Plagiarism eats the efficiency of your academic work like a termite!
Plagiarism in sweet words:
Taking somebody else’s work and showing it as your own without giving due credits.
Plagiarism in bitter words:
Stealing somebody’s efforts and ruling over the false appreciation.
As a learner, plagiarism is considered to be one of the most unethical conduct. Plagiarism can be done intentionally and unintentionally. Intentionally is when you purposely steal somebody’s work and not caring enough to give references. Unintentionally it occurs when you write content with carelessness and forgetfulness.
Why do students come across this issue?
Students always seem to have so many things to juggle at a time, and academic assignments are the least thing that captures their attention. The possible reasons why students opt for writing a plagiarized content could be of following;
- Lack of time management skills.
- Asking a friend to “write my assignment”
- Less familiar with the topic.
- Handling workload and academic load together.
- The attitude of “our teacher did not care enough to give a good topic then why would I care enough to write it”
- When passing the subject becomes more important than actually learning the topic.
- Lack of consistency and dedication to their academics.
- The experience and confidence of escaping things reflect in how they deal with their academics in general.
- An added pressure of acing in the race of success.
Consequences of plagiarism:
Plagiarism is a crime of its own. And, it is a known fact that every crime comes with its punishments. Committing a crime like plagiarism has its consequences which are divided into the following categories;
It ruins your reputation as a student:
Being a student and producing a plagiarized content ruins your reputation as a whole. It is taken seriously by every academic institute. It is due to the plagiarized content that academic institutions have AIC (academic integrity committee committees) which acts as police for all the academic assignments students turn in. If any violation is noticed by the student, such committees are bound to expel such candidates.
It ruins your professional persona:
Being a professional does not give you a ticket to give plagiarized reports as well. It imposes a bigger threat to you as not only you will be fired but will also be asked to step down from your present position. And, a stain like plagiarism on your profile will decrease your likeliness to get another job.
It has monetary and legal repercussions:
Plagiarism carries both legal and financial consequences, and legal authorities enforce it like any other crime. Copyright laws allow authors to sue anyone who copies their content, and the author can demand that the plagiarist pay a penalty, which the plagiarist must comply with.
4 ways to give plagiarism a miss!
After knowing all the horrors of plagiarism, it is about time to know what could be the best ways to ignore plagiarism. Following ways are the most proven and effective ones;
1. Citations:
The other name for this heading could be “acknowledge those who have helped you”. Citations are all about informing your reader about all the quotations you have used in research. Cite every piece of information in your piece of writing, which is not yours but you are still using it to support your ideas. While including the citations there are several things you should include;
- The full name of the source.
- The date it was published.
- Take an account of the citation style you are asked to write in. Commonly known citation styles are the APA, MLA, or Harvard.
2. Paraphrase:
The word paraphrase means to rewrite the same concept and same words. Paraphrasing someone else’s ideas or concepts into your own greatly helps you in eliminating plagiarism in your content. BUT one thing to remember while paraphrasing content is that the purpose is to explain a concept better than before and not parroting the same idea shared before. To master the skill of paraphrasing, one should follow the following discussed strategy;
- Read the content again and again till the concept is clear to you.
- Pinpoint the main concept.
- Revolutionize the main idea with the help of your knowledge.
- Once done, analyze and compare your paraphrased text with the original text so you could decide if it requires further adjustments or not.
- After comparing, if you think that you could not alter the original context much, then give citations to it.
3. References:
References are when you inform your reader about all the scholarly data that helped you in your piece of writing. References are the most effective detergent to wipe off the plagiarism stains from your content. To write proper and quality references, there are certain things that you should consider;
- The name of the author.
- The title.
- Page number, or edition. (If you took help from a book)
- Publishing date.
- Location and publisher.
4. Quotations:
This is one of the easiest methods to minimize plagiarism. Here, you have the freedom to copy the text from word to word but such freedom comes with strings attached. When using quotations, always write “According to ABC (author’s name),” before the statement, and place the statement in quotation marks.
For example; According to Micheal Farris – President of home school legal of association: “there are only two keys to educational success; hard work and parental involvement”
The end of plagiarism!
Just as every era ends, you can prevent plagiarism in your content by paying careful attention to the key points discussed. Plagiarism plays a major role in promoting online MBA assignment writing services, as these services provide plagiarism-free content that attracts clients.