in writing your research paper what should you do to avoid plagiarism

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Citing Sources

• How to Avoid Plagiarism
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Best Practices for Avoiding Plagiarism

The entire section below came from a research guide from Iowa State University.  To avoid plagiarism, one must provide a reference to that source to indicate where the original information came from (see the "Source:" section below).

"There are many ways to avoid plagiarism, including developing good research habits, good time management, and taking responsibility for your own learning. Here are some specific tips:

• Don't procrastinate with your research and assignments. Good research takes time. Procrastinating makes it likely you'll run out of time or be unduly pressured to finish. This sort of pressure can often lead to sloppy research habits and bad decisions. Plan your research well in advance, and seek help when needed from your professor, from librarians and other campus support staff.
• Commit to doing your own work. If you don't understand an assignment, talk with your professor. Don't take the "easy way" out by asking your roommate or friends for copies of old assignments. A different aspect of this is group work. Group projects are very popular in some classes on campus, but not all. Make sure you clearly understand when your professor says it's okay to work with others on assignments and submit group work on assignments, versus when assignments and papers need to represent your own work.
•  Be 100% scrupulous in your note taking. As you prepare your paper or research, and as you begin drafting your paper. One good practice is to clearly label in your notes your own ideas (write "ME" in parentheses) and ideas and words from others (write "SMITH, 2005" or something to indicate author, source, source date). Keep good records of the sources you consult, and the ideas you take from them. If you're writing a paper, you'll need this information for your bibliographies or references cited list anyway, so you'll benefit from good organization from the beginning.
• Cite your sources scrupulously. Always cite other people's work, words, ideas and phrases that you use directly or indirectly in your paper. Regardless of whether you found the information in a book, article, or website, and whether it's text, a graphic, an illustration, chart or table, you need to cite it. When you use words or phrases from other sources, these need to be in quotes. Current style manuals are available at most reference desks and online. They may also give further advice on avoiding plagiarism.
• Understand good paraphrasing. Simply using synonyms or scrambling an author's words and phrases and then using these "rewrites" uncredited in your work is plagiarism, plain and simple. Good paraphrasing requires that you genuinely understand the original source, that you are genuinely using your own words to summarize a point or concept, and that you insert in quotes any unique words or phrases you use from the original source. Good paraphrasing also requires that you cite the original source. Anything less and you veer into the dangerous territory of plagiarism."

Source: Vega García, S.A. (2012). Understanding plagiarism: Information literacy guide. Iowa State University. Retrieved from  http://instr.iastate.libguides.com/content.php?pid=10314 . [Accessed January 3, 2017]

Plagiarism prevention.

• Plagiarism Prevention (onlinecolleges.net) This resource provides information about preventing plagiarism, understanding the various types of plagiarism, and learning how to cite properly to avoid plagiarism.

UCLA has a campuswide license to Turnitin.com. Faculty may turn in student papers electronically, where the text can be compared with a vast database of other student papers, online articles, general Web pages, and other sources. Turnitin.com then produces a report for the instructor indicating whether the paper was plagiarized and if so, how much.

For more information, go to Turnitin.com .

Plagiarism in the News

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7 ways to avoid academic plagiarism

March 1, 2023 | 9 min read

By Michael Seadle, PhD

Plagiarism can be unintentional; the co-founder of a center to educate authors on research integrity highlights potential pitfalls

Editors note:  Plagiarism, the re-use of published work without appropriate credit, is surprisingly common and not always intentional. For academics, however, accusations of plagiarism can be devastating, marring their reputation and career. Prof Dr Michael Seadle is co-founder and director of the  Humboldt-Elsevier Advanced Data and Text Centre (HEADT Centre) opens in new tab/window  and heads up its research integrity efforts. Globally recognized for his work to combat false information, he runs through some of the nuances and danger points authors should be aware of and offers seven helpful tips.

The first and best way to avoid plagiarism is not to plagiarize intentionally. This sounds simplistic, but there are people who persuade themselves that copying just a few useful phrases will help them meet their pressing deadlines. While that strategy may work in some corporate settings, in academic publishing, it is a fool’s game. Most serious academic publishers use software tools, such as  iThenticate opens in new tab/window , that can scan an enormous database of academic publishing and detect copying at a highly granular level. Not all universities use such tools, but many do, and the consequences of being caught include failed classes, lost degrees or lost jobs. The risk is simply not worth the savings in time.

Unintentional plagiarism is surprisingly common, but the fact that it is unintentional does not excuse it. The rest of this article looks at how you can avoid some common practices that risk this kind of inadvertent plagiarism in writing.  Image plagiarism  represents a different kind of problem that is too complex for this short article to address fully.

Confidence in Research

Plagiarism is one of many factors that can undermine confidence in research. Elsevier has partnered with leading science organizations and Economist Impact for a global collaboration to understand the impact of the pandemic on confidence in research — and identify areas for action to support researchers.

The fine line between paraphrasing and plagiarism

English is overwhelmingly the most common language for modern academic publishing, but English is by no means the native language of all scholars. In the more mathematical natural sciences, certain phrases are so standardized that they no longer really count as plagiarism. One example is the language used to describe the results of certain statistical tests; widely used statistical textbooks often recommend using particular phrases.

In more verbally oriented fields such as humanities, law or economics, the quality of the writing matters, and it is natural to want to improve it by drawing on examples from published sources. While this is a sensible idea in itself, it carries risks if the author reproduces a phrase that is too long or too individual. This problem not only affects non-native speakers; it also happens to authors who “borrow” explanations when writing about a subject far outside their field of expertise. The risk is that they copy so much text that they cross the line into plagiarism. The best solution is to always use quotation marks and proper footnotes, even when that results in a page layout that seems unattractive.

The issue is, of course, how much must be in quotation marks, and how much can just be paraphrased?

Decades ago, paraphrasing rules were fairly relaxed, but today they are much stricter. There is no clear, simple agreement on the number of words that can overlap with the original before a paraphrase becomes plagiarism. Some institutions have published limits, then later removed them from their websites, presumably because they realized they were unrealistically restrictive.

The reason for paraphrasing can be to clarify a statement or to say it more compactly or correctly. At the very least, a paraphrase ought to be able to contain key words referring to the substance of the context and, ideally, function words (words that in themselves carry no meaning and merely structure the sentence). However, for some publishers and universities, every overlapping word counts, so authors need to think carefully about their justification for paraphrasing.

Professors routinely paraphrase in the classroom, where it is generally impossible to use direct quotes without a photographic memory. Even though written texts are more formal, people imitate what they hear rather than looking for rules that are themselves ambiguous.

Paraphrasing is especially common in literature reviews for the simple reason that authors must talk about the specifics of what other writers have said, and they must be able to reuse some of their words to convey the same meaning. This makes literature reviews especially prone to plagiarism accusations. This should serve as a warning to students and scholars to footnote the literature review sections carefully, especially in cases where a direct quotation would not work because of the grammatical structure or length of the phrases, or unclear references.

Separating fact from plagiarism

What may seem like simple facts can also become targets of plagiarism accusations. The six-word statement “Berlin is the capital of Germany” represents a fact and gets over 84,000 hits on Google. Wikipedia and numerous documents confirm that the statement is purely factual; nonetheless, the multi-word overlap means it can be flagged by unsophisticated plagiarism checkers and plagiarism hunters. The real problem is the lack of a clear agreement on what kinds of facts need to be sourced. Standard facts like the boiling point of water (100°C) should need no reference, but facts outside the scope of the reading audience may need one (example: the  birth date of the artist Michelangelo opens in new tab/window  is 6 March 1475).

The importance of acknowledging intellectual ownership

The University of Oxford includes “ideas” in  its definition of plagiarism opens in new tab/window : “Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement.”

Idea plagiarism is a particularly problematic concept because it can cover almost everything and anything. In very specific cases, it can include things like the ideas behind a software program, (if they are legally protected by a patent or have been published and are subject to copyright law). It can also include technical concepts like the structure of a type of DNA, such as a double helix. Without that level of specificity, the claim that someone has plagiarized an idea becomes so vague as to be meaningless.

The  Oxford definition opens in new tab/window  goes on to say: “All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition.” This could be seen to include anything on anyone’s computer or in online storage. This serves as a warning about how totalitarian plagiarism policing could become if allowed unfettered access to personal resources.

Recently, artificial intelligence writing tools such as  ChatGPT from OpenAI opens in new tab/window  have been much in the news. Even when an author tells such tools to use references, AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control and authors should carefully review and edit the result. The more important question is to what degree the use of an artificial intelligence tool counts as the human author’s own work? The Oxford definition implies that presenting something generated by an AI tool could be considered plagiarism since it is not the author’s own work in any conventional sense.

7 ways to avoid plagiarism

While a few bullet points cannot capture all the nuances, these seven steps serve as a summary.

Never intentionally plagiarize. It is not worth the risk because the likelihood of being caught is high at high-ranked journals, and it grows higher every year as more institutions acquire plagiarism identification software.

Always use quotation marks and references. It takes a bit of extra effort and time to find exact quotations and create a well-formed reference, but it is essential. There are many freely available programs that make the preparation and tracking of references easier.

Paraphrase only when necessary and include references . Use quoted passages whenever possible and ensure that any word overlap with the original is minimal and justifiable.

Cite references when using facts that may be outside of the knowledgebase of the intended audience.

Copy phrases with special caution if you are non-native speaker . Do not take whole sentences from published works, or even phrases of more than three words, unless those phrases are purely technical, as in a basic description of statistical results.

Always credit people for their ideas to avoid the risk of “idea plagiarism.”

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies should only be used to improve readability and language of your work. Authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of their work.

About the HEADT Centre

The  Humboldt-Elsevier Advanced Data and Text Centre (HEADT Centre) opens in new tab/window  is part of  Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin opens in new tab/window  (HU Berlin) in Germany. It was founded to educate researchers on plagiarism and research image and data fraud, along with other elements of research integrity.  It offers workshops, online modules and certification on these topics via its Information Integrity Academy.

Acknowledgements

Let me thank Dr Thorsten Beck and Ms Melanie Sterzer for their excellent suggestions.

Contributor

Michael seadle, phd.

Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism

Failure to document source material in a research paper, or doing so improperly, is plagiarism: a wrongful use of someone else's work. All educational and research institutions have strict rules against it and all publish clear guidelines regarding the policies by which you will be expected to live. This guide is intended to clear up any questions you may have regarding Plagiarism.

Overview: What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the unauthorized or unacknowledged use of another person's academic or scholarly work. Done on purpose, it is cheating. Done accidentally, it is no less serious. Regardless of how it occurs, plagiarism is a theft of intellectual property and a violation of an ironclad rule demanding "credit be given where credit is due".

Quite often, carelessness, procrastination and inexperience are contributing factors behind a charge of plagiarism. Developing good research habits and learning how to properly cite and document your sources will keep you above suspicion and protect you from such charges.

If you intend on pursuing an academic career, your scholarship will undergo constant examination by your peers and colleagues. Your reputation will be earned when you earn their respect; how you will be judged will be based, in part, on how you treat the intellectual property of others.

Acknowledging those from whom you have learned assigns credibility to your work and creates a record that other researchers can refer to and build upon. More importantly, your own skill and talent as a scholar will begin to take shape.

As respect for your scholarship grows, so too will your inclusion in the ongoing conversation among experts, past and present, within your specific field of study. Your own body of intellectual property will not be far behind.

Today, when you turn an assignment in online through your University’s EdTech company (BlackBoard, Canvas, etc.) it is checked for plagiarism via an AI scanner (like Turnitin). So if you plagiarize for school, you will be caught and punished. In order to avoid being kicked out of your University or punished legally, it’s crucial for you to understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid doing it.

What is Research?

In every field of study, there are those who have blazed a trail of inquiry and, in so doing, advanced the general knowledge of the world in which we live. Research is an active process of learning from these trailblazers. Look upon your own project as an exploration of what they thought, discovered, created or, in any way added to the body of knowledge prior to your entry into the same field of study.

Look at your research project as a quest for answers to a central question, or set of related questions, that will further your own understanding of the world. Look at it also as an opportunity to contribute something of value to the already existing body of knowledge or the ongoing conversation among other individuals investigating the same topic.

It should be fun. Pick a topic in which you are particularly interested or curious and the journey will be that much more interesting. As you read, study, and absorb ideas and facts from others, write them down. Keep detailed notes on your sources. Who said what? In which journal was it published? Why, when, where, who, etc.(See our guides on ‘ Developing a Research Question ’ and ‘ Choosing and Refining Topics ’ for more information.)

As a researcher and a writer you must credit these sources. Whenever you incorporate a general concept, idea, quotation, statistic, fact, illustration, graph or data that is not your own, it must be acknowledged. Failure to do so is plagiarism.

Common Forms of Plagiarism

The most common forms of plagiarism are committed by students; the most offensive are deliberate attempts to "pull one over" on the instructor. The reasons for doing this vary but laziness and procrastination are high on the list.

Once discovered—and they are seldom not—deliberate incidences of plagiarism are handed over to a governing body for review and prosecution. Here is a list of the most common:

• Purchasing an essay or paper from a Web site (or anywhere else) and calling it your own.
• Borrowing another student's paper from a previous semester and calling it your own.
• Having someone else do your work, for free or for hire. Agreeing to do someone else's work is equally wrong.
• Claiming originality regarding material copied directly from outside sources. In other words, deliberately failing to cite sources.
• Improperly documenting quoted, paraphrased or summarized source material.
• Extending the length of a bibliography to meet project requirements by including sources not used in your research or making them up all together.
• Killing two birds with one stone. Recycling an essay or paper written for one class by using it in another class studying the same or similar material.
• Receiving help from other students on an essay or paper and turning it in under your own name as individual work.
• Collectively researching and writing a paper with other students and each turning copies into different class sections claiming it as individual work.

As you can see, most of these involve lying, cheating and stealing. The last two forms of plagiarism, however, are a bit more complicated. They involve collaboration and sometimes the line between it and plagiarizing can be a little blurry. After all, working, studying and sharing information is encouraged in most educational institutions.

Collaboration

Collaborative learning is an important educational process in which a group of students work together to achieve a common learning goal. As new ideas and information are discussed and shared, individual critical thinking skills are strengthened.

In the sciences, research projects and lab work are regularly intermingled. Problem solving is often worked on in a group setting. In the liberal arts, although individual work is more often the norm, writing instruction is often provided in classes with a "workshop" format.

At Colorado State University, for instance, COCC150, the composition course required of all undergraduates for graduation, is workshop oriented. Instructors plan for and expect collaboration in the classroom.

If you are a CSU student, your writing assignments will be read and commented upon by your peers. Expect to participate with your fellow classmates in an active exchange of ideas and suggestions. The Writing Center is also available, free of charge, for individualized tutoring assistance and you will be encouraged to take advantage of the help provided.

Any class requiring peer review, draft sharing, brainstorming, information swapping, outside tutoring, etc., is an approved collaborative learning program and your participation is not plagiarism. Keep in mind, however, that individual effort is no less important than collaborative teamwork.

The issues that arise around collaboration involve authorized and unauthorized boundaries. What is acceptable and what is not? If the parameters for collaboration are unclear and not addressed in your class syllabus, ask your instructor.

If you are receiving help from a tutor or a friend outside of class, discuss the situation with your instructor to avoid any misunderstanding. Everything will be fine if you stay within the guidelines he or she provides.

Avoiding Plagiarism

First, do your own work - Begin your research project as early as possible. Keep up in class, do your library work and start your drafts in a timely fashion. Writing your paper will be so much easier if you don't put it off to the last minute. Procrastination is not a credible excuse; it's simply a bad choice. Performing under deadline pressures often pushes a student into cheating.

Second, establish your own voice - Easier said than done, but this is a key ingredient to your success and a primary difficulty all experienced writers have had to face and overcome. Learn as much as you can about your topic: it will help you develop a point-of-view from which to speak. The more you know, the easier it will be to avoid plagiarism.

Third, do your research carefully. Read the material closely. Knowing your topic well includes knowing what others have said. Strive for a mastery of your topic by introducing yourself intellectually to those who have already made a contribution, or are presently adding to the ongoing conversation. Keep an annotated bibliography of the source material you intend to use in your paper.

Fourth, keep copies of all your drafts - In review, you will notice your own point-of-view developing, changing and growing; a voice of authority all your own, emerging. It will stand in contrast to those of your sources. The difference between yours and their voices will go a long way toward helping you avoid plagiarism.

Finally, make sure that your document is properly constructed and your sources correctly cited. Remember, if the general concept, idea, quotation, statistic, fact, illustration, graph or data you intend to include is not common knowledge in the field of your investigation, a source must be cited. Not doing so will damage your credibility.

Share copies of "work-in-progress" with your instructor. As you move toward completion, invite—and be receptive—to constructive suggestions. It can only make your paper better. This is where errors, especially citation errors, get pointed out and corrected. After a paper is handed in, such mistakes can be grounds for plagiarism charges.

Here is a checklist of questions to ask yourself before handing in your work:

• Are all quotations surrounded by quotation marks?
• Are single and double quotation marks properly used in quotations within quotations?
• Are ellipses and brackets included in quotations where words have been deleted or comments added?
• Are any quotations, paraphrases or summaries attributed to the wrong author? Are any missing an attribution completely?
• Are your paraphrases worded significantly different than the original?
• Are your summaries written in your own voice?
• Are all your source citations included in your bibliography or sources cited page?
• Are the titles, page numbers and dates in your documentation correct?

Warning: On Copying Unique Phrasing or Terminology

When paraphrasing or summarizing, avoid copying the unique phrasing or terminology found in your source material. Many students have been charged with plagiarism for using words that are clearly too sophisticated or well-crafted to be their own.

For instance, you would not want to refer to "the textual resistant narrative that counteracts the narrative supremacy of the dominant social text" (1) when writing an essay about the novel Wide Sargasso Sea unless your instructor is aware that you are at an advanced stage of thinking in the field of literary criticism and is familiar with and used to seeing that kind of writing style from you.

Such language includes terminology bound to raise the proverbial "red flag" when your instructor reads your work. He or she is more likely than not to be familiar with your source and, if not, will discover in short order the critical work of Fiona Barnes.

When struck by particularly impressive or compelling phrasing, it is better to quote and document it rather than represent it as your own in a paraphrase or summary.

(1) Fiona R. Barnes, "Dismantling the Master's Houses: Jean Rhys and West Indian Identity," in International Women's Writing, ed. Anne E. Brown and Manjarme E. Gooze (Westport Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1995), 150-61.

Penalties for Plagiarism and Your Legal Rights

Plagiarism constitutes academic dishonesty and is both prosecuted and punished at every credible institution in the world. At Colorado State University, failure to do your own work in COCC150, or any other course for that matter—or to plagiarize in any way—is a failure to meet course requirements and is a violation of long established CSU policy regarding Academic Integrity.

The penalties for plagiarism depend upon the degree of gravity. Should you be found guilty, the least is an "F" on a paper. Failing an entire course is also possible and, in cases where the charges are graver, expulsion from the university.

It's important for you to know that fair and impartial treatment is your right and that due process is guaranteed. Regardless of the outcome, your case will be held in strict confidence in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.

Additional Resources

NYU Libraries - ‘ Plagiarism and How to Avoid it ’

Purdue OWL - ‘ Avoiding Plagiarism ’

Purdue OWL - ‘ Plagiarism Overview ’

UAGC Writing Center - ‘ Plagiarism Guide ’

University of Michigan Libraries - ‘ Introduction to Academic Integrity ’

Connor, Peter, Luann Barnes, & Andrea Bennett. (2022). Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University.  https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=17

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• Examples of Plagiarism & Tips for Avoiding It

Examples of Plagiarism & Tips for Avoiding It

Published on November 1, 2021 by Tegan George . Revised on July 15, 2022.

Plagiarism means using someone else’s words or ideas without properly crediting the original author.

Some common examples of plagiarism include:

• Paraphrasing a source too closely
• Including a direct quote without quotation marks
• Copying elements of different sources and pasting them into a new document
• Leaving out an in-text citation
• Submitting a full text that is not your own

Table of contents

Paraphrasing plagiarism, verbatim plagiarism, patchwork plagiarism: combining multiple sources, common knowledge: when do i need a citation, real-life examples of plagiarism, frequently asked questions about plagiarism.

Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas into your own words. In order to do so correctly, you must entirely rewrite the passage you are referencing without changing the meaning of the original text.

Every time you paraphrase, it’s important to cite the original source and avoid wording that is too similar to the original. Otherwise, you could be at risk of committing paraphrasing plagiarism .

Remember that paraphrasing doesn’t just mean switching out a few words for synonyms while retaining the original sentence structure. The author’s idea must be reformulated in a way that fits smoothly into your text.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Quoting means copying a brief passage from another text, enclosing it in quotation marks .

If you fail to include quotation marks or a citation, you’re committing verbatim plagiarism : copying someone’s exact words without acknowledgement. Even if you change a few of the words, it’s still plagiarism.

To quote correctly, introduce the quotation in your own words, make sure it’s enclosed in quotation marks, and include a citation showing where it comes from.

