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HowtoAvoidPlagiarismPlagiarizing,orrepresentingsomeoneelse'sideasorwordsasyourown,willcauseproblemsforpeopleinanystageoflife.StudentsgetflunkedforitanditevencostJoeBidenashotatbecomingtheUSPresidentin1988.[1]Hereishowyoucanmakesureyoudon'tplagiarizeonpurposeorbyaccident.

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Understandwhatplagiarismis.TheAmericanHeritagedictionarydefinesplagiarismas:"theunauthorizeduseorcloseimitationofthelanguageand

thoughtsofanotherauthorandtherepresentationofthemasone'sownoriginalwork."[2]

Thusplagiarismnotonlyincludesthewordforwordcopyingofanotherpieceofwork,butcloseimitationofitalso.Usingsynonymsandotherwordchoicesisnotanexcusetojustifyplagiarism.Youshouldwriteapieceoftextstrictlyinyourownwordsandthenciteyoursources.

Originalsource:"Thelawofthelandprohibitedslavesfromseekingremunerationfromtheirmastersforeventhemostheinouscrimes."

Plagiarizing:"Thelawofthelandforbadeslavesfromseekingdamagesfromtheirmastersforeventhemostvilecrimes."Notplagiarizing:"Eveninjured,tortured,ortauntedslavescouldnotpressforremunerationfromtheirmastersaccordingtoUnitedStateslawatthetime.(Jefferson,157)"

Plagiarismcanalsoapplyto:[3]

Downloadingapaperfromtheinternet.Hiringsomeonetowritesomethingforyou.Attemptingtomaketheideasofothersappearliketheyareyourown.

Befamiliarintheareathatyouaretalkingabout.Byunderstandingthesubject,youaremorelikelytowriteinyourownwords,ratherthanrestatesomeoneelse's

definitionofthissubject.Lookforinformationonthetopicyouwanttowriteabout.ThiscanbeontheInternetorinbooks,althoughbooksarealmostalwaysmoreauthoritativethantheInternet.

Thetrickhereistograbseveraldifferentsourcesofinformation.Ifyou'rerelyingonjustonesourceabookaboutslaverythechancesarehigheryou'llinadvertentlycopyorplagiarize.Ifyourelyonthreebooksaboutslavery,onedocumentary,andtwooriginalsources,thechancesaremuchlowerthatyou'llinadvertentlyplagiarize.

Restatethesubjecttoyourselfacoupleoftimes.Thekeyistounderstandthematerialandbeabletoexpressitsmeaninginyourownwords.Trytoavoid

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readingfromanotherauthor'smaterialtoomuch,asyouwillbemoreinclinedtorestatethatauthor'sexactstatement.

Originalsource:"Slavesworkedgrueling12hourdays,fromsunuptosundown,survivingonlittlemorethan1,200caloriesofstarchesandtheirownblood,sweat,andtears."

Reworked:"Survivingonabouthalfofwhatwetodayconsiderthesuggestedcaloricintake,slavesinthe19thcenturyworkedbitter,backbreakinghours.(Jefferson,88)"Reworked:"Inthe19thcentury,slavesworkedforaslongastherewaslight,receivinglittleinthewayofnutrition.(Jefferson,88)"

Referenceyourquotesandsources.Youshouldincludeabibliographyorworkscitedinyourpaper.Ifyouuseadirectquotefromanotherauthor'swork,thenyou

shouldquoteitandciteitproperly.ManyteachersacceptthestandardMLAformat,unlessotherwisespecified.

Whenindoubt,givecredit.Therearealotofwaystodothisinordertoavoidplagiarism.Hereareafew:

Mentionthesourceinsideyourparaphrase:"AccordingtoRichardFeynman,quantumelectrodynamicscanbedescribedusingpathintegralformulations."Putquotationmarksarounduniquephrasesyouthinkcouldbeinterpretedasbeingcopied:"A'paradigmshift'happenswhenonescientificrevolutionforcesthecommunitytothinkoftheworldinafundamentallydifferentway."

