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A Complete Guide to Plagiarism Prevention

How To Work On An Article For Plagiarism Prevention?

The term plagiarism originated from the Latin word ‘Plagiarius,’ which means the kidnapper. However, practically plagiarism is a form of stealing. When someone copied parts or whole from someone else’s writing to pass it off as their own without crediting the original author, that is an instance of plagiarizing content.

Though plagiarism has always been there, technology has allowed the readers to check the content for plagiarizing. A reader enjoys a text that contains the writer’s thoughts as that is a way a writer can reach the readers.

A copied content takes away the beauty of writing and disturbs the flow of words. Thus, making the work less enjoyable. Therefore, whenever a writer is working on their content, they must take some steps that help to avoid plagiarism.

Why Is Plagiarism Not Acceptable In an Article?

Any writing and article become art when the writer does not hold themselves back from pouring their heart into it. They can put their thoughts in words to reach the readers. Thus, the presence of plagiarised content in an article can harm both the writer who is copying and the writer whose works they are copying.

The copied content fails to reach the reader, and the inconsistency of flow, language can take away the joy of reading. When a reader finds out the copied content in an article, they may lose their confidence in the writer, which can be harmful to a writer’s career. For an author who treasures their work, plagiarism can affect them as well. Hence, plagiarism is an unethical act.

Reasons for Plagiarism:

Plagiarism can be intentional or accidental, but both are equally harmful to a student’s or author’s career. A student may end up copying an entire content and passes it under their name without any credit to the original author. Well, this is called direct plagiarism.

The student may accidentally end up with a plagiarized content in their work, which is an instance of unintentional plagiarism. In the case of the writers also similar things can happen. Since the internet is flooded with content and the writers are reading them daily, it is quite possible that at times, without thinking much, they accidentally use them as their content.

Sometimes, both students and writers are often at times, lazy enough to quote and cite resources. Thus, giving rise to a plagiarized section within the text.

Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism can be harmful to students and writer’s careers.

Consequences of Plagiarism

Since plagiarism is a form of stealing, there are some severe consequences a person can face for plagiarising content. Charges of plagiarism can destroy the career of the writers or the students.

Most of the countries have Copyright Acts to protect the right of the author on a work. In case the author feels any threat to their correct, they can seek legal help by reporting copyright infringement. Here are some other consequences that the students and writers can face for plagiarizing.

Students: The institutions consider plagiarism as a threat to their academic integrity. Therefore they have some plagiarism prevention policies that bar the students from using any unfair means while working on their academic papers.

Suppose the institutes find out that a student has plagiarised several times. They can take severe actions against them. They can give the students a failing grade and can also suspend them from the course.

It can hamper their career, and it may be difficult for them to enroll in another course because of the charges. Therefore, it is always a must for the students to use a plagiarism checker before submitting their work. They should also know what to cite and what not to.

Bloggers, Writers, and Journalists:

If bloggers, writers, and journalists use parts of another work without any credit that is plagiarism. If the readers find out plagiarised content in their writing, the blogger may lose readership. The SEO rankings of their page or blog may get low.

Hence they may not appear at the top of the search results. It can decrease the traffic to their website. The bloggers or writers can also face more severe consequences. If the writer of the original content decides to take legal steps against them by reporting copyright infringement.

How to Stay Away From Plagiarism?

A writer or student can easily stay away from plagiarism if they follow a few steps. They can use parts of another writer’s writing, journals in their work to substantiate their argument. However, writers need to keep in mind that with a proper citation, they prevent plagiarism-related issues.

They should also know what to cite and what not to. Here are the steps they can follow while working on a particular article-

  • The writer should make a list of the reference materials they are using for their writing. They can also take down the page numbers of the parts they are willing to use in their content.
  • They can break down the topic of the article in terms of a few questions. They can answer all those questions throughout the paper. While writing, if they use parts from their reference work, they must put them in quotation marks.
  • They should do an in-page citation, apart from providing an appropriate reference list at the end of the article. In the reference list, writers need to mention the author’s name, work, page number, publication date, and other valid information about the article they are using in their content.
  • When their content is finished, they should use a plagiarism checker tool to check for the copied content present in the article. The checker also mentions the source of those parts for the writers to avoid plagiarism.
  • The students and writers should remember that they need to cite any other online content, including the online pages and journals. Even if they are using those content in paraphrased form, they need to do the citation. They should not do citations for proverbs.
  • If a student is using parts from the previous work, they need to do a citation. Otherwise, there can be an issue of self-plagiarism.

How to Use a Plagiarism Checker?

The students and writers need to upload the content on the tool. The plagiarism checker scans the content and compares it with the other existing articles present online.

The tool underlines those copied parts and generates a plagiarism percentage. The plagiarism checker mentions the source of the content to help the writers. In this way, the writers can provide a proper citation to stay away from plagiarism.

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