Patchwork plagiarism , also called mosaic plagiarism, involves copying elements of different sources and combining them to create a new text. It can include both directly copying and paraphrasing content without citation.

It can be challenging to incorporate several sources into your work at once, so be sure to double-check that you are citing each one correctly.

If you quote or paraphrase multiple sources in one sentence, it’s often best to cite each one separately, so that it’s clear what material comes from which source.

“Americans have always remembered the battle. What we often forget are the difficult decisions tribal leaders made afterward to ensure the safety of their people” (Van Heuvelen, 2020).

“Under skies darkened by smoke, gunfire and flying arrows, 210 men of the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry Unit led by Lt. Colonel George Custer confronted thousands of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors on June 25, 1876, near the Little Big Horn River in present-day Montana. The engagement was one in a series of battles and negotiations between Plains Indians and U.S. forces over control of Western territory, collectively known as the Sioux Wars” (McDermott, 2021). Example: Patchwork plagiarism For many Americans, the headdress is a well-known symbol of indigenous America indistinguishable from the narrative of the “wild west and cowboys and Indians.” One of the most famous examples of the cowboys versus Indians narrative is the Battle of Little Bighorn.

On June 25, 1876, 210 men of the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry Unit led by Lt. Colonel George Custer confronted thousands of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors . Custer and his men were handily defeated, and Americans have always remembered the battle as “Custer’s Last Stand.” What is often forgotten is the difficult decisions tribal leaders made afterward to ensure the safety of their people . Example: Correctly citing multiple sources The headdress is a well-known symbol of indigenous America, forming part of “the narrative of the wild west and cowboys and Indians” (Van Heuvelen, 2020). One of the most famous examples of this narrative is the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Common knowledge refers to information you can reasonably expect the average reader to accept without proof.

For this kind of information, you don’t need a citation. For example, you won’t be accused of plagiarism for failing to cite your sources when you mention Paris is the capital city of France.

In order to be considered common knowledge, your statement must be widely known, undisputed, and easily verified. It also generally cannot be attributed to a specific person or paper. When in doubt, add a citation.

Plagiarism is most commonly discussed in the context of academia, but it’s a relevant concern across all sorts of different industries, from pop music to politics.

• Plagiarism in academia
• Plagiarism in art
• Plagiarism in politics
• Plagiarism in music

In 2006, the Brookings Institute accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having plagiarized 80% of his economics dissertation from a paper published by the University of Pittsburgh a few decades earlier.

Dissertation plagiarism committed by other famous politicians, such as former Senator John Walsh, former German Defense Secretary Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, and former Hungarian President Pal Schmitt, led to their resignations and their degrees being revoked.

Source: CNN Reusing or copying existing materials has been a big part of many types of art. However, it is still possible to plagiarize art.

In 1966, famous Pop Art artist Andy Warhol was sued by photographer Patricia Caulfield, who claimed unauthorized use of one of her photographs. Warhol had seen her photo of hibiscus flowers in the 1964 issue of Modern Photography  and used it for his silkscreen work Flowers .

While Warhol’s team argued that this was “fair use,” a judge determined that Warhol had, in fact, plagiarized the photo. This led to enduring reputation costs and a large financial settlement.

Source: Garden Collage Many political speeches revolve around similar themes, but while it is natural to draw inspiration from previous speeches, paraphrasing them too closely is considered plagiarism.

In 2016, a speech Melania Trump gave at the Republican National Convention was found to have copied several paragraphs almost verbatim from a speech Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

While her staff claimed that she had incorporated “fragments of others’ speeches that reflected her own thinking,” she was widely considered to have plagiarized.

Joe Biden was found to have committed similar plagiarism in a speech he gave during the 1988 presidential campaign, paraphrasing a speech by Welsh politician Neil Kinnock too closely.

Source: CNN While technically no one owns a chord progression or particular combination of sounds, plagiarism in the music industry is a common accusation.

In 2018, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 2013 hit song “Blurred Lines,” by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, infringed on the copyright of the song “Got to Give it Up,” by the late Marvin Gaye. The Gaye family was awarded over $5 million in damages as well as 50% of the royalties moving forward.

This sets a precedent that new music must be different in both style and substance from previously copyrighted songs. Other hit artists, such as Sam Smith, George Harrison, and Olivia Rodrigo, have faced similar consequences.

Plagiarism means presenting someone else’s work as your own without giving proper credit to the original author. In academic writing, plagiarism involves using words, ideas, or information from a source without including a citation .

Plagiarism can have serious consequences , even when it’s done accidentally. To avoid plagiarism, it’s important to keep track of your sources and cite them correctly.

Some examples of plagiarism include:

• Copying and pasting a Wikipedia article into the body of an assignment
• Quoting a source without including a citation
• Not paraphrasing a source properly, such as maintaining wording too close to the original
• Forgetting to cite the source of an idea

The most surefire way to avoid plagiarism is to always cite your sources . When in doubt, cite!

If you’re concerned about plagiarism, consider running your work through a plagiarism checker tool prior to submission. Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker takes less than 10 minutes and can help you turn in your paper with confidence.

Common knowledge does not need to be cited. However, you should be extra careful when deciding what counts as common knowledge.

Common knowledge encompasses information that the average educated reader would accept as true without needing the extra validation of a source or citation.

Common knowledge should be widely known, undisputed and easily verified. When in doubt, always cite your sources.

Paraphrasing without crediting the original author is a form of plagiarism , because you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.

However, paraphrasing is not plagiarism if you correctly cite the source . This means including an in-text citation and a full reference, formatted according to your required citation style .

As well as citing, make sure that any paraphrased text is completely rewritten in your own words.

Yes, reusing your own work without acknowledgment is considered self-plagiarism . This can range from re-submitting an entire assignment to reusing passages or data from something you’ve turned in previously without citing them.

Self-plagiarism often has the same consequences as other types of plagiarism . If you want to reuse content you wrote in the past, make sure to check your university’s policy or consult your professor.

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Knowing and Avoiding Plagiarism During Scientific Writing

P mohan kumar.

Department of Periodontics, St. Joseph Dental College, Duggirala, Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, India

N Swapna Priya

1 Department of Dental Surgery, S.V Medical College, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India

SVVS Musalaiah

Plagiarism has become more common in both dental and medical communities. Most of the writers do not know that plagiarism is a serious problem. Plagiarism can range from simple dishonesty (minor copy paste/any discrepancy) to a more serious problem (major discrepancy/duplication of manuscript) when the authors do cut-copy-paste from the original source without giving adequate credit to the main source. When we search databases like PubMed/MedLine there is a lot of information regarding plagiarism. However, it is still a current topic of interest to all the researchers to know how to avoid plagiarism. It's time to every young researcher to know ethical guidelines while writing any scientific publications. By using one's own ideas, we can write the paper completely without looking at the original source. Specific words from the source can be added by using quotations and citing them which can help in not only supporting your work and amplifying ideas but also avoids plagiarism. It is compulsory to all the authors, reviewers and editors of all the scientific journals to know about the plagiarism and how to avoid it by following ethical guidelines and use of plagiarism detection software while scientific writing.

Introduction

Medical and dental writing includes presentation of different scientific documents that consists research related topics, case presentations, and review articles, which help in educating and promoting health related information to the general public. Hence, all the medical and dental writers along with language skills and the ability to interpret the data, they should also be familiar in searching literature, understanding and presenting ones ideas or thoughts in the form of articles submitted to the number of available scientific journals.[ 1 , 2 ]

Due to the lack of education on plagiarism among the educational institutions and the members of journal holders we are allowing some types of plagiarized articles to publish.

In simple words, plagiarism is the use of others ideas or work without any credit to the original authors. In other words, taking credit for others work whether intentionally or unintentionally.[ 3 ]

Main route cause of plagiarism among dental and medical writers is the competitive stress among them and the availability of any information of others in the electronic media.[ 4 , 5 , 6 ] As the plagiarism is an unethical publication practice, it has to be avoided at the first stage itself.[ 7 ]

When the dental/medical writers want to publish a scientific paper, they have to be very specific, accurate and honest about the concept of the research. First, the author has to take sufficient time to read and understand thoroughly the main source of the article, and then he can organize into his own ideas or thoughts. Before submitting their ideas or manuscript to the journal office, the author has to rewrite the article in his own words without seeing from the original source and in doubt, takes help of the guide/instructor.[ 4 , 7 , 8 ]

This article reviews plagiarism at different levels, consequences, guidelines to avoid plagiarism and benefits from avoiding plagiarism.

Plagiarism Definition

The word plagiarism is derived from Latin. “Plagiare means to kidnap.”[ 3 ]

Office of research integrity definition

The Office of Research Integrity describes plagiarism as “theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work. It does not include authorship or credit disputes. The theft or misappropriation of intellectual property includes the unauthorized use of ideas or unique methods obtained by a privileged communication, such as a grant or manuscript review. Substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work means the unattributed verbatim or nearly verbatim copying of sentences and paragraphs which materially mislead the ordinary reader regarding the contributions of the author.”

Committee on publication ethics definition

In 1999, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) defined plagiarism as, “plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others’ published and unpublished ideas, including research grant applications to submission under “new” authorship of a complete paper, sometimes in a different language. It may occur at any stage of planning, research, writing, or publication: It applies to print and electronic versions.”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Plagiarism is defined as - “the action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own; literary theft.”

The World Association of Medical Editors defines plagiarism as - “the use of others published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from and existing source.”[ 3 , 4 ]

Plagiarism is defined as the appropriation or imitation of the language, ideas and thoughts of another author and representation of them as one's original work. (The Random House Dictionary of the English Language - unabridged).

Academic dishonesty has reached from students in the classroom to the presenters in the scientific sessions and even to the reviewers and editors of unauthorized journal offices.[ 9 , 10 ]

The following are some of the common possible causes for the increase in plagiarism. For example: Due to the increased competition or laziness among students while writing dissertation and professional over ambition, competition or publish or perish attitude for promotion among young authors could be the result of plagiarism. Reviewers and editors of different scientific journals are also responsible to avoid plagiarism by using plagiarism detecting software before publishing the research.[ 2 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]

Source and Method of Data Collection

Availability of internet facilities and free online journals are the main sources of today's plagiarism among the students, faculty and researchers of any profession.[ 5 , 6 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]

Advancement in technology in conversion of text format into the electronic version, rise in competition levels and “publish or perish” attitude are the some important factors prone to plagiarism among the students/staff/researchers of educational institutions.[ 15 , 16 , 17 ]

Data collection

An online search on “plagiarism” was performed using PubMed/MedLine databases. In the MedLine each reference to the medical literature is indexed under a controlled vocabulary called medical subject headings (MeSH). These MeSH terms acts as a key to search the medical and dental literature. Thus MedLine/PubMed databases are used to search for literature which is available online throughout the world. Initially, 1121 references are obtained in PubMed/MedLine databases on the term “plagiarism” until date. A total of 893 articles are published on plagiarism under MeSH.

After filtering and based on the selection criteria, 35 articles were included in this review. The articles which are related to the dental and medical scientific writing were included in this review. It has taken 6 months for searching, filtering and selecting all the articles to include in this review. The sequence of data collection is demonstrated in Chart 1 .

A flow chart diagram showing the steps used for selecting the articles included in this review

As there is no sufficient literature on this subject (topic), it is the time to educate all the professions on how to avoid plagiarism through the journals and educational institutions in order to prevent publishing diluted researches.

Common Types of Plagiarism

Plagiarism can be of various types. Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional.

Intentional plagiarism

“Buying or borrowing or cut-copy-paste” or using some others work partly or completely without giving adequate credit to the original author results in intentional plagiarism.[ 7 , 8 , 9 ]

Unintentional plagiarism

Using some others work with wrong paraphrasing or improper citation refers to unintentional plagiarism.[ 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]

According to the COPE various types of plagiarism can be distinguished based on factors like: Extent (minor or major plagiarism), originality of copied material, type of material plagiarized, sources referenced or not, authors intention. The following are the most common forms of plagiarism seen in medical and dental publications:

• Plagiarism of ideas: When the author “uses the ideas or thoughts of some others and presents as his own”[ 3 ] without giving adequate credit to the original authors results in plagiarism of ideas. For example, using the ideas from the previously published articles by postgraduate students while doing their dissertation work.
• Plagiarism of text/direct plagiarism/word-for-word plagiarism: According to Roig this kind of plagiarism is defined as “copying a portion of text from another source without giving credit to its author and without enclosing the borrowed text in quotation marks.”[ 1 , 3 , 9 ] For example, most of the young authors do not know how to write and give a credit to the original work from where they have chosen. They just cut and paste from the original source and create an article without giving sufficient credit to the authors who has done the original work.
• Mosaic plagiarism (patchwork plagiarism): When the author fails to write in his own words and “uses the same words or phrases or paragraphs of the original source” without giving adequate credit results in mosaic plagiarism.[ 3 , 7 ] For example, when the authors borrow words/sentences from the original source and do patchwork to his article results in patchwork or mosaic plagiarism.
• Self-plagiarism: “Stealing or borrowing some amount of work” from his or her previously published articles refers to self-plagiarism.[ 1 , 3 , 7 , 8 ] For example, using one's own work partly and publishes the article in different journals results in self-plagiarism.

Penalties for Plagiarism

Since plagiarism can range from simple dishonesty to a serious problem, penalty depends on the severity of plagiarism. It ranges from formal disciplinary action (apology letters, retraction of the published article) to criminal charges (suspension and prosecution of authors).[ 1 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]

Example: “A practicing psychiatrist and radio and television broadcaster in London had to step down as director of the Center for Public Engagement in Mental Sciences in the institute where he was employed and was suspended from practice for 3 months by the General Medical Council.”[ 22 , 23 ]

Detection of Plagiarism

All the medical and dental ethical writers must check for the text duplication unintentionally by using plagiarism detection software before submitting to any journal office. Reviewers also should use plagiarism detection tools in order to avoid false publication practice by both intentional and unintentional authors. When the manuscript passes from the reviewers to the editors without identifying the copied text or ideas, the editor of the journal should finalize the fate of the article based on the extent of plagiarism by using powerful plagiarism detection software. The following are few plagiarism detection software which helps in screening for matching text in the article submitted by the authors.[ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]

• Cross Check™
• http://www.ithenticate.com
• https://turnitin.com/static/index
• Viper ( http://www.scanmyessay.com/plagiarism - free software)
• Software like eTBLAST
• SafeAssign™
• WCopyFind™
• http://www.checkforplagiarism.net
• http://www.grammarly.com
• Sometimes simple Google Search also helps in detecting plagiarism.

Guidelines to Publish a Quality Paper without Plagiarism

Many of the students and authors still do not know the proper way of citing the sources. In order to produce a quality paper every author should follow the following guidelines.[ 3 , 22 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]

Few good rules to avoid a charge of plagiarism are:

• Take sufficient time to complete your work
• Understand the whole concept and write the new ideas in your own words
• Avoid “copy-paste”
• Always use few appropriate and accurate sources as possible
• Learn how and when to quote and also avoid patchwork
• Always cite new and in doubt, not common language
• Follow the author's guidelines according to the biomedical journals
• Cite references accurately
• Always acknowledge and give sufficient credit to the original sources
• Avoid writing several articles of the same type and submitting to different journals at the same time
• Consult with a translator or native speaker before sending the final proof of the manuscript to the scientific journals
• Use anti-plagiarism tools to detect any accidental plagiarism. For example, plagiarism detection software like Cross Check
• Enclose the covering letter to the editor regarding for any overlap unintentionally.

Benefits of Avoiding Plagiarism

When writing a good scientific paper one should diagnose for any plagiarized material which helps in avoiding misrepresentation of any hypothesis or scientific misconduct. Table 1 enumerates the key messages given by the authors on knowing and avoiding plagiarism during scientific writing. Thus, every young author tries to learn how to write or present an article or research work in his own words by following the rules of good scientific writing. With the help of anti-plagiarism tools one can avoid duplicate manuscripts at journal office. Thus, it gives immense respect and truthfulness toward science and gives the way for quality papers to publish. Lastly, by rejecting plagiarized articles at journal office by the editor, it also helps every author to think for newer concepts.[ 23 , 26 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]

Summarize the key message given by all the authors on plagiarism in different articles which are included in this review

Summary and Conclusion

In order to publish a good scientific paper, one has to make an honest effort to read the original sources thoroughly and then put down one's own ideas or thoughts in his own words with proper paraphrasing, citation and by using quotation marks where ever necessary to avoid plagiarism.

With the advancement of technological field, even the dental and medical writers need to think new for ideas, concepts, techniques or for any hypothesis which further helps in the advancement of dental and medical field.

Source of Support: Nil.

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

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Using Sources, Avoiding Plagiarism, and Academic Honesty

A key expectation of academic work is that what you submit is your own, and that you appropriately source words and ideas that are not your own. Since academic writing involves building on the ideas of others, knowing how to integrate that material with your own thinking is a fundamental skill for success. Writers who simply haven’t practiced that skill may find themselves submitting papers with unintentional plagiarism (which is by far the most common). The resources below explain what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it through careful use of source material, rhetoric, and citations. Please feel free to email us with any thoughts or suggestions!

What is Plagiarism?

Put simply, plagiarism is when you claim the words or ideas of others as your own. Since all work you submit during an academic program is presumed to be yours, even leaving out a citation can lead to unintentional plagiarism. Avoiding plagiarism means knowing how to integrate sources correctly into your writing, understanding the rules of the style guide you’re using, and having a big-picture understanding of academic honesty: the “why” behind all those seemingly arbitrary rules.

• Antioch University Plagiarism Policy

Integrating Sources

Any time you use someone else’s words or ideas (which you do in most academic papers), you need to be careful to track them through your research and drafting phases, attribute them in your writing phases, and ensure they are correctly cited during your final polishing phases. Integrating sources well starts with research–taking good notes, actively synthesizing as you read, and making sure you put other people’s words in quotes in your notes are all ways to avoid accidental plagiarism down the line. As you start to write, you’ll want to use quotations, paraphrases, and syntheses to describe other people’s ideas. Each integrates sources in a different way, and academic writers need to know how to do all three, and when each is appropriate. As you finish your paper, you need to able to include citations in a consistent and appropriate format so that readers of your work can locate the source you used for a given idea. In academic writing, it is expected that your work fits into an ongoing conversation; citing your sources helps your readers know who contributed before you, and how you used their ideas. Reading and Doing Research

• Active Reading Strategies
• Critical Reading Exercises
• Gathering Information
• Evaluating Research Generally
• Evaluating Empirical Research
• The Art of Integrating Sources
• Using Quotations
• A Short Guide to Paraphrasing

Style and Citations

Regardless of your field and specialty, you can rest assured that you will need to cite your sources and abide by the rules of a style guide. These resources focus on helping you manage those expectations, especially around the particulars of things like APA style.

• Citation Managers
• Antioch Seattle MA Psych Style Guidelines
• An Overview of APA Style
• Common Mistakes in APA Style

Other Resources:

• Visit the American Psychological Association website for updated information regarding APA style and formatting guidelines for writing in the psychology and social sciences.
• Visit the Modern Language Association website for updated information regarding MLA style and formatting guidelines for writing in the humanities.

  Academic Honesty

Part of academic writing is also managing your time and working sufficiently in advance to do your work well. If you are working at the last minute or find yourself committed, you may find yourself tempted to leave out a citation, to appropriate a quote, or even to copy and paste text from a source without attribution. While everyone understands the desperation that can lead to academic dishonesty, the choice to engage in intentional plagiarism is a serious breach of conduct with serious consequences. In an academic program, it can lead to your being put on academic probation or kicked out of the University. Beyond student writing, plagiarism can cause you to lose all credibility in your field and destroy your academic or professional career.

Healthy Approaches to Plagiarism: A Collaborative Response

Dorothy Capers,  AUS PsyD Student & Anne Maxham, Ph.D., Director of Writing Support   Plagiarism today goes beyond the flagrant taking of another’s piece of writing and turning it as your own. With the internet, facile copying and pasting of others’ words can wreak havoc on your academic integrity.

Caveat Scriptor!

(Writer Beware!)

