How to Avoid Plagiarism in Research Papers Writing

Writing a research paper is not an easy process. It is laden with so many challenges especially when it comes to gathering information and providing relevant evidence to support your argument. This happens once you have identified the topic that you are going to used and most importantly if your instructor has approved it. Looking for information from other researchers is a crucial step in the research paper writing process. However, among the challenges that one faces is plagiarism. This is the failure to acknowledge the sources of your material. It can be costly because as it stands, you are fraudulently using other people’s ideas.

Plagiarism is regarded as the unethical practice of using ideas of another author or researcher or in your previous works without duly acknowledging the source. Plagiarism can be panned or accidental, and neither instance spells anything good for you as a writer. It is regarded as a serious academic as well as intellectual offense and comes with highly negative and far-reaching repercussions such as loss of your credibility as a researcher, paper retractions, recalling of degrees and so on. In fact, plagiarism is the major cause of research paper retraction today.

This becomes crucial for everyone to enhance his or her understanding of the dangers of plagiarism. Research papers are supposed to contribute to the body of knowledge especially if the student is pursuing his Masters of Ph.D. degree. Some cultures do not insist on the authentication of these papers through citations, and this is based on their academic traditions and nuances. However, in the global academic code of conduct, authentication is a crucial validation requirement.

The digital age has also affected plagiarism because researchers have unfettered access to material and data on the web. This makes easy to copy and paste information without acknowledging the source. It is crucial to avoid plagiarism, and there are some tips that you can use to make this happen.

How to avoid plagiarism in research papers

• Understand the context

• Refrain from copying text verbatim from the source material. Instead, you can state the idea in your own words. In cases where you have used more than two words in a row from the source, you have to use quotation marks and understand the ideas of the source material before you paraphrase it correctly.

• Quotes

• The best way to use a quote is to use it the way it appears. This averts misquoting anyone. Not every institution likes block quotes or quotes that have more than 40 words. A good scholar must be able to paraphrase most of the material he plans to use in his research paper. This process can take time, but it works it. Quoting is one way of avoiding plagiarism in research papers.

• Identify anything that needs or does not need to be cited

• Any words that are not your own but come from another source must be cited in your research paper. Any material coming from your previous works needs to be cited. Failure to cite such material is referred to as self-plagiarism. Any scientific evidence gathered during your tests is not supposed to be cited. Facts or common knowledge does not need to be cited. However, you should include a reference in cases where you are unsure of these facts.

• Managing your citations

• One of the effective ways of avoiding plagiarism is through citations. It follows predefined guidelines that are used by different education institutions and widely acclaimed in the scholarly world. Citations are dome in MLA APA, Chicago Manual Style, and Harvard and so on. It involves details of the author, date of publication and other relevant information. If you fail to make proper citations, your work will be full of plagiarism.

• To manage your citations, you need to make a record of all the sources you have used in your research paper. Reference Manager or Endnote are some of the software you can use to manage your citations.

• Using plagiarism checkers

• Much plagiarism-checking software exists, and you can use them to detect plagiarism in your paper.

• Referencing

• To avoid plagiarism in research papers, you must include a referencing section. It is also known as the works cited and comes at the end of your research paper. This page ought to follow the formatting guidelines preferred by your instructor of the institution. It is very specific and includes the details of the author, publication date, tile, and source.

Types of plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. It comes in different forms and ranks. Complete plagiarism is a serious offense as opposed to the one that comes with paraphrasing. As such, it is crucial to understand all forms of plagiarism and how they come about.

• Complete plagiarism

• This is a serious form of plagiarism where a researcher takes material created by someone else and uses it as his. This is a total infringement on intellectual property.

• Source-based plagiarism

• Different types of sources can occasion plagiarism. For instance, if a researcher makes a reference to a source that is non-existent or one that is incorrect, it makes the citation misleading. When a researcher uses information from both primary and secondary sources and cites only the primary source, which amounts to plagiarism. Data fabrication and falsifying information is also tantamount to plagiarism. This type of plagiarism comes with serious repercussions, especially if it is in the medical field as it can affect some of the clinical; decisions.

• Direct plagiarism

• Verbatim plagiarism occurs when a researcher copies word for word what other researchers have written without using quotation marks.

• Auto or self-plagiarism

• This happens when the author uses his previous work without proper citations

Having understood this, it is easier for you to write a research paper that follows every rule that exists. Remember you are contributing your ideas to the body of knowledge. If you use facts and attribute them appropriately, you will avoid plagiarism. There is no excuse for plagiarism in the academic world, whether intended or accidental.

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