Writing a compelling research paper comes with a set of challenges that students have to experience. One major challenge is doing research using different materials and presenting factual information. However, using other people’s information and materials can easily make the writer fall into the trap of plagiarism, which is quite a serious offense in academic writing, and can cost students their career life. Therefore, this guide highlights great insights on how to get out of plagiarism and present an original and desiring paper and measures to take when falsely accused of plagiarism
How do professors check for plagiarism?
How can teachers tell if you plagiarized? Most students will assume that even if they cheat, the tutors won’t find out. Well, since they are professionals who have been in the industry for a long, they can distinguish plagiarized content from an original one.
Of course, before you get accused of plagiarism, teachers and professors use different strategies and software to check for duplicate or similar content to what you’ve provided in your paper.
Different forms of plagiarism checkers help teachers check your content against the website. Therefore, as a student, make sure you establish the plagiarism checker tools your tutor uses, learn how to use them, and submit plagiarism-free reports.
What’s more, such plagiarism checker tools will not only help you evade plagiarism, but some of these tools will help you correct other grammar and typing mistakes, thus, ensuring your paper is free from grammar errors and plagiarism too.
How to get out of plagiarism
Now that you understand the basics of plagiarism and how you can get caught easily, the following approaches will help you figure out how to prove you didn’t plagiarize your work and know what to say when caught plagiarizing as a way of defending yourself.
- Paraphrase your content
In a research paper, it is quite hard to create your own context and bring out a meaningful paper without having to use already existing materials from other authors.
Copying and pasting the exact words from the source will mean using other authors’ work without crediting their efforts. This is equal to plagiarism. To evade such a scenario, be sure to read and understand the context, then write in your own understanding, i.e., paraphrasing.
- Use quotes
How do teachers know you plagiarized? Well, some phrases are quite familiar in the eyes of the teacher. Therefore, it becomes easy for any teacher to detect plagiarized content in your paper. To avoid this, make sure you quote the phrase and give credit to the owner.
- Cite all your sources correctly
If you are wondering how to beat plagiarism checker, then you need to learn the art of citing your work. There are different citation styles, and you should always use the style approved by your tutor. If possible, include references to ensure you have what to say when caught plagiarizing.
- Use plagiarism checker tools
Well, just like the teachers use such tools to detect plagiarism, you, too, can use the same tools to evaluate your paper. Should there be any plagiarism detected in your paper, you can review the section, paraphrase, add quotes, or cite the sources appropriately.
Conclusion
Plagiarism is one element that makes students fail in their academic papers, even when they have done incredible research. Professors and learning institutes at large do not take plagiarism matters lightly. Therefore, as a student aiming at incredible grades, make sure you understand the whole concept of plagiarism and how you can stay away from plagiarism. In any case, I hope this guide has given you some useful insights on plagiarism matters.