Overview: Plagiarism is fundamentally the act of taking others’ words and using them as your own. The range of what identifies as plagiarism is complex: it may be intentional or unintentional; it may be in the form of paraphrases without citing the source, or word for word (seven or more words in sequence from the original source); or padding your writing with longer passages without citations. Being charged with “academic dishonesty” or “plagiarism” is a gut-wrenching experience that no student wants to risk. The impact of being questioned about your authenticity can result in losing confidence as a writer and even have you doubt your purpose in studying at the university. Beyond the emotional effects, other consequences can be dire, and sometimes result in failing the class, being put on academic probation, and worst of all expulsion from the university. All writers need to take precautions and make efforts to ensure that your writing is “all yours” and that you properly cite others’ words and ideas. One scenario of why it can happen to anyone: Many of us now compose directly on the computer and frequently have multiple documents opened at any given time. We “read” to find information to use in our writing. Frequently, we jump from online articles to our own document, copying and pasting material. At times, we’re writing papers with quick deadlines, and we might rush through this all-important step of first understanding the article content. Rather than fully “digesting texts,” we read for important information and key points to include in the paper. Our notes become lifted passages from texts rather than summarizing in our own words. We research and read for “context” rather than the “content”; that is, we read to finish our writing rather than fully understanding the topic or content. What you can do: To avoid unintentional plagiarism, stop long enough in your reading to think about what the author is saying. Put it in your own words. There’s an inherent danger in copying text and pasting into your own notes. And in doing so, writers can naively create a “fertile environment” for plagiarism to occur.  And it happens not just in academia. Take a look at what happened to well-known authors, and the consequences can ruin a career. Or musicians and the long lawsuits that follow. Remember, James Frey and the scandal after Oprah had selected his Million Little Pieces as one of her “reads”? Oprah felt betrayed and used. Her anger was palpable when she publicly lambasted him in her program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewC-KIe5qng http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2011/1208/5-famous-plagiarism-and-fraud-accusations-in-the-book-world/Alex-Haley And recently, Neil Gorsuch was accused of plagiarizing parts of his book: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/gorsuch-writings-supreme-court-236891 So, we’ve developed this resource to help students take proactive measures to be academically honest. Before we move into the nitty gritty, we have some fundamentals:

• First, create a “working bibliography” of your resources. Put a number or a letter next to each and use that notation next to your quotes & paraphrases. That way, the sources for all quotes/paraphrases are identified.
• Cite all direct quotes, paraphrases, statistics, and unique ideas. Take the extra time to put quotation marks around words that are not yours. And don’t forget to post the page number of all direct quotes.
• direct quotes = citation
• paraphrases = citation
• statistics = citation
• unique concepts = citation
• when in doubt = citation
• If you’re not sure, you should seek writing support with your writing center or the VWC.

The Academic Conversation For those who want to write original work, learning how to enter the academic conversation is fundamental. While the academy is a place for active debate, most of us read materials given to us as passive “voyeurs” of a text. Of course, this is saying something about the implicit/explicit power dynamic between the faculty member and the student. Do we read to highlight what we think the faculty member wants us to read? Or do we read to wrestle with ideas? Frankly, given the reality that most of us read multiple texts each week, we’re lucky if we “digest” even one text.  The fact that most of us read – or submit a text— seldom questioning its content, style, or the intent of the author shows that we may be disempowered in the academic enterprise. Many students don’t realize that writing forces a reader to “digest” the material and to summarize as well as validate assertions by referring to the experts. So, active reading is essential in bringing the reader into the discourse. Since there are deep and multiple connections between reading and writing, we all need to learn and use strategies of active, critical reading (See the VWC Resources: “ Active Reading Strategies” and “ Critical Reading Exercises” )

If we think about academic reading and writing as a conversation, students have to carry the researchers forward in the conversation, even those with opposing views. Writing a paper is entering the conversation in an attempt to inform the reader of your unique learning through summarizing, paraphrasing, and citing other researchers. Ways to ensure Academic Authenticity: Validating that your writing is authentically yours and accurately reflecting your understanding of the topic begins early in your writing process.  Before writing, verify that you understand the assignment. Ask questions and request examples from the faculty member. Remember, what your instructors wants in an assignment is most important for your success. If you don’t understand, ask classmates and go to the writing center for additional support. Taking Notes: Take “real notes”: Don’t just lift full lines or passages from your reading. Be sure to write all notes in your own words, or put quotes around texts. If you’ve paraphrased, you still need to cite. So, put ( ) and the author, date, pg number. Defining the goals of your literature review will guide both your reading and your note-taking.   Peg Single Boyle, author of Demystifying Dissertation Writing (2009), offers a clear approach to “Citable Notetaking”:

• Pre-read your articles before taking notes
• Keep track of what’s summarized, paraphrased, or quoted.
• Choose  consistent formats for your notes. For example: If more than one article set up a spreadsheet to identify authors, article theme and quotes and paraphrases. This will help with putting your outline together when you start to write  (p 55-78).

The Virtual Writing Center has other resources available at the top of this page to help guide you to academic success. Tutorials: Want to see how much you know or don’t know about plagiarism? Spend a productive hour watching the tutorials and then take the “Certification Test” at the Indiana University resource: Tutorial: https://www.indiana.edu/~academy/firstPrinciples/tutorials/index.html Test: https://www.indiana.edu/~academy/firstPrinciples/certificationTests/index.html Finally: As a member of a discipline, you’re responsible to learn the style sheet of your field of practice (APA, Chicago, MLA, etc.).  Use online resources and manuals relevant to your field. If you’re unclear, seek help and work one-one with Mentor/VWC.  If you want professional help, go to the AU Writers’ Exchange (wex.antioch.edu).  Also review this handy checklist for APA Style that was designed for writers to refer to prior to submitting their papers. Writing support is designed to help students. With friendly student peer consultants, you may talk about your writing and get the support you need. You’re not alone.    References Boyle, P.S. (2009).  Demystifying dissertation writing. Stylus Pub: New York.

Resources for Faculty

• Responding to Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Checklist for Faculty

Academic Resources: Bronwyn T. Williams (2008). Trust, betrayal, and authorship: Plagiarism and how we perceive students.   Journal of Adolescent and and Adult Literacy 51 :4, 350 – 354. Abstract: Emotional responses to plagiarism are rarely addressed in professional literature that focuses on ethics and good teaching practices. Yet, the emotions that are unleashed by cases of plagiarism, or suspicions of plagiarism, influence how we perceive our students and how we approach teaching them. Such responses have been complicated by online plagiarism-detection services that emphasize surveillance and detection. My opposition to such plagiarism software services grows from the conviction that if we use them we are not only poisoning classroom relationships, but also we are missing important opportunities for teaching.

Howard, R., & Robillard, A. (2008). Pluralizing plagiarism : Identities, contexts, pedagogies . Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook. Pluralizing Plagiarism offers multiple answers to this question — answers that insist on taking into account the rhetorical situations in which plagiarism occurs. While most scholarly publications on plagiarism mirror mass media’s attempts to reduce the issue to simple black-and-white statements, the contributors to Pluralizing Plagiarism recognize that it takes place not in universalized realms of good and bad, but in specific contexts in which students’ cultural backgrounds often play a role. Teachers concerned about plagiarism can best address the issue in the classroom — especially the first-year composition classroom — as part of writing pedagogy and not just as a matter for punishment and prohibition. . . “–Back cover.

Price, M. (2002). Beyond “Gotcha!”: Situating plagiarism in policy and pedagogy. College Composition and Communication, 54 (1), 88-115 Abstract:Plagiarism is difficult, if not impossible, to define. In this paper, I argue for a context-sensitive understanding of plagiarism by analyzing a set of written institutional policies and suggesting ways that they might be revised. In closing, I offer examples of classroom practices to help teach a concept of plagiarism as situated in context.

Home / Guides / Plagiarism Guide / How to Avoid Plagiarism

How to Avoid Plagiarism

Understanding plagiarism and how to avoid are crucial to being an ethical and productive student, professional, and member of society. Before you learn to avoid it, you must first know what it is.

Guide Overview

• What is plagiarism?

Why you should avoid it

• Pick a topic you’re interested in
• Leave yourself plenty of time
• Keep good research notes!
• Start citing sources from the start
• Use quotations properly
• In-text citations
• Include your own ideas
• Check your work
• Use a plagiarism checker

Key takeaways

What is plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s creative/intellectual as your own, whether that be writing, speech, image, illustration, video, graph, etc. (although this guide will focus on writing).

Plagiarism can be both accidental and on-purpose. Most think of plagiarism being an unethical, conscious decision — when someone purposely steals another’s work and lies about it creating that work. However, plagiarism can also be the result of poorly-used quotes and paraphrases, or taking information without giving proper credit to the author. Even if it wasn’t on purpose, accidental plagiarism is still plagiarism and can have consequences.

In school, plagiarism could lead to disciplinary action, such as a failing grade, suspension, or expulsion. In university, confirmed plagiarism might be noted in your permanent record, which could affect scholarships or financial aid.

In a professional setting, plagiarism is illegal because it is protected by author’s rights and/or copyright. A professional that plagiarizes could face legal charges for infringing on copyright. Copyright is the original author’s legal right to the work they created. Authors control who else can use their intellectual property. Aside from copyright, there are other reasons to avoid plagiarism.

Plagiarism is unethical at best, illegal at worst. That is bad enough. However, plagiarism also robs you of real learning. It keeps you from contributing to the construction of knowledge.

If that doesn’t convince you to avoid plagiarism, also consider this: technology is advancing at an incredible pace. Climate science, medicine, neuroscience, robotics, alternative energy… All of these disciplines have made tremendous strides in the last decades and will continue to advance and grow.

Who do you think advances and grows this knowledge?

It could be you. It could be anybody. Researchers, scientists, writers, and academics aren’t grown in Petri dishes or printed on a 3D printer. They are people who were students at one point, discovered a passion, learned everything they could about it, and then just kept going, making discoveries and breakthroughs, and contributing to the construction of knowledge.

Build new knowledge

Building new knowledge cannot happen without knowing and understanding existing knowledge. Think about building knowledge like building a house. You can’t get to the roof (new knowledge) until you’ve laid the foundation and put up the walls (existing knowledge), right?

When you do your research about your topic, you are seeing how others laid the foundation, how they built the walls. Then, the roof is all you: the roof is your contribution, but it lies on top walls, on top of a foundation. The sources you cite in your paper are the beams that support the roof. They hold it up, but they are not the roof. They only help keep the roof in place.

The idea of constructing knowledge has never been more relevant than now.

You may be saying, “I just want to write my sociology research paper on the rise of social activism.” What does that have to do with a researcher studying solar energy and building new knowledge in a growing field?

It’s about the skills you need to reach your goal.

In order to learn something, you need to invest yourself in the process of learning, whether you’re a freshman just trying to make it through Intro to Sociology, or an internationally-known researcher who presents at solar technology conferences is Stockholm.

Plagiarism is taking the easy way out: It can lead to little-to-no learning, as well as failing grades or expulsion when you’re discovered. Because the likelihood is that you will be discovered.

To summarize, you want to avoid plagiarizing because:

• you won’t learn much
• you will probably get caught
• you will fail the assignment or the class. Or worse.

How to avoid plagiarism

Now that you know what plagiarism is and why it’s bad, take a deep breath, because avoiding it is not that hard.

To use another person’s words or ideas in your writing, you will need to cite your original source. In some instances, you may even need to get permission from the original publisher before using someone else’s work. Also, if you have a strong research and writing process, you’ll reduce the likelihood of committing accidental plagiarism.

Here are some tips for how to avoid plagiarism:

1. Pick a topic you’re interested in

If you’re in school, you will have to do academic writing. It’s unavoidable. So if you’re going to have to write research papers anyway, pick a topic you’re interested in.

Even in classes you have to take (as opposed to those you chose to take), there must be something interesting you’d like to learn more about. A research paper takes time and dedication to complete, so it’s in your best interest to choose a topic that’s compelling to you.

If it’s something you want to learn about, you’re more likely to do the necessary research and focus on writing your paper. The topic you pick might be general and vague in the beginning. That’s okay.

2. Leave yourself plenty of time to complete your research and writing.

There is a reason you are given this assignment early on in the term. Research takes time. Writing takes time. Revising and proofreading take time. And, as you well know, this will not be your only assignment. You have other classes and other commitments. Time management is your friend.

Once you have a topic in mind, begin your general research. (*Here’s a secret: Many research papers started with Wikipedia – NOT because you use it as a source, but because it’s useful for background knowledge and it has tons of citations included. Use some of the sources listed at the end to continue your research!)

It’s possible you won’t have an angle for your research yet. That’s okay. As you begin to get some background knowledge, you will find yourself gravitating towards some ideas. Follow your curiosity, especially in the beginning.

However, keep in mind that you want to balance your sources. If you start reading a lot of research about the benefits of your topic, try reading a few about the drawbacks, to balance your research. Also, make sure you’re not reading only one or two authors. What do other people say? Especially people who disagree with your viewpoint.

3. Keep good research notes!

This cannot be overstated: your research notes can be the difference between a well-cited paper and accidental plagiarism, which you want to avoid.

If you’re making notes on a laptop, copy and paste the URL of where you found the information under the corresponding note.

It’s also a good idea to have some convention so you know whether something is a direct quote, or your own ideas, notes, interpretations of what you read. For direct quotes, you can use quotation marks (which you can then just transfer to your paper), or make the font a different color, or bold, or something. Whatever you choose, be consistent. That way you know if you see a section in red font, that’s always a direct quote.

If you get ideas and information from other sources, such as a TED Talk video, a PowerPoint online, or an editorial cartoon in the New York Times, you need to keep a record of those as well. They will also need to be cited in-text and places on your list of sources at the end.

4. Start citing sources from the start

Begin building your list of references from the start of researching your paper and taking notes. If you use a resource like EasyBib citing tools , it shouldn’t be too hard.

Even if you don’t end up using all of resources you record, it’s easier to delete sources from a list, than to hunt down missing sources later.

This will make it MUCH easier later when you have to complete your reference list or bibliography. Different styles call it different things:

• In MLA (the Modern Language Association), it’s called Works Cited.
• In APA (American Psychological Association), it’s called References.
• In CMS (Chicago Manual of Style), it’s called Bibliography.

Depending on what class your paper is for and what your teacher requires, you will use one of these styles for citations and your list of sources. Each style presents source information a little differently so make sure you know which style guide you need to use and refer to it often to make sure you cite correctly. Ask your teacher if you’re unsure which style to use.

5. Use quotations properly

Remember those excellent research notes of yours? Here’s where you use them. If there is a sentence, or a section, that you want to use to support your argument, you can use a direct quote.

As a general rule, keep direct quotations to a minimum. Remember that a research paper is about your ideas, not just repeating others’.

Make sure that all direct quotes have quotation marks around them. If you take any words out, indicate that with an ellipsis (…). Add the citation to the end of the quote.

Note: Depending on what citation style you are required to use, how you cite, both in-text and at the end of your paper, might be different. Make sure you know which you need to use and how to use it.

6. Paraphrase

Using a paraphrase, which is conveying the source writer’s idea using your own words, is also common practice in academic writing, and it’s acceptable when done properly.

So how do you do it properly?

Make sure you are conveying the writer’s original idea. Avoid making changes that will alter the meaning. When you paraphrase, you can change words using synonyms, you can change the order of the words in the sentence, you can change grammatical structures like verb tense, active and passive verbs, word forms, etc. The more you change it from the original, without changing its meaning, the better.

There are three reasons why you want to make sure your version isn’t too similar to the original:

• First, you don’t want your paraphrase to be tagged as plagiarism.
• Second, re-writing something in your own words helps you process and understand the information better.
• Third, you inject your own “voice” into your paper. This is what makes your paper “sound” like it was written by you.

Paraphrasing is more common in academic writing than using direct quotations, but again, remember that a research paper should be about your ideas. Other sources serve to bolster your argument. They are not the argument.

Note: Paraphrasing also needs attribution to the original writer. Make sure you cite correctly using the required style.

7. In-text citations

Any time you use ideas or information from another source, cite it in the text. Citations tell your reader exactly where your information came from.

Remember that citing your sources is the way to avoid plagiarism. It literally makes the difference between ethical and unethical writing.

Make sure you know which style you need to use, and refer back to the instructions regularly to make sure you’re citing correctly.

Tip: Bookmark an information page for the citation style you need to use and every time you cite, refer to it to make sure you’re citing correctly. Also, when you put together your list of sources, refer back to that bookmarked page.

8. Include your own ideas

If there is one idea, above all others, that you should engrave in your brain, it’s this: make sure your research paper includes your own ideas. In fact, your ideas should be the bulk of the paper.

The research you do is to give you an idea of what is already known about your topic. It helps guide your thinking. The research can help narrow the focus of your topic, but research is meant to be the starting point for your own ideas.

Let’s go back to the analogy of knowledge as a house. Your research paper is the roof on top. Note that you are not responsible for building the whole house. Other people have already come in before you and done a lot of the work. They laid the foundation and built the walls. Your research is checking what they’ve already done: this is what is already known about your topic. Then, you get to build your roof: this is what you are contributing.

Any sources that you cite in your paper will be beams that support the roof. If all you do is put up a bunch of beams (only quote and/or paraphrase), do you actually have a roof? No, not at all. In fact, if all you have beams, that is also plagiarizing!

However, if you put up a roof without beams, what would happen? Your roof would be wobbly and likely collapse because it has no support.

In order to build a strong roof, you need to know the foundation and walls are there. Then, you need some beams to help hold your roof up.

But you still need to build the roof yourself.

9. Check your work

After you finish writing a draft of your research paper, set it aside for a while – anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Then, come back and re-read it, checking it objectively:

• Is your topic clearly understood?
• Do your direct quotes have quotation marks and correct citations?
• Are your paraphrases also cited correctly?
• Are you using outside sources only to support your own ideas?
• Is the majority of your paper your ideas (and not repeating others’ ideas?)
• Do you have a list of sources at the end?
• Are you following the correct style guide and are you using it correctly?

Checking your own work isn’t always easy. You wrote it – of course you think it’s amazing! But getting in the habit of checking your own work, and trying to be objective, is excellent practice.

It’s also a good idea to ask someone else to read your paper and give you their opinion. Another convenient options: An online checker like the EasyBib paper checker . It’s available anytime, 24/7.

10. Use a plagiarism checker

Running your work through a plagiarism checker is a good way to make sure that you’ve cited all of your sources. This is also a good habit to get into because it gets you familiar with plagiarism checkers, it helps you learn how to interpret the results, and it helps you avoid plagiarizing.

The EasyBib plagiarism checker is useful and available with an EasyBib Plus subscription.

• You want to avoid all forms of plagiarism because it is an unethical practice.
• Citing your sources correctly is one way to avoid plagiarism.
• Making sure you use outside sources only as support for your own ideas is the other way to avoid plagiarism.

Published October 28, 2020.

By Halina Stolar. Halina has a master’s degree in teaching and taught English as a Second Language and writing for almost 15 years overseas. She now works as a freelance writer, and geeks out over grammar for fun.

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How to Avoid Plagiarism in Research Papers (Part 1)

Writing a research paper poses challenges in gathering literature and providing evidence for making your paper stronger. Drawing upon previously established ideas and values and adding pertinent information in your paper are necessary steps, but these need to be done with caution without falling into the trap of plagiarism . In order to understand how to avoid plagiarism , it is important to know the different types of plagiarism that exist.

What is Plagiarism in Research?

Plagiarism is the unethical practice of using words or ideas (either planned or accidental) of another author/researcher or your own previous works without proper acknowledgment. Considered as a serious academic and intellectual offense, plagiarism can result in highly negative consequences such as paper retractions and loss of author credibility and reputation. It is currently a grave problem in academic publishing and a major reason for paper retractions .

It is thus imperative for researchers to increase their understanding about plagiarism. In some cultures, academic traditions and nuances may not insist on authentication by citing the source of words or ideas. However, this form of validation is a prerequisite in the global academic code of conduct. Non-native English speakers  face a higher challenge of communicating their technical content in English as well as complying with ethical rules. The digital age too affects plagiarism. Researchers have easy access to material and data on the internet which makes it easy to copy and paste information.

Related: Conducting literature survey and wish to learn more about scientific misconduct? Check out this resourceful infographic today!

How Can You Avoid Plagiarism in a Research Paper?

Guard yourself against plagiarism, however accidental it may be. Here are some guidelines to avoid plagiarism.

1. Paraphrase your content

• Do not copy–paste the text verbatim from the reference paper. Instead, restate the idea in your own words.
• Understand the idea(s) of the reference source well in order to paraphrase correctly.
• Examples on good paraphrasing can be found here ( https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase.html )

2. Use Quotations

Use quotes to indicate that the text has been taken from another paper. The quotes should be exactly the way they appear in the paper you take them from.

3. Cite your Sources – Identify what does and does not need to be cited

• The best way to avoid the misconduct of plagiarism is by self-checking your documents using plagiarism checker tools.
• Any words or ideas that are not your own but taken from another paper  need to be cited .
• Cite Your Own Material—If you are using content from your previous paper, you must cite yourself. Using material you have published before without citation is called self-plagiarism .
• The scientific evidence you gathered after performing your tests should not be cited.
• Facts or common knowledge need not be cited. If unsure, include a reference.

4. Maintain records of the sources you refer to

• Maintain records of the sources you refer to. Use citation software like EndNote or Reference Manager to manage the citations used for the paper
• Use multiple references for the background information/literature survey. For example, rather than referencing a review, the individual papers should be referred to and cited.

5. Use plagiarism checkers

You can use various plagiarism detection tools such as iThenticate or HelioBLAST (formerly eTBLAST) to see how much of your paper is plagiarised .

