Have you taken inspiration from the internet for your essay, and now your work shows high plagiarized content? Are you looking for a way to devise a flawless-looking essay without the risk of being called out for this unethical conduct? Learn how to avoid plagiarism with these easy steps below.
Cite Correctly
Any time you are assigned to write a research paper or a thesis, you will be required to use citations throughout the work. These include in-text citations as well as a corresponding full reference in the bibliography section at the end of your research. Citations are used to ensure that your audience easily finds the sources you have
used to check the credibility of your work. Most importantly, you are giving credit to the writers and scholars who have come up with the work. This way, it would not be counted as committing literary theft or miscrediting. If you are unsure how to do it, you can hire a professional writing service to help you write 100% plagiarism free essays.
However, if you have decided to tackle the essay yourself, you have to justify the points you establish by backing it up using scientific research done by scholars. Any time you quote, you must use an in-text citation that needs to be identified with an original author. It also includes a page number and the publication year. You should use citations when you are using somebody else’s opinions, ideas or theory. Other than this, while stating any facts, using statistics or graphical representation done by somebody else. Also, while quoting someone’s speech directly, doing so is a must. There are many citation styles that you might be asked to use. The most frequently used ones are listed below:
- MLA
- APA
- Harvard
- Chicago
Paraphrase
Paraphrasing is key when it comes to taking help from the internet. Remember, plagiarism is a term used for content that a person steals and passes off as one’s own without giving credit to the source. Now, this does not mean using external sources for a little inspiration, or a head start is wrong. Rather, it can help you write beautifully by making you learn the difference between a well-written essay and a poor one. All you need to do is ensure that you are not lifting off text from somewhere else. Understand the concept and convey it using your own perceived idea, uniqueness, and most importantly, your own wording.
If you are trying to grasp different strategies to avoid plagiarism, the first thing to wrap your head around is the fact that there is no getting away with copying text. Paraphrasing successfully without getting caught involves a bit of a dance. You have to format and originally reword your essay. Using a lot of similar words from the same source is risky. The key is to use substitute terminology while making sure you are not altering the central meaning of the idea.
Use Quotations
One of the most straightforward solutions to avoiding plagiarism while mentioning somebody else’s work is to use quotation marks. It should also cite the source you are quoting it from. This way, you are letting the readers know the exact place where they can find what you are claiming.
Use High-Quality Plagiarism Checkers
With the continuous progress in the technological field, the development of writing tools has skyrocketed. Plagiarism checkers and detection tools have now become widely available, and that too is free of cost. The technology allows your university to scan your work and compare it to a massive database of websites and previous publications. The passages that show high similarity levels with another source get highlighted.
Using existing content from a website can be detected in a matter of minutes. If you are using somebody else’s ideas, ascertain that you rephrase the sentences and substitute terms with synonyms throughout. In short, use your own words to deliver the essence that you picked up from another source. Before submitting your work, make it a practice to check your work through a plagiarism checker yourself to ensure an essay without plagiarism.
Proofread and Editing
Once you have completed your essay, do not think you are done just yet. The final step requires you to proofread and edit your masterpiece. Proofreading is concerned with detecting misspellings and punctuation errors, whereas editing helps in ensuring grammatical and constructional correctness. These practices are crucial no matter what you are working on. However, here, they will also fulfill the purpose of identifying any text that you might have used as is and not reworded.
An excellent way to write a plagiarism free essay is to use writing tools and software to help you with the uniqueness of it. For example, Grammarly can help you by providing you with better synonyms for a specific word or, in some instances, even rephrasing the entire sentence. You can also take help from software like SpinBot, which enables you to enter a chunk of content and paraphrases it for you. Nonetheless, it is not always entirely correct, so relying on it completely is not recommended. You can use it to get a fair idea of the words that you can incorporate in your essay.
Ask Your Teacher
Feeling stuck on a topic? It is not uncommon for students to feel at a loss of ideas when they are first assigned a topic. If you think that turning to the internet might lead to a compromise in the ingenuity of your work, there are other sources of help you can acquire. How about asking your teacher to assist you in the ideation phase? What better way to tackle an essay than getting direct input from the instructor who will be marking it at the end? If you are lucky, this will help you get a better understanding of what the teacher expects from you and how you can deliver it perfectly.
A teacher is experienced and can encourage you by nudging you in a direction you might not even have been thinking about. Other than this, if you are thinking of benefiting from the wonders of the internet, ask your teacher about the plagiarism policy. Your teacher might allow a certain percentage which can make your writing process a tad bit easier.
Many people find essay writing a challenging task. Some people are not good at writing, while others find it hard to critically evaluate a topic. If you are one of these people and need inspiration for your work, follow the guide above to avoid plagiarism and create amazing essays that you can proudly call your own.
Author of the article:
Christopher Mansfield is a content writer at Perfect Essay. He creates, edits, and manages the production of digital and print content that is consistent with the organization’s brand, style, and tone. Christopher works closely with the internal marketing team to ensure timely delivery of content via various marketing channels and mediums. He also develops and maintains an editorial calendar. He contributes to the webinar program to further thought leadership campaigns for different market segments.
