scholars, must know the concept of plagiarism. It affects the writing of a writer/ author and can also change the content creator’s career resentfully by questioning their creditability. Therefore, they must be careful about it.
If you an author/writer use parts of another work as reference material, then proper citation is a must.
WHY DO PEOPLE PLAGIARIZE?
There are many reasons people choose to plagiarize. Reasons vary from the more genuine lack of knowledge to completely dishonourable intentions. However, sometimes writers plagiarize a particular write-up because they are unaware of the basics of plagiarism. They don’t even understand what plagiarism is. Therefore, it is essential to have a clear understanding of it.
WHY UNDERSTANDING PLAGIARISM IS IMPORTANT?
There are different reasons for people to plagiarize, but it always has adverse effects. Most of the time, the students who plagiarize doesn’t have a complete idea about plagiarism. Sometimes, they don’t have time to produce an article by themselves or have fear of failing, and they end up copying it from another writer or webpage. Many students think that copying from some already published articles will earn them good grades, but this is the wrong way of thinking about writing original work.
WHY DO STUDENTS END UP PLAGIARIZING?
There are many reasons students choose to plagiarize. Collectively, the most frequently stated reasons students choose to plagiarize or cheat include:-
- Insufficient knowledge
- Lack of understanding of plagiarism
- Improper referencing and citations
- Desire to get good grades
- Fear of failing
- Procrastination or poor time management
- Disinterest in the assignment
- Confusion about what constitutes plagiarism
The students, at times, willingly avoid copying from another article but copy parts from their previous work because they don’t consider it an offence. The educational institutes take plagiarism seriously, whether it is direct plagiarism or self-plagiarism. The students may be subjected to punishment like suspension or end up getting bad/failing grades. This is why the students must develop a clear and detailed understanding of plagiarism and the policies of their educational institutions.
There are also cases of accidental plagiarism where the students end up plagiarizing without even realizing it. Therefore, to avoid all sorts of plagiarism, the students must use a plagiarism checker tool.
IMPORTANCE OF AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
Apart from the fact that plagiarism is a form of academic stealing, there are undoubtedly other reasons, owing to which researchers/ scholars should not plagiarize content. The primary purpose of an article is to deliver the writer’s thoughts and ideas to the readers, and these genuine thoughts or ideas connect the readers with the writer. Plagiarizing takes away that trustworthiness and authenticity, and hence the article fails to impress the readers. Also, nowadays, technological advancements have made it much easier to find duplicate content in an article. The readers may use a plagiarism checker tool to find out the originality of the content.
The benefits of not plagiarizing include the ranking of the article in the search engines. If a piece is original, it gets a high SEO rank and, hence, gets a better chance of reaching the readers.
Harmful effects of plagiarism-
- Adverse impact on student’s reputation: Students are often found to plagiarize academic writings like term papers and essays. Educational institutions take this situation very seriously. Once caught in plagiarism, the students are warned by the authorities. The further offence may cause the students to get suspended or expelled, and grades fall, too.
- Adverse impact on professional reputation: The professional writers of any trait need to hold on to their work’s originality, which directly impacts their reputation. A write-up with plagiarism will lead to destroying a writer’s reputation, which is demoralizing and will end up in an unsettled career.
- Adverse effect on academic reputation: Institutions mainly should be aware of how to avoid plagiarism. Students or professors may sometimes plagiarize research papers, which is not only harmful for their own reputation but for university, too.
- Plagiarized research work: No one wants a copied human history, right? Or a medical research paper that is plagiarized? absolutely no. Nobody would want to keep their lives at stake due to plagiarized medical research work. Therefore, whatever the subject may be, a plagiarized research paper is an absolute threat.
- Legal consequences: In severe plagiarism cases, the original owner of the content in question may file civil charges against plagiarizing. Hence, the person can face legal actions.
Tips to avoid plagiarism-
- The first step to produce a well-written article is to start work early. If you keep delaying, then, in the end, there will be less time to complete the paper. You can use tools like assignment calculators to avoid delays in work.
- As soon as you start the project or research, make sure to collect resources in abundance. It is better to develop an idea of your own about the particular topic.
- While using the source, mark out the rephrase. While proving your answer, keep track of the works you are quoting and then use the author’s name, the title of the work, etc.
- The best way to avoid any claim of plagiarism is to mention the work you are using in your project.
- After writing, the final step is to review and edit the work, and this is indeed an important step. You need to check for any plagiarized content by using the plagiarism checker tool. This will help you to produce a paper without any identical content.