Tip: While it is perfectly fine to survey previously published work, it is not alright to paraphrase the same with extensive similarity. Most of the plagiarism occurs in the literature review section of any document (manuscript, thesis, etc.). Therefore, if you read the original work carefully, try to understand the context, take good notes, and then express it to your target audience in your own language (without forgetting to cite the original source), then you will never be accused with plagiarism (at least for the literature review section).

Caution: The above statement is valid only for the literature review section of your document. You should NEVER EVER use someone else’s original results and pass them off as yours!

What strategies do you adopt to maintain content originality? What advice would you share with your peers? Please feel free to comment in the section below.

If you would like to know more about patchwriting, quoting, paraphrasing and more, read the next article in this series!

Nice!! This article gives ideas to avoid plagiarism in a research paper and it is important in a research paper.

the article is very useful to me as a starter in research…thanks a lot!

it’s educative. what a wonderful article to me, it serves as a road map to avoid plagiarism in paper writing. thanks, keep your good works on.

I think this is very important topic before I can proceed with my M.A

it is easy to follow and understand

Nice!! These articles provide clear instructions on how to avoid plagiarism in research papers along with helpful tips.

Amazing and knowledgeable notes on plagiarism

Very helpful and educative, I have easily understood everything. Thank you so much.

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Plagiarism in Research — The Complete Guide [eBook]

Table of Contents

Plagiarism can be described as the not-so-subtle art of stealing an already existing work, violating the principles of academic integrity and fairness. Well, there's no denying that we see further by standing on the shoulders of giants, and when it comes to constructing a research prose, we often need to look at the world through their lens. However, in this process, many students and researchers, knowingly or otherwise, resort to plagiarism.

In many instances, plagiarism is intentional, whether through direct copying or paraphrasing. Unfortunately, there are also times when it happens unintentionally. Regardless of the intent, plagiarism goes against the ethos of the scientific world and is considered a severe moral and disciplinary offense.

The good news is that you can avoid plagiarism and even work around it. So, if you're keen on publishing unplagiarized papers and maintaining academic integrity, you've come to the right place.

With this comprehensive ebook on plagiarism, we intend to help you understand what constitutes plagiarism in research, why it happens, plagiarism concepts and types, how you can prevent it, and much more.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is defined as representing a part of or the entirety of someone else's work as your own. Whether published or unpublished, this could be ideas, text verbatim, infographics, etc. It is no different in the academic writing, either. However, it is not considered plagiarism if most of your work is original and the referred part is diligently cited.

The degree of plagiarism can vary from discipline to discipline. Like in mathematics or engineering, there are times when you have to copy and paste entire equations or proofs, which can take a significant chunk of your paper. Again, that is not constituted plagiarism, provided there's an analysis or rebuttal to it.

That said, there are some objective parameters defining plagiarism. Get to know them, and your life as a researcher will be much smoother.

Common types of plagiarism

Plagiarism often creeps into academic works in various forms, from complete plagiarism to accidental plagiarism.

The types of plagiarism varies depending on the two critical aspects — the writer's intention and the degree to which the prose is plagiarized. These aspects help institutions and publishers define plagiarism types more accurately.

The agreed-upon forms of plagiarism that occur in research writing include:

1. Global or Complete Plagiarism

Global or Complete plagiarism is inarguably the most severe form of plagiarism  — It is as good as stealing. It happens when an author blatantly copies somebody else's work in its entirety and passes it on as their own.

Since complete plagiarism is always committed deliberately and disguises the ownership of the work, it is directly recognized under copyright violation and can lead to intellectual property abuse and legal battles. That, along with irredeemable repercussions like a damaged reputation, getting expelled, or losing your job.

2. Verbatim or Direct Plagiarism

Verbatim or direct plagiarism happens when you copy a part of someone else's work, word-to-word, without providing adequate credits or attributions. The ideas, structure, and diction in your work would match the original author's work. Even if you were to change a few words or the position of sentences here and there, the final result remains the same.

The best way to avoid this is to minimize copy-pasting entire paragraphs and use it only when the situation calls for it. And when you do so, use quotation marks and in-text citations, crediting the original source.

3. Source-based Plagiarism

Source-based plagiarism results from an author trying to mislead or disguise the natural source of their work. Say you write a paper, giving enough citations, but when the editor or peer reviewers try to cross-check your references, they find a dead end or incorrect information. Another instance is when you use both primary and secondary data to support your argument but only cite the former with no reference for the latter.

In both cases, the information provided is either irrelevant or misleading. You may have cited it, but it does not support the text completely.

Similarly, another type of plagiarism is called data manipulation and counterfeiting . Data Manipulation is creating your own data and results. In contrast, data counterfeiting is skipping or adultering the key findings to suit your expected outcomes.

Using misinformed sources in a research study constitutes grave violations and offenses. Particularly in the medical field, it can lead to legal issues such as wrong data presentation. Its interpretation can lead to false clinical trials, which can have grave consequences.

4. Paraphrasing Plagiarism

Paraphrasing plagiarism is one of the more common types of plagiarism. It refers to when an author copies ideas, thoughts, and inferences, rephrases sentences, and then claims ownership.

Compared to verbatim, paraphrasing plagiarism involves changing words, sentences, semantics or translating texts. The general idea or the topic of the thesis, however, remains the same and as clever as it may seem, it is straightforward to detect.

More often authors commit paraphrasing by reading a few sources and writing them in their own words without due citation. This can lead the reader to believe that the idea was the author's own when it wasn’t.

5. Mosaic or Patchwork Plagiarism

One of the more mischievous ways to abstain from writing original work is mosaic plagiarism. Patchwork or mosaic plagiarism occurs when an author stitches together a research paper by lending pieces from multiple sources and weaving them as their creation. Sure, the author can add a few new words and phrases, but the meat of the paper is stolen.

It’s common for authors to refer to various sources during the research. But to patch them together and form a new paper from them is wrong.

Mosaic plagiarism can be difficult to detect, so authors, too confident in themselves, often resort to it. However, these days, there are plenty of online tools like Turnitin, Enago, and EasyBib that identify patchwork and correctly point to the sources from which you have borrowed.

6. Ghostwriting

Outside of the academic world, ghostwriting is entirely acceptable. Leaders do it, politicians do it, and artists do it. In academia, however, ghostwriting is a breach of conduct that tarnishes the integrity of a student or a researcher.

Ghostwriting is the act of using an unacknowledged person’s assistance to complete a paper. This happens in two ways — when an author has their paper’s foundation laid out but pays someone else to write, edit, and proofread. The other is when they pay someone to write the whole article from scratch.

In either case, it’s utterly unacceptable since the whole point of a paper is to exhibit an author's original thoughts presented by them. Ghostwriting, thus, raises a serious question about the academic capabilities of an author.

7. Self-plagiarism

This may surprise many, but rehashing previous works, even if they are your own, is also considered plagiarism. The biggest reason why self-plagiarism is a fallacy is because you’re trying to claim credit for something that you have already received credit for.

Authors often borrow their past data or experiment results, use them in their current work, and present them as brand new. Some may even plagiarize old published works' ideas, cues, or phrases.

The degree to which self-plagiarism is still under debate depends on the volume of work that has been copied. Additionally, many academic and non-academic journals have devised a fixed ratio on what percentage of self-plagiarism is acceptable. Unless you have made a proper declaration through citations and quotation marks about old data usage, it will fall under the scope of self-plagiarism.

8. Accidental Plagiarism

Apart from the intentional forms of plagiarism, there’s also accidental plagiarism. As the name suggests, it happens inadvertently. Unwitting paraphrasing, missing in-text or end-of-text citations, or not using quotation blocks falls under the same criteria.

While writing your academic papers, you have to stay cautious to avoid accidental plagiarism. The best way to do this is by going through your article thoroughly. Proofread as if your life depended on it, and check whether you’ve given citations where required.

Why is it important to avoid research plagiarism?

As a scholar, you must be aware that the sole purpose of any article or academic writing is to present an original idea to its readers. When the prose is plagiarized, it removes any credibility from the author, discredits the source, and leaves the reader misinformed which goes against the ethos of academic institutions.

Here are the few reasons why you should avoid research plagiarism:

Critical analysis is important

While writing research papers, an author must dive deep into finding various sources, like scholarly articles, especially peer-reviewed ones. You are expected to examine the sources keenly to understand the gaps in the chosen topic and formulate your research questions.

Crafting critical questions related to the field of study is essential as it displays your understanding and the analysis you employed to decipher the problems in the chosen topic. When you do this, your chances of being published improve, and it’s also good for your long-term career growth.

Streamlined scholarly communication

An extended form of scholarly communication is established when you respond and craft your academic work based on what others have previously done in a particular domain. By appropriately using others' work, i.e., through citations, you acknowledge the tasks done before you and how they helped shape your work. Moreover, citations expand the doorway for readers to learn more about a topic from the beginning to the current state. Plagiarism prevents this.

Credibility in originality

Originality is invaluable in the research community. From your thesis topic and fresh methodology to new data, conclusion, and tone of writing, the more original your paper is, the more people are intrigued by it. And as long as your paper is backed by credible sources, it further solidifies your academic integrity. Plagiarism can hinder these.

How does plagiarism happen?

Even though plagiarism is a cardinal sin and plagiarized academic writing is consistently rejected, it still happens. So the question is, what makes people resort to plagiarism?

Some of the reasons why authors choose the plagiarism include:

• Lack of knowledge about plagiarism
• Accidentally copying a work
• Forgetting to cite a source
• Desire to excel among peers
• A false belief that no one will catch them
• No interest in academic work and just taking that as an assignment
• Using shortcuts in the form of self-plagiarism
• Fear of failing

Whatever the reason an author may have, plagiarism can never be justified. It is seen as an unfair advantage and disrespect to those who have put in the blood, sweat, and tears into doing their due diligence. Additionally, remember that readers, universities, or publishers are only interested in your genuine ideas, and your evaluation, as an author, is done based on that.

Related Article: Citation Machine Alternatives — Top citation tools 2023

Consequences of plagiarism

We have reiterated enough that plagiarism is objectionable and has consequences. But what exactly are the consequences? Well, that depends on who the author is and the type of plagiarism.

For minor offenses like accidental plagiarism or missing citations, a slap on the wrist in the form of feedback from the editor or peers is the norm. For major cases, let’s take a look:

For students

• Poor grades

Even if you are a first-timer, your professor may choose to fail you, which can have a detrimental effect on your scores.

• Failing a course

It is not rare for professors to fail Ph.D. and graduate students when caught plagiarizing. Not only does this hurt your academics, but it also extends the duration of your study by a year.

• Disciplinary action

Every university or academic institution has strict policies and regulations regarding plagiarism. If caught, an author may have to face the academic review committee to decide their future. The results seen in general cases range from poor grades, failure for a year, or being banished from any academic or research-related work.

• Expulsion from the university

A university may resort to expulsion only in the worst of cases, like copyright violation or Intellectual Property theft.

• Tarnished academic reputation

This just might be the most consequential of all scenarios. It takes a lifetime to build a great impression but a few seconds to tarnish it. Many academics lose their peers' trust and find it hard to recover.  Moreover, background checks for future jobs or fellowships become a nightmare.

For universities

A university is built on reputation. Letting plagiarism slide is the quickest way to tarnish its reputation. This leads to lesser interest from top talent and publishers and trouble finding grant money.

Prospective students turning away from a university means losing out on tuition money. This further drives experienced faculty away. And the cycle continues.

For researchers

• Legal battles

Since it falls under copyright infringement, researchers may face legal battles if their academic work is believed to be plagiarized. There is no shortage of case studies, like those of Doris Kearns Goodwin or Mark Chabedi, where authors, without permission, used another person's work and claimed it to be their own. In all these instances, they faced legal issues that led to fines, barred from writing and research, and sometimes, imprisonment even.

• Professional reputation

Publishers and journals will not engage authors with a past of plagiarism to produce content under their brand name. Also, if the author is a professor or a fellow, it can lead to contract termination.

How to avoid plagiarism in research?

The simplest way to avoid plagiarism would be to put in the work. Do original research, collect new data, and derive new conclusions. If you use references, keep track of each and every single one and cite them in your paper.

To ensure that your academic writing or research paper is unique and free from any type of plagiarism, incorporate the following tips:

• Pay adequate attention to your references

Writing a paper requires extraordinary research. So, it’s understandable when researchers sometimes lose track of their references. This often leads to accidental plagiarism.

So, instead of falling into this trap, maintain lists or take notes of your reference while doing your research. This will help you when you’re writing your citations.

• Find credible sources

Always refer to credible sources, whether a paper, a conference proceeding or an infographic.  These will present unbiased evidence and accurate experimentation results with facts backing the evidence presented by your paper.

• Proper use of paraphrasing, quotations, and citations

It’s borderline impossible to avoid using direct references in your paper, especially if you’re providing a critical analysis or a rebuttal to an already existing article. So, to avoid getting prosecuted, use quotation marks when using a text verbatim.

In case you’re paraphrasing, use citations so that everyone knows that it’s not your idea. Credit the original author and a secondary source, if any. Publishers usually have guidelines about how to cite. There are many different styles like APA, MLA, Chicago, etc. Be on top of what your publisher demands.

Usually, it is observed that readers or the audience have a greater inclination towards paraphrasing than the quotes, especially if it is bulky sections. The reason is obvious: paraphrasing displays your understanding of the original work's meaning and interpretation, uniquely suiting the current state of affairs.

• Review and recheck your work multiple times

Before submitting the final, you must subject your work to scrutiny. Multiple times at that. The more you do it, the less your chances of falling under accidental plagiarism.  To ensure that your final work does not constitute any types of plagiarism, ensure that:

• There are no misplaced or missed citations
• The paraphrased text does not closely resemble the original text
• You don’t have any wrongful references
• You’re not missing quotation marks or failing to provide the author's credentials after quotation marks
• You use a plagiarism checker

More on how to avoid plagiarism .

On top of these, read your university or your publisher’s policies. All of them have their sets of rules about what’s acceptable and what’s not. They also define the punishment for any offense, factoring in its degree.

• Use Online Tools

After receiving your article, most universities, publishers, and other institutions will run it through plagiarism checkers, including AI detectors , to detect all types of plagiarism. These plagiarism checkers function based on drawing similarities between your article and previously published works present in their database. If found similar, your paper is deemed plagiarized.

You can always save yourself from embarrassment by staying a step ahead. Use a plagiarism checker before you submit your paper. Using plagiarism checker tools, you can quickly identify if you have committed plagiarism. Then, no one except you will know about it, and you will have a chance to correct yourself.

Best Plagiarism Checkers in 2023

Plagiarism checkers are an incredibly convenient tool for improving academic writing. Therefore, here are some of the best plagiarism checkers for academic writing.

Turnitin's iThenticate

This is one of the best plagiarism checker for your academic paper and a good fit for academic writers, researchers, and scholars.

Turnitin’s iThenticare claims to cross-check your paper against 99 billion+ current and archived web pages, 1.8 billion student papers, and best-in-class scholarly content from top publishers in every major discipline and dozens of languages.

The iThenticate plagiarism checker is now available on SciSpace. ( Instructions on how to use it .)

Grammarly serves as a one-stop solution for better writing. Through Grammarly, you can make your paper have fewer grammatical errors, better clarity, and, yes, be plagiarism-free.

Grammarly's plagiarism checker compares your paper to billions of web pages and existing papers online. It points out all the sentences which need a citation, giving you the original source as well. On top of this, Grammarly also rates your document for an originality score.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is another AI writing assistant that offers a plethora of tools to better your document. One of its paid services include a ProWritingAid Plagiarism Checker that helps authors find out how much of their work is plagiarized.

Once you scan your document, the plagiarism checker gives you details like the percentage of non-original text, how much of that is quoted, and how much is not. It will also give you links so you can cite them as required.

EasyBib Plagiarism Checker

EasyBib Plagiarism Checker compares your writing sample with billions of available sources online to detect plagiarism at every level. You'll be notified which phrases are too similar to current research and literature, prompting a possible rewrite or additional citation.

Moreover, you'll get feedback on your paper's inconsistencies, such as changes in text, formatting, or style. These small details could suggest possible plagiarism within your assignment.

Plagiarism CheckerX

Working on the same principle of scanning and matching against various sources, the critical aspect of Plagiarism CheckerX is that you can download and use it whenever you wish. It is slightly faster than others and never stores your data, so you can stay assured of any data loss.

Compilatio Magister

Compilatio Magister is a plagiarism checker designed explicitly for teaching professionals. It lets you access turnkey educational resources, check for plagiarism against thousands of documents, and seek reliable and accurate analysis reports.

Quick Wrap Up

In the world of academia, the spectre of plagiarism lurks but fear not, for armed with awareness and right plagiarism checkers, you have the power to conquer this foe.

Even though plenty of students or researchers believe they can get away with it, it’s never the case. You owe it to yourself and everyone who has invested time and resources in you to publish original, plagiarism-free research work every time.

Throughout this eBook, we have explored the depths of plagiarism, unraveling its consequences and the importance of originality. Many universities have specific classes and workshops discussing plagiarism to create ample awareness of the subject. Thus, you should continue to be honourable in this regard and write papers from the heart.

Hey there! We encourage you to visit our SciSpace discover page to explore how our suite of products can make research workflows easier and allow you to spend more time advancing science.

With the best-in-class solution, you can manage everything from literature search and discovery to profile management, research writing, and much more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. how to paraphrase without plagiarizing.

• Understand the original text completely.
• Write the idea in your own words without looking at the original text.
• Change the structure of sentences, not just individual words.
• Use synonyms wisely and ensure the context remains the same.
• Lastly, always cite the original source.

Even when paraphrasing, it's important to attribute ideas to the original author.

2. How to avoid plagiarism in research?

• Understand what constitutes plagiarism.
• Always give proper credit to the original authors when quoting or paraphrasing their work.
• Use plagiarism checker tools to ensure your work is original.
• Keep track of your sources throughout your research.
• Quote and paraphrase accurately.

3. Examples of plagiarism?

• Copying and pasting text directly from a source without quotation or citation.
• Paraphrasing someone else's work without correct citation.
• Presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own.
• Recycling or self-plagiarism, where you mention your previous work without citing it.

4. How much plagiarism is allowed in a research paper?

In the academic world, the goal is always to strive for 0% plagiarism. However, sometimes, minor plagiarism can occur unintentionally, such as when common phrases are matched in plagiarism software. Most institutions and publishers will allow a small percentage, typically under 10%, for such instances. Remember, this doesn't mean you can deliberately plagiarize 10% of your work.

5. What are the four types of plagiarism?

• Direct Plagiarism definition: This occurs when one directly copies someone else's work word-for-word without giving credit.
• Mosaic Plagiarism definition: This happens when someone borrows phrases from a source without using quotation marks, or finds synonyms for the author's language while keeping the same general structure and meaning.
• Accidental Plagiarism definition: This happens when a person neglects to cite their sources, or misquotes their sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source by using similar words, groupings, or phrases without attribution.
• Self-Plagiarism definition: This happens when someone recycles their own work from a previous paper or study and presents it as new content without citing the original.

6. How much copying is considered plagiarism?

Any amount of copying can be considered plagiarism if you're presenting someone else's work as your own without attribution. Even a single sentence copied without proper citation can be seen as plagiarism. The key is to always give credit where it's due.

7. How to check plagiarism in a research paper?

There are numerous online tools and software that you can use to check plagiarism in a research paper. Some popular ones include Grammarly, and Copyscape. These tools compare your paper with millions of other documents on the web and databases to identify any matches. You can also use SciSpace paraphraser to rephrase the content and keep it unique.

You might also like

Plagiarism FAQs: 10 Most Commonly Asked Questions on Plagiarism in Research Answered

3 Common Mistakes in Research Publication, and How to Avoid Them

Prevent plagiarism, run a free plagiarism check.

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How to Avoid Plagiarism | Tips on Citing Sources

Published on 6 December 2021 by Tegan George . Revised on 3 April 2023.

When you write an academic paper, you build upon the work of others and use various credible sources for information and evidence. To avoid plagiarism, you need to correctly incorporate these sources into your text.

• Keeping track of the sources you consult in your research
• Paraphrasing or quoting from your sources (and adding your own ideas)
• Crediting the original author in an in-text citation and in your reference list
• Using a plagiarism checker before you submit

Even accidental plagiarism can have serious consequences , so take care with how you integrate sources into your writing.

Table of contents

Keeping track of your sources, avoiding plagiarism when quoting, avoiding plagiarism when paraphrasing, citing your sources correctly, using a plagiarism checker, checklist: plagiarism prevention, free lecture slides, frequently asked questions about plagiarism.

One of the most common ways that students commit plagiarism is by simply forgetting where an idea came from and unintentionally presenting it as their own. You can easily avoid this pitfall by keeping your notes organised and compiling a list of citations as you go.

Clearly label which thoughts are yours and which aren’t in your notes, highlight statements that need citations, and carefully mark any text copied directly from a source with quotation marks.

In the example below, red indicates a claim that requires a source, blue indicates information paraphrased or summarised from a source, and green indicates a direct quotation.