Understandsomebasicsaboutcopyright.Plagiarismcanbemorethanabadacademicpractice,itcanbeaviolationofthelawifyoubreakcopyright.Hereis

whatyouneedtounderstandtostaylegal:

Asageneralrule,factscannotbecopyrighted.Thismeansthatyouareabletouseanyfactsyoufindtosupportyourwriting.[4]

Althoughfactsarenotsubjecttocopyright,thewordsusedtoexpressthemare,particularlyifthewordingisoriginalorunique(copyrightcoversoriginalexpression).Youarefreetouseinformationfromothermaterialsinyourarticles,butyoumustuseyourownwordstoexpressit.Toavoidthis,youcantaketheexistingfactsandputthemintoyourownwords.Thereisagraceonhowdifferentthephrasecanbeaddingacommaisnotenough.However,changingthegrammararoundis.[5]

Understandwhatdoesn'tneedtobecited.Noteverysinglethinginacademicresearchneedstobecited,orelseresearchwouldbetoopainfulforpeopleto

undertake.Thefollowingthingsdon'tneedtobecitedinyourresearchandfinalpapers:

Commonsenseobservations,folklore,urbanlegends,andwellknownhistoricalevents,suchasthedateofthePearlHarborAttacks.Yourownexperiences,insights,creations,andmusings.Yourownvideos,presentations,music,andothermediacreatedandoriginatedbyyou.Thescientificevidenceyougatheredafterperformingyourowntests,polls,etc.



Canyouhelpus

ratearticles?Canyoutellusabout

summersquash?

Canyoutellusabout

NewErahats?Canyoutellusabout

referencerequests?

Someschoolsofferprograms/servicesthatscanpapersforplagiarizedcontent.Ifyouarehighlyconcerned,thenyoumightwanttoconsidersuchservices.Here'sonesuggestionforgettingthingsintoyourownwords.UseGoogle'slanguagetoolstotakeanarticleandtranslateitintoanotherlanguage:forexample,EnglishtoGerman.ThencopyandpasteGoogle'stranslationbackintoGoogle'slanguagetoolsandtranslatethatintoanotherlanguage:inourexample,GermantoPortuguese.ThentranslatethatbackintoEnglish.YouwillendupwithextremelybrokenEnglishthatisbarelyunderstandable.Usingtheknowledgeofthesubjectthatyou'vegainedfromreadingthearticlesandresearching,nowyoucanfixthebrokenEnglishandwillhaveanarticlethathasyourowninfluenceplacedonit.Ifyoumustcopy,donotcopywholepagesorparagraphs!Instead,putmostofitintoyourownwords,andquotethecopiedpart.Then,citeyoursourceusingtheproperBibliographyformat.UseEasyBib.comtociteyoursourcesintheproperformat.Ifyouarehonestlywritingapaperoressay,thechancesofyouplagiarizinganotherperson'scontentareveryslim.Ifyouareconsciousofthefactthatyouarecopyingsomeoneelse'swork,thenchancesarethatyouwillbecaught.Ifyou'reworriedsomethingthatyouhavemightsoundlikesomeoneelse's,it'sprobablybecauseitdoes.IfyouthinkSomethingisplagiarized,goonGrammarly.comoranyotherPlagiarismsite.

Wecouldreallyuseyourhelp!

Warnings

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Tips



Don'ttaketheriskofattemptingtoplagiarize.Notonlywillitcostyouyourgrade,butalsoyourrespectandreputationwithmostteachersandcolleagues.Manycollegesanduniversitieswillexpelstudentswhodeliberatelyplagiarize.

1. http://mediamatters.org/research/2008/08/23/mediaoutletsreportedallegationsbidenplagia/144547

2. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism3. http://plato.mercyhurst.edu/writingcenter/pdf/Avoiding_Plagiarism.pdf4. U.S.SupremeCourtDecision:HARPER&ROWv.NATION

ENTERPRISES,471U.S.539(1985)5. U.S.SupremeCourtDecision:FEISTPUBLICATIONS,INC.v.

RURALTELEPHONESERVICECO.,499U.S.340(1991)

Thankstoallauthorsforcreatingapagethathasbeenread243,087times.

Categories:CitingWritingSources

Inotherlanguages:

Italiano:EvitareilPlagio,Portugus:EvitaroPlgio,Espaol:evitarelplagio,Franais:viterleplagiat,:,Deutsch:VermeidePlagiatsvorwrfeunderfahremehrberdenDiebstahlvongeistigemEigentum,:,BahasaIndonesia:MenghindariPlagiat,Nederlands:Plagiaatvoorkomen,etina:Jaksevyhnoutplagitorstv

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