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Plagiarism is often committed by many students, whether they intend to do so or not. In some cases, even professional writers fall in the trap of plagiarism because some tend to forget about the writing rules that govern it. By understanding how plagiarism happens, one may be able to avoid this mistake.
Plagiarism can happen either intentionally or unintentionally. For instance, if a writer forgets to cite the resource he used, it can be considered as unintentional plagiarism. Here is an example: Some anti-psychiatrists believe that mental disorders are social constructions. To these anti-psychiatrists, including Foucault, Laing, Szas, and Basaglia, doctors create mental illness. For a condition to be considered an illness, it must demonstrate biological pathology which mental disorders cannot do. This example is considered as an act of plagiarism because the second and third sentences are taken from an outside source, but this source is not cited. In order to avoid plagiarism, therefore, the previous example must be written this way: Some anti-psychiatrists believe that mental disorders are social constructions. To these anti-psychiatrists, including Foucault, Laing, Szas, and Basaglia, doctors create mental illness (McLeod, 2014). For a condition to be considered an illness, it must demonstrate biological pathology which mental disorders cannot do (McLeod, 2014). In this example, in-text citations follow the second and third sentences using the APA format. The last name of the author and the year when the work was published were included in the parenthetical citations so that the readers would know that the paraphrased ideas are taken from another author’s work. In order to complete the citation, an entry in the References page should be written like this: McLeod, S. (2014). Abnormal psychology. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/abnormal-psychology.html. By having a reference page entry, the readers would know the exact source that was used.
Overall, it is best to always cite any outside source. By adapting this habit while writing, unintentional plagiarism will be avoided.