Notes for my paper on global warming

• Greenhouse gas emissions trap heat and raise global temperatures [cite details]
• Causes more severe weather: hurricanes, fires, water scarcity [cite examples]
• Animal habitats across the world are under threat from climate change [cite examples]
• Just this year, 23 species have been declared extinct (BBC News 2021)
• ‘Animals are changing shape… some are growing bigger wings, some are sprouting longer ears and others are growing larger bills’ in order to cool off (Zeldovich 2021)

Managing sources with the Scribbr Citation Generator

To make your life easier later, make sure to write down the full details of every source you consult. That includes not only books and journal articles, but also things like websites, magazine articles, and videos. This makes it easy to go back and check where you found a phrase, fact, or idea that you want to use in your paper.

Scribbr’s Citation Generator allows you to start building and managing your reference list as you go, saving time later. When you’re ready to submit, simply download your reference list!

Generate accurate citations with Scribbr

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check..

Quoting means copying a piece of text word for word. The copied text must be introduced in your own words, enclosed in quotation marks , and correctly attributed to the original author.

In general, quote sparingly. Quotes are appropriate when:

• You’re using an exact definition, introduced by the original author
• It is impossible for you to rephrase the original text without losing its meaning
• You’re analyzing the use of language in the original text
• You want to maintain the authority and style of the author’s words

Long quotations should be formatted as block quotes . But for longer blocks of text, it’s usually better to paraphrase instead.

Paraphrasing means using your own words to explain something from a source.

Paraphrasing does not mean just switching out a few words from a copy-pasted text. To paraphrase properly, you should rewrite the author’s point in your own words to show that you have fully understood it.

Every time you quote or paraphrase, you must include an in-text or footnote citation clearly identifying the original author. Each citation must correspond to a full reference in the reference list or bibliography at the end of your paper.

This acknowledges the source of your information, avoiding plagiarism, and it helps your readers locate the source for themselves if they would like to learn more.

There are many different citation styles, each with its own rules. Your instructor may assign a particular style for you to use, or you may be able to choose. The most important thing is to apply one style consistently throughout the text.

The examples below follow APA Style .

Citing a single source

Citing multiple sources

If you quote multiple sources in one sentence, make sure to cite them separately so that it’s clear which material came from which source.

To create correctly formatted source citations, you can use our free Citation Generator.

APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator

And if you’re citing in APA Style, consider using Scribbr’s Citation Checker , a unique tool that scans your citations for errors. It can detect inconsistencies between your in-text citations and your reference list, as well as making sure your citations are flawlessly formatted.

Most universities use plagiarism checkers like Turnitin to detect potential plagiarism. Here’s how plagiarism checkers work : they scan your document, compare it to a database of webpages and publications, and highlight passages that appear similar to other texts.

Consider using a plagiarism checker yourself before submitting your paper. This allows you to identify issues that could constitute accidental plagiarism, such as:

• Forgotten or misplaced citations
• Missing quotation marks
• Paraphrased material that’s too similar to the original text

Then you can easily fix any instances of potential plagiarism.

There are differences in accuracy and safety between plagiarism checkers. To help students choose, we conducted extensive research comparing the best plagiarism checkers .

When using someone else’s exact words, I have properly formatted them as a quote .

When using someone else’s ideas, I have properly paraphrased , expressing the idea completely in my own words.

I have included an in-text citation every time I use words, ideas, or information from a source.

Every source I cited is included in my reference list or bibliography .

I have consistently followed the rules of my required citation style .

I have not committed self-plagiarism by reusing any part of a previous paper.

I have used a reliable plagiarism checker as a final check.

Your document should be free from plagiarism!

Are you a teacher or lecturer who would like to educate your students about plagiarism? You can download our free lecture slides, available for Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Open Google Slides Download PowerPoint

Accidental plagiarism is one of the most common examples of plagiarism . Perhaps you forgot to cite a source, or paraphrased something a bit too closely. Maybe you can’t remember where you got an idea from, and aren’t totally sure if it’s original or not.

These all count as plagiarism, even though you didn’t do it on purpose. When in doubt, make sure you’re citing your sources . Also consider running your work through a plagiarism checker tool prior to submission, which work by using advanced database software to scan for matches between your text and existing texts.

Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker takes less than 10 minutes and can help you turn in your paper with confidence.

To avoid plagiarism when summarising an article or other source, follow these two rules:

• Write the summary entirely in your own words by   paraphrasing the author’s ideas.
• Reference the source with an in-text citation and a full reference so your reader can easily find the original text.

Plagiarism can be detected by your professor or readers if the tone, formatting, or style of your text is different in different parts of your paper, or if they’re familiar with the plagiarised source.

Many universities also use   plagiarism detection software like Turnitin’s, which compares your text to a large database of other sources, flagging any similarities that come up.

It can be easier than you think to commit plagiarism by accident. Consider using a   plagiarism checker prior to submitting your essay to ensure you haven’t missed any citations.

Some examples of plagiarism include:

• Copying and pasting a Wikipedia article into the body of an assignment
• Quoting a source without including a citation
• Not paraphrasing a source properly (e.g. maintaining wording too close to the original)
• Forgetting to cite the source of an idea

The most surefire way to   avoid plagiarism is to always cite your sources . When in doubt, cite!

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

George, T. (2023, April 03). How to Avoid Plagiarism | Tips on Citing Sources. Scribbr. Retrieved 3 September 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/preventing-plagiarism/avoiding-plagiarism/

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Other students also liked, consequences of mild, moderate & severe plagiarism, the 5 types of plagiarism | explanations & examples, what is self-plagiarism | definition & how to avoid it.

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Avoiding Plagiarism

What is it?

Plagiarism is using someone else’s work, ideas, or data without indicating the original source and providing proper acknowledgement (KSU Student Codes of Conduct 18). Plagiarism is a major academic integrity violation with serious consequences. Using this handout can help you understand plagiarism and how to avoid it. For one-on-one help incorporating researched information into your writing, make an appointment with the KSU Writing Center.

Plagiarism may be unintentional. Unintentional plagiarism can result from correctly quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing a source but incorrectly citing (or neglecting to cite) the source in-text, at the end of the essay, or both. Reusing work submitted for other classes can also be considered unintentional plagiarism. Even if accidental, plagiarism can have serious consequences.

How can readers avoid plagiarism?

Keep clear, accurate notes during the research process . Consider using double-entry research logs to keep track of what you read and to record your own responses to sources. This note-taking strategy helps you better understand your topic because you are actively engaging with your source material as you identify patterns and disagreements among different sources.

Only use information from sources you understand . Could you effectively explain the source’s information to someone else? If not, it will be impossible for you to integrate it correctly, and you risk unintentional plagiarism.

Cite all information from sources correctly . Any time you refer to information or ideas that are not your own, you must cite the source within your text and make sure it is listed on your bibliography/works cited/references page. Citing sources correctly shows your readers which ideas and information you developed and which come from an outside source. Citations also provide your readers with a map to the original source.

Use the style format required by your instructor or the discipline . Different disciplines and contexts call for writers to follow different, often very specific, citation requirements. Unless your instructor tells you otherwise, use your discipline’s preferred style guide. Common styles include MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and CMS (Chicago Manual of Style). Ask your instructor if you are unsure of what style to follow. 

Remember that it is better to over-cite than to under-cite . If you are unsure about whether you must cite a source, err on the side of citing too much rather than too little.

Integrate researched information by summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting . Researched writing should demonstrate that you are familiar with the existing body of knowledge about your topic, including agreements and disagreements among scholars. Use source material to support your own ideas by blending summaries, paraphrases, and direct quotations

• Restate only the main ideas from a source in your own words.
• Reduce a longer text into a shorter form, omitting unimportant details.
• Use word choice and phrasing significantly different from the original; do not copy sentence structures.
• Include citation information both within the essay and in the list of sources at the end.

Paraphrases

• Restate a key point or idea from a source in your own words.
• Use approximately the same number of words as the original text.
• Show that you have evaluated the source and determined what is useful and important about it in the context of your own argument.
• Use word choice and phrasing that are significantly different from the original; do not copy sentence structures.
• Include citation information both within the essay and the list of sources at the end.

Direct quotations

• Provide the author's exact text, placed in quotation marks.
• Highlight unique, precise, or powerful language in the source text.
• Use lead-in/signal phrases. E.g., Smith writes… or Brown argues…

When integrating researched information, remember to...

• Summarize and paraphrase as much as possible; quote sparingly.
• Contextualize and analyze each source.
• Maintain your own voice as you introduce and comment on your research. 

Beyond avoiding plagiarism: citations improve your writing

Citing correctly means giving credit where credit is due . As you research and write, you will come to conclusions and form opinions based on your own and others’ ideas, experiences, and experiments. Giving credit to the thinkers and researchers whose ideas and information you reference is crucial not only to avoid plagiarism but also to highlight for readers which ideas are original to you.

Citing others’ work helps boost your own credibility . By integrating and citing credible researched information appropriately, you demonstrate that you are familiar with the current knowledge in your field.

Citing appropriately helps readers locate additional information on the topic . This allows readers to engage in the same “conversation” you have joined by researching and writing about your topic.

Visit writingcenter.kennesaw.edu for locations & hours or to make an appointment for one-on-one writing assistance.

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How to Avoid Plagiarism? Tips and Advice for Academics

Plagiarism is an important concept in writing and concerns all authors who publish any kind of document. So, what is plagiarism? Presenting other people’s work as your own without formally giving due credit through citations or acknowledgements is called plagiarism. One of the biggest mistakes that authors may make is to include sentences verbatim from other sources or even pass off someone else’s writing as their own without appropriate citation. While most authors may know how to avoid plagiarism, some may not be completely aware of this concept . This article aims to answer your questions about how and why authors should avoid plagiarism. 

The following activities can be considered plagiarism 1 : 

• Quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing information from a source without citing it 
• Using ideas or methods from a source without citing it 
• Using words verbatim from a source and also citing it, but not enclosing the text in quotation marks or an indented block 
• Close paraphrasing without citing the source 

Table of Contents

• Different forms of plagiarism 
• What is plagiarism in research? 
• Why should you avoid plagiarism? 
• Tips to avoid plagiarism 
• How to prevent plagiarism? A checklist 
• Frequently asked questions 

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of “ stealing and passing off the ideas or words of another as one’s own,” or “using another’s production without crediting the source .” 2 According to the University of Oxford, 3 all published and unpublished work, whether electronic or printed, as well as text generated wholly or in part by artificial intelligence can be plagiarized. Re-using your own work without proper citation is also considered plagiarism. 

In addition to text, plagiarism can also involve other media such as software program codes, illustrations, graphics, and artwork. The only source that can be used freely without citation is information in the public domain or common knowledge such as well-known facts.  

Different forms of plagiarism

Some different forms of plagiarism are listed below. 3  

• Verbatim quotation without clear acknowledgement  

Readers should be able to distinguish between the author’s own words and that from another source. To ensure this, direct quotations should be cited and enclosed within quotation marks, indented as block text, or italicized. 

• Cutting and pasting from the Internet without clear acknowledgement  

To avoid plagiarism, information found on the Internet should be verified from other reliable sources and only trustworthy websites, such as government websites, should be referred to and used with clear citation. 

• Paraphrasing without proper acknowledgement  

Paraphrasing means rewriting text using different words although the meaning remains the same. Even if the words are different, the meaning or idea, if sourced from another work, should be duly cited. Close paraphrasing occurs when only very few words are revised from the original. Here’s an example: 4  

Original  

Wild cattle are probably the longest-running example in Europe of the conservation in semi-captivity of an otherwise extinct subspecies. They owe their survival to being a medieval status symbol; how they came to be such is unknown.  

Plagiarized version  

There are a number of herds of so-called ‘wild cattle’ in Britain. Their survival is due to their being a medieval status symbol, although it is unknown how they came to be such, and is one of the longest running examples of the conservation in semi-captivity in Europe of an otherwise extinct subspecies.  

Acceptable revision  

There are a number of herds of so-called ‘wild cattle’ in country parks in Britain. In his ‘History of the Countryside’, Oliver Rackham suggests that these herds are ‘probably the longest-running example in Europe of the conservation in semi-captivity of an otherwise extinct subspecies’ and attributes the cattle’s survival to the fact that they were ‘a medieval status symbol’. 1  

1 Oliver Rackham, The History of the Countryside (London: Phoenix, 2000), p. 39.  

• Collusion  

This includes unauthorized collaborations among students and failure to acknowledge assistance received while working in groups. You should be clear about the extent of collaboration allowed. 

• Inaccurate citation  

Citations must be accurate, and only those sources that have actually been referred to should be mentioned. 

• Auto-plagiarism  

Many universities prohibit concurrent submission of identical documents, that is, submitting work that has already been submitted for a different course, subject, university, etc. 

What is plagiarism in research?

Plagiarism in research could take many forms like copying another author’s work, strategy, methods, hypotheses, formulae, in addition to basic text. A plagiarism charge can have adverse effects on authors’ careers and also the reputation of universities and institutions with which they are affiliated. If plagiarism is discovered after an article is published in a journal, then that paper would need to be retracted and this can significantly affect any future publishing prospects of authors. Retractions negate the credibility or validity of any research, affecting not just the authors and institutions but also other researchers who may have referred to this source for their own research.  

Universities have clear definitions and strict policies on how to avoid plagiarism; two examples are given below. 

Stanford University  

“For purposes of the Stanford University Honor Code, plagiarism is defined as the use, without giving reasonable and appropriate credit to or acknowledging the author or source, of another person’s original work, whether such work is made up of code, formulas, ideas, language, research, strategies, writing or other form(s). Moreover, verbatim text from another source must always be put in (or within) quotation marks.” 5  

Carnegie Mellon University  

“Plagiarism is defined as the use of work or concepts contributed by other individuals without proper attribution or citation. Unique ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged in academic work to be graded. Examples of sources expected to be referenced include but are not limited to:  

• Text, either written or spoken, quoted directly or paraphrased  
• Graphic elements  
• Passages of music, existing either as sound or as notation  
• Mathematical proofs  
• Scientific data  
• Concepts or material derived from the work, published or unpublished, of another person” 6  

Why should you avoid plagiarism ?

You should avoid plagiarism for the following reasons 7 : 

• to ensure academic integrity  
• to ensure ethical practices in research 
• to give credit to authors whose work you’re referring to because it is a form of respecting someone’s efforts and work  
• to avoid hampering your own career and reputation and that of the affiliated institution 

An important way to avoid plagiarism is to cite sources appropriately. Proper citations are similar to roadmaps for future researchers who will refer to your work for their own research. These roadmaps help researchers in following your research trail on the same subject so that they don’t waste time and effort by repeating work that has already been done.  

Ways to avoid plagiarism in research

Listed below are a few ways to avoid plagiarism. 7  

• Plan : Make a list of the information you need and allocate sufficient time for both research and writing. If you spend most of your time on research, you may not have enough time for writing and may eventually copy text verbatim. 
• Cite accurately from reliable sources : Refer to only reliable sources and track them by using reference management software such as Zotero , Mendeley , and EndNote to help you organize all your citations. One of the most critical ways to avoid plagiarism is to add citations to the correct place in the text using specific rules, if applicable. 
• Paraphrase and rewrite : Don’t cut and paste text from sources into your document. Use your own words to rephrase sentences ensuring that you retain the intended meaning. 
• Use exact words cautiously : Use words verbatim only if absolutely necessary and always highlight such text and cite the source. 

Tips to avoid plagiarism

Here are some detailed tips to help you avoid plagiarism. 8,9  

• Learn the principles of good writing by attending related courses, seminars, etc. 
• Don’t modify the content in a source to suit your objectives. 
• Use a signal phrase, such as “According to [source],” at the beginning of sentences or paragraphs to clarify that you’re referring to another source. 
• Avoid changing technical, subject-specific, or coined terms in the source text. Highlight such terms by using quotation marks or italics. 
• Use examples to learn how to paraphrase source text accurately. Read the source text, understand what it’s conveying, and then rewrite it in your own words.  
• Quote only as much is needed from the source. Don’t quote the entire paragraph if only one sentence is sufficient. To shorten quoted text, use ellipses (…) to indicate omitted text. 
• Learn how to cite sources properly. Choose a specific referencing style followed in your field and familiarize yourself with it. 
• Learn how to detect plagiarism. After paraphrasing an example text, identify words in your text that are similar to those in the source. See if these words could be replaced with others without changing the original meaning. 
• Ensure that all the information that is not otherwise “common knowledge” is cited. Do note that something that is common knowledge to you may not be as common to others. 
• Obtain permission from authors when using significant portions of their work. 
• Proofread your work objectively to ensure that readers can distinguish between your own words or ideas and those from other sources. 
• Avoid accidental plagiarism by using a good plagiarism checker to identify any instances you may have missed. 

How to prevent plagiarism ? A checklist

Here’s a short checklist you can use after finalizing your document to help you prevent plagiarism. Make sure you have: 

• Not copied text verbatim. 
• Paraphrased appropriately in own language instead of just using synonyms. 
• Enclosed exact words within quotation marks, indented as a block, or italicized. 
• Used appropriate subject-specific citation style guide and followed all the formatting rules. 
• Included in-text citations wherever required. 
• Included all text citations in the reference list or bibliography as well. 
• Neither reused own previously submitted paper nor submitted papers to different institutions concurrently. 

Frequently asked questions  

Several online plagiarism checkers are available to check for text duplication, such as the Paperpal plagiarism checker or iThenticate by Turnitin. Such tools are usually used by universities, journals, and other publishers to ensure that all submissions are original and to prevent any copyright issues later. 10  

Plagiarism checkers are important because they quickly accomplish what would otherwise take several hours to complete manually. These plagiarism checkers use algorithms to compare text with an extensive database including journal articles, websites, etc. The scale at which these checkers function is also quite high because they scan billions of sources of text and data to identify a match between what you’ve written and the sources they’re trained to parse. However, the accuracy of these checkers may not be 100% because of false positives (flagging original content as plagiarized) and false negatives (failing to detect plagiarized content). The accuracy of plagiarism checkers depends on factors such as database size, algorithm quality, text comparison methodology, etc. Users should manually check flagged content to ensure accuracy. 

Here are a few best practices and ways to avoid plagiarism for students: 10   Take sufficient time to complete your work and don’t procrastinate.  Avoid simply copy pasting text from sources. Understand the whole concept and write in your own words. Learn how to paraphrase and how to cite accurately.  Use reliable and credible sources and acknowledge them.  Organize your notes; create a separate list of citations you’re using as you work.  Avoid simultaneously submitting the same article for different courses, universities, journals, etc.  Use a trusted plagiarism checker to detect any accidental or self-plagiarism. 

Mosaic or patchwork plagiarism refers to combining text from various sources into your own work without proper acknowledgement or citation. While paraphrasing involves rewriting text from a single source, mosaic plagiarism involves copying text from multiple sources.  Here’s an example of mosaic plagiarism: 12   Source 1 (Johnson, 2018):   “Adolescents today are facing a unique challenge that previous generations did not experience. The increasing usage of social media platforms has raised concerns about its impact on their mental well-being. Recent studies have indicated a correlation between the time spent on social media and the overall well-being of adolescents.”   Source 2 (Miller, 2019):   “The relationship between screen time and mental health among young people has been investigated extensively. It has been found that excessive screen time, especially on social media platforms, can contribute to feelings of anxiety and depression.”   Plagiarized text   Teenagers today face unique challenges unknown to previous generations. The increasing use of social media platforms has prompted concerns about their impact on youth wellbeing, leading to extensive investigation of the impact of screen time on mental health. Studies have shown a link between excessive screen time and mental health, with youth affected by feelings of anxiety and depression.   To conclude, to avoid plagiarism authors should use information from sources carefully and always cite or acknowledge accurately. We hope this article has given you an insight into what constitutes plagiarism and that the suggested tips will help you avoid plagiarism in research. 

References  

• Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations . 9 th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018, p. 81-84. 
• Merriam-Webster’s dictionary. Last accessed February 13, 2024. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarized  
• Plagiarism. University of Oxford website. Accessed February 13, 2024. https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism  
• A guide to referencing your work. University of Bristol website. Accessed February 17, 2024. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/referencing/page_05.htm  
• What is plagiarism? Stanford University website. Accessed February 16, 2024. https://communitystandards.stanford.edu/policies-guidance/bja-guidance-definitions-and-clarifications/what-plagiarism  
• Academic integrity. Carnegie Mellon University website. Accessed February 15, 2024. https://www.cmu.edu/policies/student-and-student-life/academic-integrity.html  
• How to avoid plagiarism. Harvard University website. Accessed February 17, 2024. https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/how-avoid-plagiarism-0  
• Best practices to avoid plagiarism. Purdue University website. Accessed February 21, 2024. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/best_practices.html  
• Tips on avoiding plagiarism. Northern Illinois University website. Accessed February 16, 2024. https://www.niu.edu/academic-integrity/students/plagiarism/tips-on-avoiding.shtml  
• Kumar PM, Priya NS, Musalaiah S, Nagasree M. Knowing and avoiding plagiarism during scientific writing. Ann Med Health Sci Res . 2014 Sep;4(Suppl 3):S193-8. doi: 10.4103/2141-9248.141957. PMID: 25364588. Accessed February 15, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4212376/  
• The accuracy of online plagiarism checkers: Are they up to the task? Medium. Published February 7, 2024. Accessed February 21, 2024. https://medium.com/@plagiarismexpertorg/the-accuracy-of-online-plagiarism-checkers-are-they-up-to-the-task-ba1e3be60fe7  
• What is mosaic plagiarism? Examples, types, and how to avoid it. Published December 12, 2023. Accessed February 22, 2024. https://www.turnitin.com/blog/what-is-mosaic-plagiarism-examples-types-and-how-to-avoid-it  

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Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$19 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed.  

