How To Avoid Plagiarism

If you don’t want to hear a rant, click away now. Two incidents happened recently that led me to write this post. The first is that one of the writers I work with was unjustly accused of plagiarism. On reflection, I think it may have been a scam (which I’ll have to add to my list some time).

The second was that in checking a piece of work from a trusted colleague, I came across a sentence that was identical to the original source. It may have been unintentional, but it was plagiarism. I hate plagiarism. Basically, it’s stealing other people’s work. When people steal the fruits of your hard work (your money and your stuff) you get upset. Shouldn’t you be even more upset when they steal the work itself? I know I am.

Research Or Copying: Who Decides?

If I give the benefit of the doubt, I can see how some people might find it hard to see the line between justifiable research and copying. I once heard a rule which went something like this: If you use one source it’s plagiarism; if you use several, it’s research. Behind that rule lies a good guide for keeping to the right side of the line. In academic terms, it’s known as triangulation — using multiple sources so that you can make sure that your information is reasonably accurate. It’s not foolproof, but mostly it works. If you use more than one source of research, then you get the information into your brain and can output it in your own words.

Quote Your Source

If you’ve ever written an essay, then you’ll know the two other rules for avoiding plagiarism. The first is: quote if you use something. That’s OK. Sometimes they say it better than you ever could — just give them the credit. If someone else has written a book, ebook or article or has published a podcast or broadcast and you want to use their words, put them in quotation marks and give the source. That’s known as attribution. In other words, you say where it came from. If you publish even a sentence without attributing it, then it’s plagiarism.

Keep It Short

That brings me to the second rule: Don’t quote too much. In copyright law, there’s something called fair use, which is the right to reproduce short excerpts of published works for review or commentary. The key word there is short. When you take several pages or whole blog posts without crediting the original source, that’s also plagiarism. Don’t do it.

Forgive me for ranting, but this issue makes my blood boil. When you’re writing a web content article, you may find lots of information that you want to use. You may even paste it into your document in the order that you want to use it. What you can’t do is use the exact words that were used in the original.

Anti Plagiarism Strategies

Usually, I can read something and summarise it without having to copy the original. However, on a long document I may copy useful bits to avoid having to find them again. When I do this, there are three things I do to make sure that I never plagiarize.

First, I always put a link to the original source at the end of the excerpt. That reminds me where it came from.

Second, I highlight the text that I have copied in bright yellow to remind myself to change it.

Third, I always type my articles from scratch. That ensures that I am following my thought processes and not copying someone else’s.

There is no excuse for stealing someone else’s work. All it takes to avoid plagiarism is a little bit of care and attention. Anyone got any other tips to share?

photo credit: peasap

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