Example Of Essay On How To Avoid Plagiarism In

Plagiarism, the act of appropriating someone else’s ideas without giving proper credit, is extremely reprehensible in academic circles. Sanctions for plagiarism may range from receiving a failing grade in an assignment to being expelled from the academic institution, depending on the seriousness of the act and the academic level of the perpetrator. It is therefore in the students’ best interest to master the art of properly incorporating others’ ideas into their own papers.
Obviously it is essential for students to master the writing techniques of summarizing, paraphrasing, referencing and writing correct bibliographies, applying the style required by the academic institution, such as MLA, APA or Chicago. Students can find a wealth of information on these writing techniques and styles of referencing in books and in these days, in the internet. However, in order to avoid falling into the trap of plagiarism, it is necessary that students take the time to write the assignment, that they have a genuine desire to apply themselves to the task and that they develop a system of incorporating the reading materials they find into their writing.
One of the reasons why students resort to copying indiscriminately from sources is that they often do not give themselves enough time to read and assimilate what they are reading. If students do not understand what they are reading they are more likely to simply copy from their reading materials. If they decide to tackle the assignment correctly and give it the appropriate time, they have taken a significant step toward avoiding plagiarism. Once students have adopted a positive attitude toward their work, they must device a system of incorporating their reading into their work. One useful technique is to write in one’s own word a summary or paraphrase of what has been read. If this cannot be done, it means that the material has not been understood and that it has to be reread. Once the summary has been written it is time to write the bibliography entry for that source. If this step is left for the end, you may lose track of the source or confuse it with other materials, leading to improper citations or inadvertent plagiarism. Once the student has gone through the first source in the manner just described, it is time to tackle the next reading in exactly the same way. The student now has the advantage of having the first idea from the first source. It is now a question of weaving the ideas from both sources and gradually an original paper will emerge from the sources.
Writing a plagiarism-free paper requires practice in summarizing and paraphrasing, multiple readings of the draft and multiple breaks to allow students to take a fresh and critical look at their work each time. No amount of reading on summarizing and paraphrasing techniques will suffice if the students lack the willingness to tackle the task head- on.
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