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How to avoid plagiarism: 10 strategies for your students

Tech Wire Asia

The News Record | Olivia Romick

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The International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) defines academic integrity as not just avoiding dishonest practices, but rather “a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.” And while it might feel like enough to post these high-level tenants on the wall of a classroom and move forward, it’s wholly more valuable (and complicated) to provide actionable ways to avoid plagiarism and embody these values.

There are myriad ways to support students in and outside of the classroom. And when it comes to avoiding plagiarism, many might say instantly, “Just get a plagiarism checker!” However, genuine instruction and learning goes beyond that: a successful approach to learning needs to contain guidance on areas that surround accurate research and citation; adequate time management; definition of misconduct and support if misconduct ensues.

Below are ten specific strategies for instructors that specifically support the skills students need to not simply avoid plagiarism, but to authentically learn and grow.

• Ensure students know the difference between academic integrity and plagiarism.
• Outline and define emerging trends in academic misconduct.
• Teach students how to properly cite sources in a paper.
• Support students’ development of time management skills.
• Emphasize the value of and way to paraphrase correctly.
• Clearly outline the institution’s and course’s policy on academic misconduct and AI writing usage.
• Define the steps taken after misconduct is suspected.
• Explain the concept of authentic learning.
• Describe how authentic learning can help students avoid plagiarism.
• Consider options for a plagiarism checker and an AI detection tool.

Let’s dive into this list in more detail. In the next section, you’ll find each tip framed as a question that a student might plug into a search engine (“What’s the difference between academic integrity and plagiarism?”), followed by suggestions and resources that support the development in that topic.

What is plagiarism? What is the difference between academic integrity and plagiarism?

In the classroom, it is important to have an aligned definition of plagiarism, even if it's assumed to be common knowledge. Explicit instruction for students has a measurable impact on mitigating misconduct. So to start things off, let's define plagiarism.

To plagiarize means to “steal or pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” and/or to “use (another's production) without crediting the source.” In fact, plagiarize (and plagiarism) comes from the Latin plagiarius “kidnapper.: An integral tenant of the Western world’s concept of academic integrity involves citing the original source of information, giving appropriate credit where credit is due.

Truth be told, many consider “plagiarism” and “academic integrity” to be synonymous, when in fact, they cover different aspects of similar ideas.

In a previous Turnitin blog post , we recognize that “while plagiarism is indeed an act of academic dishonesty and academic misconduct, it isn’t the entirety of academic integrity.” In fact, academic integrity really is the commitment to live by the values listed by the ICAI (above) and plagiarism, specifically, “is a subset of academic dishonesty, and one way to violate academic integrity.”

Students, then, need to understand what plagiarism is and isn’t, as well as their school’s policies on integrity and misconduct, so that they can approach their work with gusto and honesty. Instructors benefit from communicating their policies around academic integrity not just at the start of an academic semester, but throughout the year. In addition, it is worth talking with students about forms of plagiarism, which can be seen on Turnitin’s Plagiarism Spectrum 2.0 , covering twelve different types of unoriginal work, including traditional forms of plagiarism and emerging trends. Furthermore, instructors should explicitly list resources that students can turn to in times of need (tutors, office hours, citation guidelines, etc.) so that the temptation to plagiarize is lessened even more.

When students study or publish abroad, it’s worth noting that the concept of authorship and citation is deeply rooted in Western principles. There are significant cultural differences in plagiarism that need to be considered, so educators and students alike can uphold integrity as global citizens while also respecting the cultural norms of different learning communities.

What are emerging trends in academic misconduct?

There are a variety of trends in academic misconduct out there today. From contract cheating and electronic cheating devices, to word spinners and online test-banks, there is a vast world of shortcut options. There is also concern around AI Writing tools and how they may transform the landscape of academic integrity .

Some instructors may fear that by talking about shortcut solutions, they introduce the concept of plagiarism and thereby open a door for students. The opposite is true for many educators, however, who find that by discussing shortcut solutions openly and clearly communicating their plagiarism policies, students know what is expected of them and which recommended resources to turn to in times of need.

Additionally, there has been lots of meaningful discussion around the appropriate use of AI writing tools in education. Depending on the instructor’s or institution's policy around AI tools, it is of utmost importance for a student to have an understanding around expectations concerning AI for each and every assignment. And as instructors more readily utilize AI writing detection, it’s equally important to have a context within which to interpret any particular AI writing detection score . In particular, this infographic enumerates many of the variables that educators should consider when interpreting each student's AI writing score

A meaningful first step can be Turnitin’s eBook, “Emerging trends in academic integrity” for a complete look at trends in academic misconduct. This free, downloadable guide talks about how to identify cases of misconduct and mitigate them, as well as how to deliver remote assessments with integrity, which helps institutions and instructors alike to build a strong foundation of integrity for authentic learning.

How do I cite sources in a paper?

Instructors at every grade level and in every subject should cover correct citations. Referencing others’ work creates a strong association between one writer’s thinking and the perspective of other scholars in that field. According to the University of Washington (USA): “Scholarship is a conversation and scholars use citations not only to give credit to original creators and thinkers, but also to add strength and authority to their own work. By citing their sources, scholars are placing their work in a specific context to show where they ‘fit’ within the larger conversation.”

If students understand the value of citations and how to craft them in their papers , it can lead to confidence long-term in submitting their own writing and not that of others’, illustrating their own understandings, and developing their own voice in the academic space.

How can I develop time management skills?

Time management is essential to success, not only in academia, but in life. As early as possible, students should learn time management skills so that they can organize their work, schedule time to study or research, and balance their extracurricular and academic activities. When students plan ahead, there is less likelihood that they will choose shortcut solutions for assignments because they are confident in their own approach and the time required to research and revise.

If students are struggling with time management, interventions by tutors or teachers may be helpful prior to a larger assignment or exam. Online resources, too, can be helpful; Blair Fiander, founder of Blair’s Brainiacs, offers advice on how to keep motivated while studying remotely and tips for independent study and revision .

How do I paraphrase correctly?

Paraphrasing supports learning outcomes because it requires students to analyze, summarize, interpret, and restate others’ writing. It supports and strengthens research because it brings in other ideas without interrupting the flow of writing the way a direct quote sometimes does. However, if a student doesn’t know how to paraphrase information accurately or effectively, there is a greater chance that they will unintentionally plagiarize, or even seek alternative methods, including word spinners or AI writing tools to complete an assignment.

When students can read a body of text and then put it into their own words, not only do they avoid plagiarism, they also more deeply absorb complicated concepts and enhance their own thinking. Paraphrasing can often help students to feel more confidence about research they conduct and produce. Check out Turnitin’s Paraphrasing Resource Pack , a comprehensive set of ready-to-use resources for those seeking to enhance this valuable skill.

What is my school’s policy on academic misconduct and AI writing usage?

Just as roadways function better with clearly posted speed limit signs, so too, can students complete their best, original work when they understand expectations. In addition to the syllabus and rubric, which gives students a roadmap on what is needed to complete the assignment, students also need an understanding of the honor code and how a school approaches suspected misconduct.

When a student body receives education around academic misconduct, there is a significant decrease in cases of plagiarism. A 2020 study found that after 12 semesters of academic misconduct data, there was a 37.01% reduction in instances of detected plagiarism following explicit interventions on academic misconduct ( Perkins, et al. ).

Sharing a policy can take many forms. The University of South Australia provides students with a 12-page written Academic Integrity Policy that not only defines key terms, but also outlines levels of offense and their specific consequences. Kingston University in London offers a landing page that defines academic misconduct and the university’s procedures. Instructors, furthermore, should update their honor codes for online learning environments because with the increase of online instruction during the pandemic, many universities reported an uptick in misconduct.

Institutions, as mentioned above, also need to update their academic integrity policies to include AI and ideally, clearly outline what constitutes use and misuse within the charter.

All of these steps provide clear guidelines for students who need to know how to submit high quality assignments, as well as what happens if misconduct occurs.

What happens if I’m caught plagiarizing?

If a student’s assignment has suspected plagiarism, there are several things that may happen, depending your institution’s policies:

• An escalation policy, which needs to have been communicated to the students prior to any assignments, is enacted.
• Conversations between students and instructors, which could include a deep-dive into how research was conducted, how references were cited (or not cited), as well as any examples of a student’s previous work as a comparison.
• Administration or academic panel involvement (if needed).
• Next steps, be they a rewrite, a failed grade, expulsion, or other.

Plagiarism not only tarnishes the act of learning, but it can also affect a student’s or institution’s reputation, the quality and respectability of research, and the value of a diploma. And while it’s never a pleasant experience to go through this process, sometimes simply knowing there are serious penalties for misconduct deters students from seeking shortcut solutions.

Hamilton College Reference Librarian Julia Schult says, "Plagiarism isn't a bad thing simply because it's intellectual theft—although it is that. It's a bad thing because it takes the place of and prevents learning." As such, many instructors and institutions are opting for an alternative to the zero-tolerance approach when it comes to misconduct, in order to put learning back into the equation.

There is an increased desire for restorative justice which, unlike traditional punishment, looks “to see students not only learn from their mistakes, but to simultaneously re-establish their standing and give back to the institutional community” ( ICAI 2018 ). The University of Minnesota (USA) has provided a program entitled “Academic Integrity Matters” (AIM) for students who have engaged in scholastic dishonesty and accept responsibility for violating the Student Conduct Code. Based on restorative justice principles, this program offers an opportunity for students to attend facilitated meetings with community members to reflect on the importance of academic integrity. Participants and community members discuss and agree on an educational opportunity the student will complete in order to demonstrate understanding of academic integrity and move beyond the disciplinary space.

For instructors seeking restorative justice, there is an opportunity to turn plagiarism into a teachable moment , helping students to understand why there are safeguards in place to ensure original work. Furthermore, if students feel like they can fail safely , often risks are mitigated because they know that even if they make mistakes, they can rewrite, relearn, and rebuild trust to make it better in the future.

What is authentic learning?

Avoiding plagiarism is about prioritizing learning and its process above the end result. While explicit instruction and academic policies fortify academic integrity, it’s also important to nurture intrinsic motivation for learning. What is one way to help foster such intrinsic motivation in students? Authentic learning is one option.

Julia Hayden Galindo, Ed.D., from the Harvard Graduate School of Education , describes authentic learning as ”learning activities that are either carried out in real-world contexts, or have transfer to a real-world setting.” She goes on to say:

“Authentic learning tasks capture students’ attention and raise their motivation to learn because they touch on issues that are directly relevant to students’ present lives or future careers. The instructor’s role, in this mode of teaching, is to help students to make connections between their own ways of making sense of the material and the established cultural frameworks of the discipline” ( Stein et al., 2004 ).

Rooted in constructivist theory, authentic learning insists that actively engaging with problems and materials constitutes the best way to learn ( Mayo, 2010 ). As John Dewey said, “[E]ducation is not an affair of ‘telling’ and being told, but an active and constructive process” (Dewey, as cited in Mayo, 2010, p. 36). Stein, Issacs, & Andrews emphasize that authentic learning activities should have both personal and cultural relevance ( 2004 ). And as often as possible, instructors should merely be facilitators of learning, providing an environment for learning where students themselves lead the charge and engage with topics, wrestle with new ideas, engage in discussions with each other, and ultimately, dive into material that is meaningful to them on their own terms.

How does authentic learning help students avoid plagiarism?

At its core, authentic learning fosters intrinsic motivation. Instead of being driven by fear, by a higher grade, or even by approval of others, students instead work hard for themselves. They have an internal desire to try something new, make mistakes, acquire a skill, and increase their knowledge. And because it comes from within, they are less likely to seek shortcut solutions that would hinder or taint their genuine learning. If educators can foster in students such a desire to learn for its own merits, then even when under pressure or facing a deadline, a student will still seek to complete their own, original work.

• Using examples so students know how the material can be of use. Providing meaningful reasons for learning activities.
• Providing constructive feedback early and often to help students understand next steps in their learning journey, which includes positive feedback.
• Giving students control over their learning. Giving them opportunities to choose their own topics or reading lists and provide a variety of assessment formats , so they have control over how they demonstrate their understanding.

As James Lang put it in his book, Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty , educators should strive to inspire students “with appeals to the intrinsic joy or beauty of the task itself.” If educators nurture an environment that feels authentic, safe, and inspiring, with clear expectations and high standards for original work, research shows that cases of misconduct are low and the caliber of learning high ( Lang, 2013 ).

How can a plagiarism checker help me?

In an academic space where students and instructors alike are seeking to avoid plagiarism and promote original thought, this question is prominent. However, it is a question that should be asked in tandem with all of the questions above, as one element of a multi-faceted approach to academic integrity. Plagiarism checkers like Turnitin Feedback Studio act as a backstop solution to academic misconduct if all of the above methods should fail.

A tool like Turnitin Feedback Studio is beneficial because it utilizes a massive database of content to determine if there are similarities between a student’s work and writing that has already been published. If instructors opt for multiple submissions , then a student can receive up to three Similarity Reports before the due date to get feedback on their writing and improve it before submitting.

Utilizing tools like Draft Coach in the writing process also upholds integrity; with Draft Coach, students can receive immediate feedback, not just on similarity, but on citations and grammar as well. From there, students can revise their writing accordingly, which not only encourages real-time learning, but also equates to real time saved by teachers grading papers on the back end.

And within Turnitin Originality, there is an AI detection feature to help educators identify when AI writing tools such as ChatGPT have been used in students’ submissions, offering insights to inform next steps.

And while choosing a plagiarism checker is helpful in a variety of ways, it is important to note that Turnitin does not detect plagiarism . Our tools, in fact, detect similarity and offer insights to support instructors and administrators making their own informed decisions about student work.

In sum: Strategies for students to avoid plagiarism

In the end, avoiding plagiarism goes beyond having a tool to check for similarity. It is a robust, holistic approach that includes foundational instruction around citations and paraphrasing; a culturally responsive curriculum that clearly defines misconduct and policies in that community; the prioritization of student wellbeing to ensure that students feel seen in the classroom .

Students, instructors, and administrators can work together to utilize these strategies and establish a culture of academic integrity where authentic learning is the goal and high-quality, original work is seen daily.

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Know What You Don't Know

Nine Things You Should Already Know About PLAGIARISM

Plus . . . Six Excuses That Don't Work

And . . . Three Things You Don't Need To Worry About

An informational tool brought to you by the Office of the Provost, the Office of Academic Integrity Programs, and the Integrity Council, with special thanks to the First-Year Composition Program, Department of English.

If you are reading this, it is probably because you are interested in avoiding the number one kind of academic misconduct reported at the University of Oklahoma: plagiarism. Reading the material below and completing the accompanying quiz will help ensure that you know what plagiarism is, why it is unacceptable, and how you can avoid it.

The concept of plagiarism may seem vague or complicated. Perhaps you have heard it discussed in vague or complicated ways, or perhaps you have never heard it discussed it at all. The basics are very simple -- as long as you stay focused on what writing really is, and what written assignments in college are for.

Some of the material in the following lessons may seem extremely simple. If so, a quick review can't hurt. Some of the material may seem naive or unrealistic -- for example, the idea that college is above all an opportunity to "learn and grow." There are plenty of reasons for universities and students to consider plagiarism unacceptable on less idealistic grounds as well. The approach taken here is not the only one, but it is probably the shortest and simplest.

Once you have read through the material, you can take a quiz to show your mastery of all the material. The quiz is available at https://static.lib.ou.edu/academicintegrity/player.html . Once you pass the quiz, you will be able to print off a certificate of completion.

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 1

Nine Things You Should Already Know About Plagiarism

1. What is the point of writing assignments?

The point of any writing assignment is to improve your understanding of a particular topic or problem, to help you express your understanding in writing, and to let the professor evaluate how well you can understand and write. As with any academic assignment, the important part of a writing assignment is not the paper itself or the grade you get, but the opportunity to learn and grow.

2. What is academic misconduct?

Academic misconduct is cheating. More precisely, it is any action that a student knows (or should know) will lead to the improper evaluation of academic work. If the professor does not detect it, academic misconduct defeats the purpose of academic work because you are pretending to know more or write better than you actually do.

3. What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct in which you represent someone else's words or ideas as your own. The basic expectation in every class is that whatever you write will be your own words , generated from your own understanding . Therefore it is acceptable to incorporate someone else's words in your paper only if you clearly indicate the words are someone else's. (It is also possible to plagiarize other forms of expression -- someone else's computer code, mathematical expressions, technical designs, artistic works, etc. Here we are concentrating on plagiarism of words.)

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 2

The important part of a writing assignment is the opportunity to learn and grow.

4. What's wrong with plagiarism?

First, plagiarism defeats the purpose of writing assignments . When you substitute someone else's understanding or expression for your own, you avoid the work of using and improving your own expressive ability. Therefore, plagiarism also defeats the university's goal of teaching students to write, not just copy.

Second, plagiarism is a form of lying , because the professor is expecting to read your words, not someone else's. Plagiarism destroys the mutual respect that should exist between professor and student. Many professors take plagiarism very personally. If you have ever taken your time to teach someone something you consider valuable and then found that your time was wasted, you will understand the feeling.

Third, plagiarism defeats the purpose of scholarship. Thus it is unacceptable from all scholars, not just students. The goal of scholarship is to discover, understand, and create. That purpose is defeated when old knowledge is fraudulently presented as original and new. For the same reason plagiarism is also unacceptable in many nonacademic professional fields such as journalism and creative writing.

Exceptions in certain fields do not extend to students. There are certainly some times in industry and the professions where originality and authorship are not important and it is appropriate to take other people's words without citing them. (For example, an executive might copy text for a business plan without being expected to cite the source, or a lawyer might copy language from one contract to another.) However, even if you are training for such a profession, you are a student who is still learning the craft. Whatever the conventions are in the "real world" of employment, in the real world of teaching and learning you are expected to do your own writing and avoid plagiarism no matter what class you are in.

Sometimes plagiarism is described as a form of stealing or copyright infringement . It can be. However, it is always unacceptable to plagiarize, even if the author of the work says you can use it.

5. How do I avoid plagiarism?

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 3

Plagiarism defeats the University's goal of teaching students to write, not just copy .

There are three things you need to do to avoid plagiarism: Think, Write, and Signal . "Putting in the references" is only one-third of the job.

Think . Think about your paper topic and the research you have done. Make sure you have actually thought about everything in your paper well enough to explain it in your own words. Make sure you start the assignment soon enough to think and understand, not just research and type.

Write . Generate your own words to express your own understanding. If you cannot get started, or if you think your words are just too clumsy or inadequate, get help from your professor or the Writing Center. Other people's words should always be a supplement, not a substitute, for your own writing.

Signal . Clearly signal whenever you are using someone else's words, whether you are using them by direct quotation or paraphrase. Any direct quotation must be indicated by two things: "quotation marks" (or else "block quotation") plus a "reference" (also called a "citation") to the source. A reference alone is not sufficient to signal a direct quotation. In addition, when you are writing your own words you will naturally tend to signal a quotation with an indication in your paper, in your own words, about where the quotation comes from and why you included it -- perhaps because it is well-known, or was written by an expert, or even that it expresses an idea that is particularly mistaken or silly.

6. How do quotation marks, block quotations, and references work?

Quotation marks are a form of punctuation used to indicate that words were said or written by someone else. Unless you are writing in a foreign language, a quotation mark looks like this: " Put one quotation mark at the beginning of the quotation and another one at the end. Quotation marks are usually used with quotations no longer than 20 or 25 words.

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 4

Avoiding plagiarism: Think. Write. Signal.

A block quotation separates a quotation from the rest of the text by beginning a new line for the quotation, indenting it, then indenting each additional line of the quotation in the same way. "Indenting" means making the line of text farther from the left-hand edge of the paper, usually one inch farther than the rest of the text. Block indentation is usually used with quotations longer than 20 or 25 words. Some systems of citation also require single-spacing and indenting both margins of any block quotation, so be sure to check the appropriate style for your paper.

A "reference" or "citation" tells the reader where quoted material comes from. The most common reference forms are text references, footnotes, and endnotes. Which form you should use depends on what class your paper is for. Text references provide source information within the body of the text, usually in parentheses. Footnotes and endnotes consist of a signal in the text, usually a numeral, that is inserted right after the quotation or paraphrase then is reproduced, along with information about the source, either at the bottom of the page (footnote) or at the end of the paper (endnote). All three kinds of references may be accompanied by an extra page at the end of the paper, usually entitled "Bibliography" or "Works Cited" that lists all of the paper's sources in alphabetical order. Merely including the source in your bibliography is totally insufficient to indicate that a passage quoted from that source is not your own writing.

