Plagiarism is a concept that brings chills down the spines of students and makes teachers frown at their students. It is nothing but taking someone else’s ideas and presenting them as your own. Not all students plagiarize intentionally, but they could become a victim of plagiarism in case they are not aware of what it is.
Paraphrase the Information
You should not just simply collect other people’s ideas, but also write ideas of your own if you want to avoid plagiarism. If you have found some information that is relevant to your dissertation, you should first go through it. Simply writing it as it is without paraphrasing the information could make you land in hot water with your university. If you make use of more than two words from the original text, you should quote them. Else, you should consider summarizing the information.
Cite Your Sources
With so many referencing software available online, citing your sources may seem like a task that does not require you to apply your brains. However, when it comes to actually citing certain sources, it is a different story altogether. Make sure you double check your referencing list to make sure you have done your referencing correctly. Some word processing software programs automatically allow you to make bibliographies. You would, however, still need to input data in the software.
Do Not Write Blindly
Sometimes, when you are in a hurry, you might end up writing texts without quoting the author. When you write in a hurry, you could also end up penning ambiguous statements. Even if you are using someone else’s ideas, make sure that you mention where they are coming from. That way, you can avoid plagiarizing someone else’s ideas.
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