Plagiarism, or copying someone else's ideas or words and acknowledging them as your own, can cause problems for you and others, regardless of your age. Students who do so can be dismissed by the campus. In fact, due to plagiarism, Joe Biden lost the opportunity to become president of the United States in 1988. Here are ways to ensure that you do not--intentionally or unintentionally--plagiarism.
Step
Step 1. Understand what plagiarism is
The Big Indonesian Dictionary defines it as: "Taking other people's writings (opinions and so on) and making them look like their own compositions (opinions, etc.), for example publishing other people's writings on their own behalf." Meanwhile, the American Heritage dictionary states: the unauthorized use of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. This means that what is classified as plagiarism is not just copying other people's work word for word, but imitation that is very similar to that work. The use of synonyms and other word choices is not a justification for plagiarism. You should write the text in your own sentence, and cite your source after it.
- Original source: "State law forbids slaves from getting compensation from their masters for even the most heinous crimes."
- Plagiarism: "State laws do not allow slaves to be rewarded by their masters for even the most terrible crimes."
- Not plagiarism: "Even slaves who were injured, abused, or humiliated could not claim damages from their masters under the then-current United States law. (Jefferson, 157)"
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Plagiarism can also include:
- Downloading essays from the internet.
- Hire someone to write something for you.
- Trying to make other people's ideas look like your own.
Step 2. Get to know the topic you are discussing
By understanding the topic, you will be better able to write in your own words, rather than simply restating the definitions that other people have put forward. Look for information on the topic you want to write about. You can get them online or in books, but books are almost always more authoritative than the internet.
The trick is to use multiple sources of information. If you rely on just one source--a book on slavery, for example--you may accidentally copy or commit plagiarism
Step 3. Recite the topic several times
The key is to understand the material and be able to express its meaning in your own sentences. Avoid reading too much into other authors' material as you are likely to restate the author's lines.
- Original source: "The slaves worked 12 hours a day, from sunrise to sunset, trying to survive on 1,200 calories from starch as well as their blood, sweat and tears."
- Rewrite: "Surviving on about half of what we consider minimal caloric intake today, slaves in the 19th century worked long hours that were very torturing for their bodies. (Jefferson, 88)"
- Rewrite: "In the 19th century, slaves worked as long as the sun was shining, while suffering from malnutrition. (Jefferson, 88)"
Step 4. List your citations and sources
You must include a bibliography or literature cited in your paper. If you use direct quotes from other authors, you must quote them correctly. Many lecturers accept the MLA (Modern Language Association) format, unless another standard format is required.
You can avoid unintentional plagiarism by directly including quotation marks (when using citations) and mentioning the source when citing or including it in paragraphs. If you delay this step, or include quotation marks and citation sources at the end of your writing, you may forget to complete them and face problems due to plagiarism
Step 5. Include sources if you are in doubt
To avoid plagiarism, you can do it in several ways. For example:
- State the source in the paragraph: "According to Richard Feynman, quantum electrodynamics can be described by the path integral formula."
- Put quotes before and after any quirky phrases you think might be considered copy: "There will be a 'paradigm shift' when a scientific revolution pushes people to see the world differently."
Step 6. Understand some basic copyright rules
Plagiarism is not just a bad academic practice, it is also against the law if there is a copyright infringement. Understand the following points so that you remain law abiding:
- Simply put, facts are not copyrighted. This means that you can use all the facts you find to support your writing.
- Even though the facts are not copyrighted, the sentences used to express them are copyrighted. Especially if the sentence structure is original or unique (copyright protects original expression). You are free to include information from other literature in your article, but use your own words to express it. The trick, take the facts, then convey the facts in your own sentence. Each phrase can be different. Just adding a comma is not enough. Changing the grammar could be a solution.
Step 7. Pay attention to what you don't need to quote
Not everything in academic research needs to be cited. Readers can be tormented to read written works full of quotes. You don't need to quote the following points in papers and other writings:
- Logical observations, folk tales, legends, and historical events, such as the date of the Pearl Harbor attack.
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Your own experiences, views, ideas or creations.
However, if you are using experiences, views, creations, or ideas that you have previously submitted or published academically, you must first ask your supervisor's permission to reuse the materials. Once you get permission, you can include a self-quote
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Your own videos, presentations, music or media creations.
However, if you use videos, presentations, music, or other media that you have created and created yourself in previously submitted or published assignments, you must first ask your supervisor's permission to reuse these materials. Once you get permission, you can include a self-quote
- The scientific evidence you collect after you run tests, surveys, and so on.
Tips
- One trick to get the message across in your own sentences: Use the Google Translate service to translate an article into another language. For example, from Indonesian to German. Then retranslate the translated text, this time into another language. For example, from German to Portuguese. Then retranslate the translated text into Indonesian. You will encounter text in messy Indonesian, which is very difficult to understand. Use your knowledge around the topic, which you have previously gained by reading and researching. Now you can fix that messy Indonesian text and have an article with your voice on it.
- On the internet there are services or applications that can scan written works to detect plagiarism content. If you are worried, you can consider the service or application.
- If you have to copy, don't copy all pages or paragraphs! Write everything in your own sentences, and quote the parts you copied. Then, mention your sources in the bibliography using the correct format. EasyBib.com can help you.
- If you are honest in writing your paper or essay, the chances of plagiarism are very slim. On the other hand, if you are well aware that you are copying someone else's work, you may be caught later.
- Are you worried that your writing will look like someone else's? Maybe because it is.