Your professor may or may not care which citation system you use. For the purpose of avoiding plagiarism, it doesn't matter, as long as you clearly indicate where every quotation and paraphrase comes from.

7. What is "paraphrase"?

Paraphrase is repeating in your own words the thought expressed in someone else's words . Paraphrase ranges from a very loose rewording of the text's basic idea (okay) to a nearly-identical version of the words or sentence structure of the original text (not okay). This spectrum means there is no sharp boundary between appropriate and inappropriate paraphrase. Basically, paraphrase is inappropriate where a reasonable person would say that you have stopped thinking and writing in your own words and are simply restating someone else's thoughts without admitting it.

Most commonly, students get in trouble by writing words that stay too close to the original for too long with no signal but a reference to indicate the source. Here are three tips to avoid those problems:

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 5

Don't stop thinking. Understand your source well enough to explain its meaning in your own words. Never paraphrase by copying someone else's words into your paper and then changing them around.

Keep paraphrase as short as possible . If your paraphrase goes over a sentence or two, you've probably stopped writing your own words.

Signal your source in the text , not just with a reference. If you are in a conversation and think someone else's words are important enough to repeat, you ordinarily explain who said it. Similarly, if a source is important enough to paraphrase, it is important enough to mention in your text, not just in a footnote.

8. What are the most common kinds of plagiarism?

At OU there are three common kinds of plagiarism: whole-paper, cut- and-paste, and cut-and-paste with references.

Whole-paper plagiarism . In this form of plagiarism, all or most of the student's paper is lifted from another student or a published source, for example the Internet, a book, or a print article. It is especially bad to buy a paper from any source that offers ready-made term papers. Students who have engaged in this form of plagiarism in the past have been expelled from the University.

Cut-and-paste plagiarism . In this form of plagiarism, parts of a paper ranging from phrases and sentences to entire paragraphs are taken from the Internet or somewhere else and incorporated into the student's paper with no signal that they are not the student's own expression.

Cut-and-paste plagiarism with references . In this form of plagiarism, words or ideas in a paper are included from another source, a reference to the source is included, but there is no quotation signal. Again, the problem is that a reference indicates only that the accompanying text is somehow derived from or related to the cited source. A reference alone does not show that the text is a direct quotation from that source. Thus a reference alone

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 6

Never paraphrase by copying someone else's words into your paper and then changing them around.

does not suspend the professor's expectation that the words are your own words. A direct quotation with a reference but without quotation marks is plagiarism.

9. What are the penalties for plagiarism?

At OU, acts of plagiarism can receive institutional penalties ranging from a letter of reprimand to required coursework to expulsion. All academic misconduct offenses also receive grade penalties determined by the instructor. Grade penalties are not restricted to the value of the assignment and may be up to an F in the course . Juniors and seniors who plagiarize any significant portion of a paper should expect at least a suspension for a spring or fall semester. Under the right circumstances even freshmen and sophomores may also receive suspensions or even be expelled for plagiarism.

Six Excuses That Don't Work

"But I didn't mean to plagiarize!"

"I didn't mean to" is the most common excuse to a charge of plagiarism. The test in an academic misconduct case is whether the student knew or should have known that his or her actions amounted to misconduct. Whether or not you learned them in high school, whether or not you took freshman English, whether or not you ever heard a teacher mention them, as an OU student you are expected to know the basic rules of academic integrity. If those basic rules get broken, you are guilty of academic misconduct.

"But I just forgot to go back and add the references!"

Another frequently-heard excuse is that the student included material from another source and then either "just forgot to add the references" or else put them in but "accidentally turned in the wrong draft." Unless the plagiarism is truly minor, the student would still be in trouble even if such excuses are true. Cut-and-paste papers usually contain lots of directly-quoted material that substitutes for the student's own writing, appears without

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 7

"I didn't mean to" is the most common excuse to a charge of plagiarism.

quotation marks, and lacks any textual indication that the material is quoted. In such cases, the quoted text substitutes for the student's own writing. Merely "adding the footnotes" never cures plagiarism if words have been directly quoted. Curing the plagiarism with footnotes and quotation marks often reveals that the student did a lot of copying but very little actual thinking or writing. Really curing plagiarism means starting from the beginning: thinking and writing first, quoting and signaling as appropriate. Stringing together words downloaded or copied from elsewhere has nothing to do with true writing and is never, ever a good way

to write even a first draft.

"I just wasn't careful enough to make the writing my own words!"

Sometimes students "write" a paper not by generating words from their own understanding, but by copying text, then changing a few words so the passage is no longer an exact quotation. This approach is a form of improper paraphrase. It defeats the purpose of the writing assignment, which is to form a real understanding and then express it in one's own words. If the words and structure of the original are changed enough, the end result of the copy-then-change approach may be different enough from the source that it finally becomes your "own," sort of. Usually, that requires far more work than just writing your own words in the first place. Far more often, the work is only superficially different and the result is a charge of plagiarism. Never paraphrase by copying someone else's words into your paper and then changing them around.

"But I'm presenting facts, not ideas."

Sometimes students think they only need to use their own words for ideas, not facts. Even when it's possible to tell the difference between the two (and it's usually not) the fact-idea distinction is irrelevant. Except for clearly-signaled quotations, every bit of any writing exercise needs to reflect the student's own expression of the student's own understanding. Sometimes it may seem that there is only one way to express some things -- highly technical lab procedures, for instance. Don't worry too much about this: once you have understood it, put the original source away and rely only on your own understanding when you write your own words. When you write from your own understanding, you will express yourself uniquely enough to avoid plagiarism.

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 8

"But this writer said it so much better than I can."

Maybe so, but students who only copy will never learn to say anything very well. This excuse points to another possible problem. In order to write from your own understanding, you must give your understanding a chance to operate. If you limit your research to one source, you might truly start to think there is only one thing to say on a topic, and it has already been said. The cure for that is more research, and more thinking too.

"But plagiarism only applies to term papers or English classes."

All writing for any class is presumed to be the student's own expression of the student's own understanding. Even in open-book, open- note exams, even in highly technical courses, even when the professor says he or she "isn't particular" or "doesn't care" about references, it is always plagiarism to present copied words as the expression of your own understanding. It is still plagiarism if you copy from a source like the class textbook or the professor's website. And although it's not plagiarism if you signal those words appropriately, you should be aware that there is almost no assignment at the college level that can be appropriately completed just by copying large amounts of text.

And finally...

Nine Things You Should Already Know... page 9

Using other people's work means understanding it well enough to use it in your own thought and explain it in your own words.

Three Things You Don't Need To Worry About

" How can I ever do research for my paper if it's wrong to use other people's words and ideas? "

It's not wrong to use other people's words and ideas. It's wrong to present them as your own. Using other people's work without simply copying it means you have to understand it well enough to explain it in your own words and use it in your own thought.

"How can I ever be sure my paper doesn't include some phrase I forgot I read somewhere?"

The "your own words" requirement doesn't mean you have to make up a language. Some English phrases are very common and will obviously show up in the writing of many different people. Plagiarism only arises when a string of words or thoughts is long enough that individual variations in expression are likely to occur. Most people are unable to remember enough consecutive words from another source to make unintentional quotation a real problem.

"What if someone else had an idea first and I don't know about it? "

The "your own understanding" requirement doesn't mean you have to discover ideas no one else has ever had. It doesn't mean you have to give a reference for ideas or facts that everyone is aware of. It doesn't mean you are in trouble if a similar idea was expressed in a book you haven't read. A problem arises only when the idea is so unusual, or your expression of the idea comes so close to its expression in the other text, that reasonable people would think you probably copied it. Is it possible that could happen by accident? Despite the theoretical possibility of such a coincidence, there is no record at OU that it has ever happened.

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Plagiarism & How to Avoid It

What is plagiarism, types of plagiarism.

• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Citing Your Sources This link opens in a new window
• Hood College Policies
• Resources for Instructors

The Oxford English Dictionary   defines plagiarism as "the action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own." The consequences of plagiarism in an academic setting are very serious; they can range from getting a zero on an assignment to being expelled from school. The library, the Student Success Center, and your professors are all here to give you tools to conduct research and write papers that center your own voice and attribute others' ideas appropriately and ethically. 

1. Copying someone else's words or ideas without giving credit, whether the source is a book, an article, website content, another student's paper, etc.

2. Failing to indicate a direct quote or a paraphrase with quotation marks and/or citations.

3. Using incorrect or invented citations for quotations.

4. Buying an essay and turning it in as your own work.

5. Re-using an essay from a previous class as new work.

6. Using a photo, artwork, or other image without attributing its source.

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code
• What Constitutes Plagiarism?

In academic writing, it is considered plagiarism to draw any idea or any language from someone else without adequately crediting that source in your paper. It doesn't matter whether the source is a published author, another student, a website without clear authorship, a website that sells academic papers, or any other person: Taking credit for anyone else's work is stealing, and it is unacceptable in all academic situations, whether you do it intentionally or by accident.

The ease with which you can find information of all kinds online means that you need to be extra vigilant about keeping track of where you are getting information and ideas and about giving proper credit to the authors of the sources you use. If you cut and paste from an electronic document into your notes and forget to clearly label the document in your notes, or if you draw information from a series of websites without taking careful notes, you may end up taking credit for ideas that aren't yours, whether you mean to or not.

It's important to remember that every website is a document with an author, and therefore every website must be cited properly in your paper. For example, while it may seem obvious to you that an idea drawn from Professor Steven Pinker's book The Language Instinct should only appear in your paper if you include a clear citation, it might be less clear that information you glean about language acquisition from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website warrants a similar citation. Even though the authorship of this encyclopedia entry is less obvious than it might be if it were a print article (you need to scroll down the page to see the author's name, and if you don't do so you might mistakenly think an author isn't listed), you are still responsible for citing this material correctly. Similarly, if you consult a website that has no clear authorship, you are still responsible for citing the website as a source for your paper. The kind of source you use, or the absence of an author linked to that source, does not change the fact that you always need to cite your sources (see Evaluating Web Sources ).

Verbatim Plagiarism

If you copy language word for word from another source and use that language in your paper, you are plagiarizing verbatim . Even if you write down your own ideas in your own words and place them around text that you've drawn directly from a source, you must give credit to the author of the source material, either by placing the source material in quotation marks and providing a clear citation, or by paraphrasing the source material and providing a clear citation.

The passage below comes from Ellora Derenoncourt’s article, “Can You Move to Opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration.”

Here is the article citation in APA style:

Derenoncourt, E. (2022). Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration. The American Economic Review , 112(2), 369–408. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20200002

Source material

Why did urban Black populations in the North increase so dramatically between 1940 and 1970? After a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940. Wartime jobs in the defense industry and in naval shipyards led to substantial Black migration to California and other Pacific states for the first time since the Migration began. Migration continued apace to midwestern cities in the 1950s and1960s, as the booming automobile industry attracted millions more Black southerners to the North, particularly to cities like Detroit or Cleveland. Of the six million Black migrants who left the South during the Great Migration, four million of them migrated between 1940 and 1970 alone.

Plagiarized version

While this student has written her own sentence introducing the topic, she has copied the italicized sentences directly from the source material. She has left out two sentences from Derenoncourt’s paragraph, but has reproduced the rest verbatim:

But things changed mid-century. After a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940. Wartime jobs in the defense industry and in naval shipyards led to substantial Black migration to California and other Pacific states for the first time since the Migration began. Migration continued apace to midwestern cities in the 1950s and1960s, as the booming automobile industry attracted millions more Black southerners to the North, particularly to cities like Detroit or Cleveland.

Acceptable version #1: Paraphrase with citation

In this version the student has paraphrased Derenoncourt’s passage, making it clear that these ideas come from a source by introducing the section with a clear signal phrase ("as Derenoncourt explains…") and citing the publication date, as APA style requires.

But things changed mid-century. In fact, as Derenoncourt (2022) explains, the wartime increase in jobs in both defense and naval shipyards marked the first time during the Great Migration that Black southerners went to California and other west coast states. After the war, the increase in jobs in the car industry led to Black southerners choosing cities in the midwest, including Detroit and Cleveland.

Acceptable version #2 : Direct quotation with citation or direct quotation and paraphrase with citation

If you quote directly from an author and cite the quoted material, you are giving credit to the author. But you should keep in mind that quoting long passages of text is only the best option if the particular language used by the author is important to your paper. Social scientists and STEM scholars rarely quote in their writing, paraphrasing their sources instead. If you are writing in the humanities, you should make sure that you only quote directly when you think it is important for your readers to see the original language.

In the example below, the student quotes part of the passage and paraphrases the rest.

But things changed mid-century. In fact, as Derenoncourt (2022) explains, “after a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940” (p. 379). Derenoncourt notes that after the war, the increase in jobs in the car industry led to Black southerners choosing cities in the midwest, including Detroit and Cleveland.

Mosaic Plagiarism

If you copy bits and pieces from a source (or several sources), changing a few words here and there without either adequately paraphrasing or quoting directly, the result is mosaic plagiarism . Even if you don't intend to copy the source, you may end up with this type of plagiarism as a result of careless note-taking and confusion over where your source's ideas end and your own ideas begin. You may think that you've paraphrased sufficiently or quoted relevant passages, but if you haven't taken careful notes along the way, or if you've cut and pasted from your sources, you can lose track of the boundaries between your own ideas and those of your sources. It's not enough to have good intentions and to cite some of the material you use. You are responsible for making clear distinctions between your ideas and the ideas of the scholars who have informed your work. If you keep track of the ideas that come from your sources and have a clear understanding of how your own ideas differ from those ideas, and you follow the correct citation style, you will avoid mosaic plagiarism.

Indeed, of the more than 3500 hours of instruction during medical school, an average of less than 60 hours are devoted to all of bioethics, health law and health economics combined . Most of the instruction is during the preclinical courses, leaving very little instructional time when students are experiencing bioethical or legal challenges during their hands-on, clinical training. More than 60 percent of the instructors in bioethics, health law, and health economics have not published since 1990 on the topic they are teaching.

--Persad, G.C., Elder, L., Sedig,L., Flores, L., & Emanuel, E. (2008). The current state of medical school education in bioethics, health law, and health economics. Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 36 , 89-94.

Students can absorb the educational messages in medical dramas when they view them for entertainment. In fact, even though they were not created specifically for education, these programs can be seen as an entertainment-education tool [43, 44]. In entertainment-education shows, viewers are exposed to educational content in entertainment contexts, using visual language that is easy to understand and triggers emotional engagement [45]. The enhanced emotional engagement and cognitive development [5] and moral imagination make students more sensitive to training [22].

--Cambra-Badii, I., Moyano, E., Ortega, I., Josep-E Baños, & Sentí, M. (2021). TV medical dramas: Health sciences students’ viewing habits and potential for teaching issues related to bioethics and professionalism. BMC Medical Education, 21 , 1-11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02947-7

Paragraph #1.

All of the ideas in this paragraph after the first sentence are drawn directly from Persad. But because the student has placed the citation mid-paragraph, the final two sentences wrongly appear to be the student’s own idea:

In order to advocate for the use of medical television shows in the medical education system, it is also important to look at the current bioethical curriculum. In the more than 3500 hours of training that students undergo in medical school, only about 60 hours are focused on bioethics, health law, and health economics (Persad et al, 2008). It is also problematic that students receive this training before they actually have spent time treating patients in the clinical setting. Most of these hours are taught by instructors without current publications in the field.

Paragraph #2.

All of the italicized ideas in this paragraph are either paraphrased or taken verbatim from Cambra-Badii, et al., but the student does not cite the source at all. As a result, readers will assume that the student has come up with these ideas himself:

Students can absorb the educational messages in medical dramas when they view them for entertainment. It doesn’t matter if the shows were designed for medical students; they can still be a tool for education. In these hybrid entertainment-education shows, viewers are exposed to educational content that triggers an emotional reaction. By allowing for this emotional, cognitive, and moral engagement, the shows make students more sensitive to training . There may be further applications to this type of education: the role of entertainment as a way of encouraging students to consider ethical situations could be extended to other professions, including law or even education.

The student has come up with the final idea in the paragraph (that this type of ethical training could apply to other professions), but because nothing in the paragraph is cited, it reads as if it is part of a whole paragraph of his own ideas, rather than the point that he is building to after using the ideas from the article without crediting the authors.

Acceptable version

In the first paragraph, the student uses signal phrases in nearly every sentence to reference the authors (“According to Persad et al.,” “As the researchers argue,” “They also note”), which makes it clear throughout the paragraph that all of the paragraph’s information has been drawn from Persad et al. The student also uses a clear APA in-text citation to point the reader to the original article. In the second paragraph, the student paraphrases and cites the source’s ideas and creates a clear boundary behind those ideas and his own, which appear in the final paragraph.

In order to advocate for the use of medical television shows in the medical education system, it is also important to look at the current bioethical curriculum. According to Persad et al. (2008), only about one percent of teaching time throughout the four years of medical school is spent on ethics. As the researchers argue, this presents a problem because the students are being taught about ethical issues before they have a chance to experience those issues themselves. They also note that more than sixty percent of instructors teaching bioethics to medical students have no recent publications in the subject.

The research suggests that medical dramas may be a promising source for discussions of medical ethics. Cambra-Badii et al. (2021) explain that even when watched for entertainment, medical shows can help viewers engage emotionally with the characters and may prime them to be more receptive to training in medical ethics. There may be further applications to this type of education: the role of entertainment as a way of encouraging students to consider ethical situations could be extended to other professions, including law or even education.

Inadequate Paraphrase

When you paraphrase, your task is to distill the source's ideas in your own words. It's not enough to change a few words here and there and leave the rest; instead, you must completely restate the ideas in the passage in your own words. If your own language is too close to the original, then you are plagiarizing, even if you do provide a citation.

In order to make sure that you are using your own words, it's a good idea to put away the source material while you write your paraphrase of it. This way, you will force yourself to distill the point you think the author is making and articulate it in a new way. Once you have done this, you should look back at the original and make sure that you have represented the source’s ideas accurately and that you have not used the same words or sentence structure. If you do want to use some of the author's words for emphasis or clarity, you must put those words in quotation marks and provide a citation.

The passage below comes from Michael Sandel’s article, “The Case Against Perfection.” Here’s the article citation in MLA style:

Sandel, Michael. “The Case Against Perfection.” The Atlantic , April 2004, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/04/the-case-against-pe... .

Though there is much to be said for this argument, I do not think the main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is that they undermine effort and erode human agency. The deeper danger is that they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean aspiration to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifted character of human powers and achievements.

The version below is an inadequate paraphrase because the student has only cut or replaced a few words: “I do not think the main problem” became “the main problem is not”; “deeper danger” became “bigger problem”; “aspiration” became “desire”; “the gifted character of human powers and achievements” became “the gifts that make our achievements possible.”

The main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is not that they undermine effort and erode human agency. The bigger problem is that they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean desire to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifts that make our achievements possible (Sandel).

Acceptable version #1: Adequate paraphrase with citation

In this version, the student communicates Sandel’s ideas but does not borrow language from Sandel. Because the student uses Sandel’s name in the first sentence and has consulted an online version of the article without page numbers, there is no need for a parenthetical citation.

Michael Sandel disagrees with the argument that genetic engineering is a problem because it replaces the need for humans to work hard and make their own choices. Instead, he argues that we should be more concerned that the decision to use genetic enhancement is motivated by a desire to take control of nature and bend it to our will instead of appreciating its gifts.

Acceptable version #2: Direct quotation with citation

In this version, the student uses Sandel’s words in quotation marks and provides a clear MLA in-text citation. In cases where you are going to talk about the exact language that an author uses, it is acceptable to quote longer passages of text. If you are not going to discuss the exact language, you should paraphrase rather than quoting extensively.

The author argues that “the main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is not that they undermine effort and erode human agency,” but, rather that “they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean desire to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifts that make our achievements possible” (Sandel).

Uncited Paraphrase

When you use your own language to describe someone else's idea, that idea still belongs to the author of the original material. Therefore, it's not enough to paraphrase the source material responsibly; you also need to cite the source, even if you have changed the wording significantly. As with quoting, when you paraphrase you are offering your reader a glimpse of someone else's work on your chosen topic, and you should also provide enough information for your reader to trace that work back to its original form. The rule of thumb here is simple: Whenever you use ideas that you did not think up yourself, you need to give credit to the source in which you found them, whether you quote directly from that material or provide a responsible paraphrase.

The passage below comes from C. Thi Nguyen’s article, “Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles.”

