Academic paper writing help: avoiding plagiarism

Plagiarism is a growing blight on the academic world. With the advent of plagiarism checking websites and software programs, it is easier now more than ever for class instructors to detect any academic dishonesty. At the same time, a number of essay writing websites are popping up all over the internet, which sell previously written, plagiarized essays for students to pass off as their own work. The result is a stressful, never ending game of cat and mouse between the students who attempt to get away with plagiarism, and the professors and university administrators who fight to stop it.

How can you avoid committing plagiarism in your own papers? Here are some of the best ways.

Write All Your Own Work

This may seem obvious, but with many students availing themselves to custom writing services, the point must be made. If you want to avoid committing plagiarism, you must never, ever pass off any academic work as your own, unless you have written the work in its entirety. Do not hire other writers to compose essays for your, do not buy essays online that other people have written in the past, and do not copy from papers that your friends or peers have generated. This is the most important step in avoiding plagiarism.

Cite All Sources Meticulously

On occasion, a student will be penalized for plagiarism because they have cited or quoted too many academic sources word for word. If too much of your paper is too similar to previously existing work, your paper may be flagged for committing plagiarism. Fortunately, you can avoid this fate entirely. Make sure to attribute every quote you place in your paper. Cite all referenced material. Put any material that you do cite in quotation marks or block quotes. Include a reference page at the end of your paper to show credit for the sources you have used.

Never Cut and Paste Text

Finally, you can work to avoid plagiarism by never copying and pasting text from one document to another. It can be easy to make a mistake if you write a paper using multiple documents. Many high profile journalists have been caught plagiarizing because they kept a brainstorming document that was filled with quotes and information from other sources beyond themselves. While it is always a good thing to cite other writers and read their work, you should never highlight, copy, and paste the work of another writer. You may forget to add attribution or forget that you did not write the words.

Posted by July 7th, 2016

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