Here’s the citation for the article, in APA style:

Nguyen, C. (2020). Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles. Episteme, 17 (2), 141-161. doi:10.1017/epi.2018.32

Epistemic bubbles can easily form accidentally. But the most plausible explanation for the particular features of echo chambers is something more malicious. Echo chambers are excellent tools to maintain, reinforce, and expand power through epistemic control. Thus, it is likely (though not necessary) that echo chambers are set up intentionally, or at least maintained, for this functionality (Nguyen, 2020).

The student who wrote the paraphrase below has drawn these ideas directly from Nguyen’s article but has not credited the author. Although she paraphrased adequately, she is still responsible for citing Nguyen as the source of this information.

Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles have different origins. While epistemic bubbles can be created organically, it’s more likely that echo chambers will be formed by those who wish to keep or even grow their control over the information that people hear and understand.

In this version, the student eliminates any possible ambiguity about the source of the ideas in the paragraph. By using a signal phrase to name the author whenever the source of the ideas could be unclear, the student clearly attributes these ideas to Nguyen.

According to Nguyen (2020), echo chambers and epistemic bubbles have different origins. Nguyen argues that while epistemic bubbles can be created organically, it’s more likely that echo chambers will be formed by those who wish to keep or even grow their control over the information that people hear and understand.

Uncited Quotation

When you put source material in quotation marks in your essay, you are telling your reader that you have drawn that material from somewhere else. But it's not enough to indicate that the material in quotation marks is not the product of your own thinking or experimentation: You must also credit the author of that material and provide a trail for your reader to follow back to the original document. This way, your reader will know who did the original work and will also be able to go back and consult that work if they are interested in learning more about the topic. Citations should always go directly after quotations.

The passage below comes from Deirdre Mask’s nonfiction book, The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power.

Here is the MLA citation for the book:

Mask, Deirdre. The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2021.

In New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive.

It’s not enough for the student to indicate that these words come from a source; the source must be cited:

After all, “in New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive.”

Here, the student has cited the source of the quotation using an MLA in-text citation:

After all, “in New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive” (Mask 229).

Using Material from Another Student's Work

In some courses you will be allowed or encouraged to form study groups, to work together in class generating ideas, or to collaborate on your thinking in other ways. Even in those cases, it's imperative that you understand whether all of your writing must be done independently, or whether group authorship is permitted. Most often, even in courses that allow some collaborative discussion, the writing or calculations that you do must be your own. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't collect feedback on your writing from a classmate or a writing tutor; rather, it means that the argument you make (and the ideas you rely on to make it) should either be your own or you should give credit to the source of those ideas.

So what does this mean for the ideas that emerge from class discussion or peer review exercises? Unlike the ideas that your professor offers in lecture (you should always cite these), ideas that come up in the course of class discussion or peer review are collaborative, and often not just the product of one individual's thinking. If, however, you see a clear moment in discussion when a particular student comes up with an idea, you should cite that student. In any case, when your work is informed by class discussions, it's courteous and collegial to include a discursive footnote in your paper that lets your readers know about that discussion. So, for example, if you were writing a paper about the narrator in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and you came up with your idea during a discussion in class, you might place a footnote in your paper that states the following: "I am indebted to the members of my Expos 20 section for sparking my thoughts about the role of the narrator as Greek Chorus in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried ."

It is important to note that collaboration policies can vary by course, even within the same department, and you are responsible for familiarizing yourself with each course's expectation about collaboration. Collaboration policies are often stated in the syllabus, but if you are not sure whether it is appropriate to collaborate on work for any course, you should always consult your instructor.

• The Exception: Common Knowledge
• Other Scenarios to Avoid
• Why Does it Matter if You Plagiarize?
• How to Avoid Plagiarism
• Harvard University Plagiarism Policy

PDFs for This Section

• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Online Library and Citation Tools

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• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Sheridan Libraries
• What is Plagiarism?
• School Plagiarism Policies
• Common Knowledge
• Paraphrasing & Summarizing
• Minimizing Your Plagiarism Risk
• Student Help
• Helping Prevent Plagiarism in Your Classroom
• Avoiding Plagiarism Course
• Course FAQs

Quoting is when you use someone else’s exact words in your paper. It requires that quotation marks go around that author’s words, and the quotation is followed by an in-text citation.

Good Reasons to Quote

• A quote exactly reinforces a point I want to make, and I want to emphasize the authority of the expert with her or his own voice.
• The language is unique or unusual. If I rewrote it in my own words, it would lose this quality.

How Does Quoting Work?

• Key Rules of Quoting
• Sample Quotation (APA Style)
• Step-by-Step Quoting

• The exact words of the author are in quotation marks
• The quote is introduced so the reader is alerted that these are not the words of the student
• The quote is properly cited in the text and the reference list

Explore the other tabs to see a sample quote and learn the steps of recording a quote properly. 

Author’s original text

Business communication is increasingly taking place internationally – in all countries, among all peoples, and across all cultures. An awareness of other cultures – of their languages, customs, experiences and perceptions – as well as an awareness of the way in which other people conduct their business, are now essential ingredients of business communication. 

Example quotation that could be added to a paper

 As business communication spans the globe, “an awareness of other cultures – of their languages, customs, experiences and perceptions – as well as an awareness of the way in which other people conduct their business, are now essential ingredients of business communication” (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59). 

• Find a portion of a book, journal, or website that you would like to use in your paper. Copy the words you plan to use.
• Put quotation marks at the beginning and end of the copied text.
• Add an in-text citation at the end of the quoted text (outside the quotation mark).
• Write (in your own words) to give context or introduce the quoted text.
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Knowledge and practices of plagiarism among journal editors of Nepal

• Krishna Subedi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5409-1751 1 ,
• Nuwadatta Subedi 2 &
• Rebicca Ranjit 3  

Research Integrity and Peer Review volume  9 , Article number:  9 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and ongoing practices of plagiarism among the journal editors of Nepal.

This web-based questionnaire analytical cross-sectional was conducted among journal editors working across various journals in Nepal. All journal editors from NepJOL-indexed journals in Nepal who provided e-consent were included in the study using a convenience sampling technique.

A final set of questionnaires was prepared using Google Forms, including six knowledge questions, three practice questions (with subsets) for authors, and four (with subsets) for editors. These were distributed to journal editors in Nepal via email, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and WhatsApp. Reminders were sent weekly, up to three times.

Data analysis was done in R software. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for the demographic variables, correct responses regarding knowledge, and practices related to plagiarism. Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare mean knowledge with demographic variables. For all tests, statistical significance was set at p  < 0.05.

A total of 147 participants completed the survey.The mean age of the participants was found to be 43.61 ± 8.91 years. Nearly all participants were aware of plagiarism, and most had heard of both Turnitin and iThenticate. Slightly more than three-fourths correctly identified that citation and referencing can avoid plagiarism. The overall mean knowledge score was 5.32 ± 0.99, with no significant differences across demographic variables.

As authors, 4% admitted to copying sections of others' work without acknowledgment and reusing their own published work without proper citations. Just over one-fifth did not use plagiarism detection software when writing research articles. Fewer than half reported that their journals used authentic plagiarism detection software.

Four-fifths of them suspected plagiarism in the manuscripts assigned through their journal. Three out of every five participants reported the plagiarism used in the manuscript to the respective authors. Nearly all participants believe every journal must have plagiarism-detection software.

Conclusions

Although journal editors' knowledge and practices regarding plagiarism appear to be high, they are still not satisfactory. It is strongly recommended to use authentic plagiarism detection software by the journals and editors should be adequately trained and update their knowledge about it.

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Introduction

With the rise in the number of publications, misconduct in research is increasing which is a global threat to evidence-based research [ 1 ]. The National Academy of Sciences in the United States (US) in 1992 defined misconduct in science as “fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism, in proposing, performing, or reporting research” [ 2 ]. Plagiarism is possibly the most serious and widely recognized violations of ethical standards [ 3 ].

World Association of Medical Editors has defined plagiarism as the “use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source” [ 4 ]. The US Office of Research Integrity (ORI) defined plagiarism as “both the theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another's work. This does not pertain to authorship or credit disputes ” [ 5 ]. Self-plagiarism occurs when an author reuses sections of their previous writings on the same subject in another publication without providing proper citation using quotation marks [ 4 ].

Poor quality of the journal and lack of education regarding plagiarism are the two reasons besides many other reasons for plagiarism [ 6 ]. To overcome this problem, software (iThenticate, Turnitin, Grammarly, PlagScan, Plagiarism Scanner, etc.) has been developed to detect plagiarism [ 7 , 8 ].

Though the exact prevalence of plagiarism in Nepal is not known, several incidents related to plagiarism across universities have been reported [ 9 ]. Seven researchers, including professors and PhD students, were penalized after plagiarism was detected in Nepal [ 10 ].

Till date, there are no any published literature available regarding the knowledge and practices of editors regarding plagiarism in Nepal. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the knowledge and ongoing practices of plagiarism among the journal editors of Nepal.

Study design, setting, and participants

This was a web-based analytical cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted among journal editors working across various journals in Nepal. The data collection was done from 1st December 2023 to 30th April 2024.

All Nepali journals listed in Nepal Journal Online (NepJOL) with available Email IDs of the editorial team on their website and journals that have updated their website after 2020 were included. All journal editors from NepJOL-indexed journals in Nepal who provided e-consent were included in the study using a convenience sampling technique.

Data collection technique

Demographic characteristics including age, sex, education, province, duration of working in the journal, and number of publications were recorded.

The questionnaires included the knowledge and self-reported practice components. Knowledge components include ten items that were taken from previous research [ 11 ] as well as prepared by the authors. Self-reported practice components included practice as an author and practice as a journal editor. Self-reported practice as an author includes six items and as an editor includes four items. The content validity of the questionnaire was done by sending questions to five experts. Lynn indicated that at least three experts are required and five experts will provide a sufficient level of agreement whereas using more than 10 experts will be of no use in calculating the content validity [ 12 ]. Each member of the panel was asked to respond to the following question for each of the items: Is the skill (or knowledge) measured by this item for the essential scale to measure knowledge and practice of plagiarism among journal editors as 1 = Not essential; 2 = Useful but not essential; 3 = Essential, relevant scale as: 1 = Not relevant; 2 = Somewhat relevant (need some revision); 3 = Quite relevant (need minor revision); 4 = Very relevant and clarity scale as: 1 = Not clear; 2 = Item needs some revision; 3 = Very clear [ 13 ].

Content validity Index (CVI): CVI is the most widely reported approach for content validity in instrument development and can be computed using the Item-CVI (I-CVI). I-CVI is computed as the number of experts giving a rating of “very relevant” for each item divided by the total number of experts. Values range from 0 to 1 where the item is relevant if I-CVI > 0.79, the item needs revision if it is between 0.70 and 0.79, and if the value is below 0.70, the item is eliminated [ 14 , 15 ]. A I-CVIs ≥ 0.78 have excellent content validity [ 15 , 16 ].

Questions were distributed to five experts for content validation through email. Experts chosen were highly knowledgeable in research and plagiarism, and have experience working as editors for both national and international journals. Experts provided their opinions via email, and their responses were analyzed for the I-CVI. Two questions from the knowledge section and three questions from the practice as an author section were removed as the I-CVI score was less than 1.0. Therefore final set of questionnaire included eight questions for knowledge, three questions (with subsets) for practice as an author and four questions (with subsets) as an editor. Two questions from the knowledge Sect. (1. Are you aware of plagiarism? 2. Have you heard about any plagiarism detection software?) were put in the demographic sections as these questions could not measure the knowledge. Therefore a total of six questions were for the knowledge section. Each of the six questions had a single correct answer with a binary outcome coded as one for correct and zero for incorrect. Every correct answer was scored as one, while incorrect answers were scored as zero. An overall composite score was then calculated by summing the individual scores for each question. The highest possible knowledge score for each individual was six.

The prepared questionnaires underwent pilot testing among journal editors of a medical journal to assess readability and comprehension. Items in the questionnaire that were found to be confusing to the editors were subsequently revised.

The final questionnaires were prepared using Google Forms and sent via email, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and Whats app to the various journal editors in Nepal. There were a total of 396 journals listed in NepJOL. Out of which 16 were no longer being published, 12 had not updated their journal since 2020, two had changed their name, 60 had no contact lists on their website on the date of March 15, 2024. Therefore a total of 306 journals were selected and 497 editors were contacted using their Email-Ids. In some journals, only the Email IDs of the Editor-in-Chief and/or managing editors were available, but not for all editorial teams. In such cases, an Email was sent to the designated address with a request to circulate the link to their editorial team members. NepJOL is a comprehensive database that features journals published in Nepal across various academic disciplines. All materials on NepJOL are freely available for viewing, searching, and browsing. However, the copyright of all content is retained by the journals or authors. This resource is managed by the Tribhuvan University Central Library and hosted by Ubiquity Press [ 17 ].

A set of questionnaire was sent a maximum of three times, once a week as a reminder. Questionnaires that were not responded to even after a reminder of three times were not considered in the analysis.

Dependent Variables: Knowledge and practice of journal editors.

Independent Variables: Sex, role in a journal, working province, working experience in journal (in years), and number of publications.

Ethical consideration and informed consent

Ethical clearance was obtained from Gandaki Medical College -Institutional Review Committee (ref no: 08/080/081-F). Electronic informed consent was taken from all participants before starting the survey. The survey was anonymous, and confidentiality was ensured.

Statistical analysis

All data in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet linked to the online survey Google form was imported into R. The frequencies and percentages were calculated for background characteristics, knowledge, and practice scores of plagiarism. Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare mean knowledge with demographic variables. For all tests, statistical significance was set at p  < 0.05.

The reliability of the factors and scales was based on I-CVI value.

A total of 147 participants completed the survey with a response rate of 29.58% (147/497). The mean age of the participants was found to be 43.61 ± 8.91 (ranging from 22.0 to 67.0) years. More than two-thirds of the participants were male. Bagmati province accounted for over half of the participants, while Madhesh province represented less than 3%. Just over half of the participants had completed master's level education. Approximately half comprised the editorial team members. Slightly more than half of the participants were affiliated with biomedical journals. More than six out of every ten participants had published 10 or more research articles. Nearly all participants were aware of plagiarism, and the majority had heard of both plagiarism software: Turnitin and iThenticate (Table  1 ).

The majority of participants correctly answered questions about plagiarism, with almost everyone agreeing that plagiarism can be a severe form of ethical misconduct. Additionally, slightly more than three-fourths of participants correctly identified that citation and referencing can be used to avoid plagiarism (Table  2 ).

As an author, 4% had ever copied and pasted a section of someone's else work without acknowledgment and quotation as well as reused their published work without proper citations and references. Just over one-fifth of the participants did not use plagiarism detection software when writing research articles. Among those who did use such software, two-fifths utilized freely available online tools, while nearly a quarter used Turnitin, and another quarter used iThenticate (Table  3 ).

Fewer than half of the participants indicated that the journals they worked for used authentic plagiarism detection software. Among them almost half of the journal used iThenticate as a plagiarism detection software. Almost 18% didn't mentioned the name of software their journal were using.

Four-fifths of them suspected plagiarism in the manuscripts assigned through their journal. Three out of every five participants reported the plagiarism used in the manuscript to the respective authors. Nearly all participants believe it is necessary for every journal to have plagiarism detection software (Table  4 ).

The overall mean knowledge score of the participants was 5.32 ± 0.99. No significant difference was found in mean knowledge across various demographic variables (Table  5 ).

This study is unique compared to others on similar topics because it exclusively involves journal editors, whereas previous studies have not focused specifically on this group.

The reason for not conducting similar studies on journal editors might be the assumption that editors are already well aware of plagiarism, making it seem unnecessary to study their knowledge on the topic.

However, the authors of this study believe that not all editors and journals may be fully informed about plagiarism, and even if they are aware, they may not be practicing proper plagiarism control. It is crucial for those in central roles to thoroughly understand and implement anti-plagiarism measures. This ensures they can identify and minimize plagiarism in manuscripts submitted to their journals.

Due to a lack of similar studies, comparisons are made with the few available studies. A study conducted by Smart et al. among journal editors found that 2–5% of submitted manuscripts were plagiarized [ 18 ].

The results of the study showed that overall knowledge and practice related to plagiarism seem to be higher.

Bagmati province accounted for over half of the participants, while Madhesh province had less than 3%. Bagmati Province is the most populous in Nepal, and most developmental and research activities are highly centralized there compared to other provinces. Additionally, Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, is located in Bagmati Province, where a larger number of journals and editors are based. This could explain the higher number of participants from this province. Additionally, the lack of personal communication with the editors form other provinces might be another contributing factor.

Nearly one in seven participants disagreed that using other’s image or video without receiving proper permission or providing appropriate citations is plagiarism. While this number may seem low in general, it is relatively high for journal editors. Journal editors should be well-trained and regularly updated on issues of plagiarism.

Almost 15% of the participants disagreed that paraphrasing or quoting can be used to avoid plagiarism which is higher as compared to a study done by Phyo et al. [ 11 ]. The reason may be due to the fact that most of the editors have completed master or Ph.D. courses and already have done research whereas in the study done by Phyo et al. involved postgraduate students.

More than one-fifth of the participants disagreed that citation and referencing can be used to avoid plagiarism which is lower as compared to a study done by Phyo et al. [ 11 ].

Around one in eleven disagreed that plagiarism detection software can be used to avoid or detect plagiarism which is lower as compared to a study done by Phyo et al. [ 11 ]. This supports the authors' opinion that not all editors are fully aware of or trained in handling plagiarism. Therefore, it's crucial for all journal editors to receive training and updates on plagiarism to effectively manage manuscripts and check for plagiarism. The other reason may be the accuracy of the software detection. Some software may not accurately detect plagiarism. It can incorrectly flag properly cited and referenced material as non-original content [ 19 ].

Almost 5% disagreed that authors reusing their previously written work or data in a ‘new’ written article without citation and referencing is plagiarism. This percentage is lower compared to university students, where one-quarter of the participants did not know that self-plagiarism is considered plagiarism [ 20 ].

Almost all agreed that plagiarism can be a very serious form of ethical misconduct. It is universally acknowledged that plagiarism is a serious ethical misconduct. Authors should be fully aware of this before writing a research manuscript to minimize or avoid instances of plagiarism.

Practice as an author

Almost 4% ever copied and pasted a section of someone else’s work without acknowledgment and quotation and a similar proportion reused their work that has been published in one journal without proper citations and references. There are no directly comparable studies. However, a study by Gupta et al. [ 21 ] reported that slightly less than one-fifth of the participants, who were editors and researchers, had published articles containing copied parts.

Just over one-fifth of the participants did not use plagiarism detection software when writing research articles which is almost similar to a study done by Gupta et al. [ 21 ] where one-fourth of the participants did not use any form of plagiarism detection software.

Practice as an editor

Fewer than half of the participants indicated that the journals they worked for used authentic plagiarism detection software. It is crucial for every journal to use authentic plagiarism detection software, as freely available online tools may not accurately detect all instances of plagiarism [ 22 ]. Cost may be a factor in choosing plagiarism detection software. Individuals can use freely available tools cautiously, but it is always recommended that journals or institutions use authentic, reliable software.

Four-fifths of them suspected plagiarism in the manuscripts assigned to them, which is higher than the findings of Smart et al., where just under two-thirds reported experiencing some plagiarized submissions. The larger percentage in this study may be because participants only suspected plagiarism, while in the study by Smart et al., they reported confirmed cases of plagiarism [ 18 ]. This indicates that a significant number of manuscripts were suspected of plagiarism. To confirm these suspicions, reliable software should be used before corresponding with the authors.

Three out of every five participants reported the plagiarism used in the manuscript to the respective authors. It is recommended to report detected plagiarism to both the author and the journal. Failure to do so can harm the author’s career and damage the journal’s reputation.

The primary reason that not all editors were well-informed about plagiarism may be that they were trained in editorial processing but did not receive specific training on plagiarism.

Limitations

Due to the use of convenience sampling and social media for data collection, the survey may have primarily attracted participants who were genuinely interested and had better knowledge. Those with less knowledge might not have participated, potentially leading to over-reporting. Social desirability bias could have occurred. This may lead to more positive responses in knowledge as well as in practice-based questionnaires. Since this study includes only journal editors from Nepal, its findings cannot be generalized beyond the country. However, the study participants include editors working in various areas of Nepal, covering a wide range of disciplines, the results could be generalized to the Nepalese population.

Although journal editors' knowledge and practices regarding plagiarism appear to be high, they are still not satisfactory. It is strongly recommended to use authentic plagiarism detection software by the journals and editors should be adequately trained and update their knowledge about it. Authors should also be aware of plagiarism and its consequences when writing and submitting a research manuscript to a journal.

Availability of data and materials

Data will be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author (Krishna Subedi).

Abbreviations

Content validity Index

Nepal Journal Online

Office of Research Integrity

United States

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KS participated in selecting the research title, conducted statistical analysis, contributed to the study design, and drafted the manuscript. KS, NS, and RR conducted the studies, literature search, and participated in data collection. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

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Subedi, K., Subedi, N. & Ranjit, R. Knowledge and practices of plagiarism among journal editors of Nepal. Res Integr Peer Rev 9 , 9 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-024-00149-5

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