Often times, you see situations ironical in their very nature. A few days ago, I came across a news on internet in which a student was found guilty of plagiarism. The irony is that this student was involved in this illegal activity while writing his law essay. How ironical that you are preaching about the consequences of committing actions prohibited within a society in your law essay and found guilty of plagiarism yourself.

Plagiarism is the theft of other people’s works, ideas and research and presenting it as your own. This is considered a serious academic offence. Most students are seen confused about the phenomenon and they ask everyone what exactly plagiarism is. They have a lot of questions about this immoral activity.

This is the exact reason why this article is written. Today, I am going to answer the questions that are often heard about plagiarism.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of stealing other people’s ideas, publications, language, expressions or thoughts and presenting them as your own. It is a widely discussed phenomenon in academia as it is considered a serious academic offence.

However, this is not the only way you can plagiarize in your work. You are guilty of plagiarizing as well if you forget to add quotation marks while presenting someone else’s words.

Similarly, if you fail to provide proper references to the works of others used by yourself in a written piece of paper, the very act is also considered as plagiarism.

And finally, the subtlest form of plagiarism is paraphrasing others’ works by only changing a few words so that it looks identical to the original work. Plagiarism can either be intentional or unintentional, but in both cases it has consequences.

What happens when I Plagiarize Unintentionally?

Unintentional plagiarism is when you fail to cite the original source properly. You are always required to properly refer the works to their authors to avoid plagiarism. However if you fail to do so properly, for example you did not give the in-text reference but included it in the Work Cited list, it can be dealt with a little leniency by your organization.

Especially if you are a first year student in your university, the professor might be forgiving and you may get away with it. But in a PhD dissertation, even an unintentional plagiarism can lead to the failure of course.

Similarly, an unintentional plagiarism in a paper written for publication purposes is considered an offence. And you may face severe consequences for making this mistake.

How will my Professor know if I intentionally plagiarize?

Some students think that they are smart enough to deceive their teachers without getting caught. However, this assumption is often wrong as your professors have a vast experience. You can easily get caught if you try to plagiarize intentionally.

First of all, if you are at the early level of your academics, let us suppose, a first year student, your writing style is going to be distinctive from the source you are going to copy from. An experienced professor can instantly find the difference between a paper written by a first year student and a scholar.

Secondly, professors read a lot of papers in their lives. Remember that they have read most of the works published till today. So when you copy paste someone else’s work, there is a fair chance that they will know it readily.

And finally, we are living in the age of science and technology. There are a number of software and websites that can easily detect plagiarizing. And your professor might use any one of them to check whether you have written it by yourself or not.

How can I actually avoid Plagiarism?

If you want your paper or essay to be completely plagiarism free, always make sure that you have cited all the sources you used for research. Make a list of all the books, websites, articles etc. and cite them according to the regulations followed in your institute.

However, sometimes you are confused about something if it is a common knowledge or not. In this case, you should cite the source because it is better that you cite than plagiarize.

Can I be thrown into Prison for Plagiarizing?

Just like any other theft, academic theft is also a crime for sure. Stealing other’s intellectual property is not different from stealing a concrete property. It is an offence no less than any other act that deserves punishment.

However, it you are caught plagiarizing in class, you might fail the course, thrown out of the class or get expelled from the college. But you will not be thrown into jail for this.

Outside of classroom, plagiarizing in papers, meant to be published publicly, can have more serious consequences. You can be sued into a federal court by the original publisher or author for violating the copyright acts. Or it could mean the loss of your job and your career will be jeopardize with a bad reputation.

Whether you are a student or a professional writer, working with the best essay writer service and assisting others complete their assignments, reading and comprehending the text in front of you is essential. A study, conducted among the best essay writer service providers, shows that most students often find themselves in the midst of nowhere when they read for a long time. They don’t have the slightest of idea what the author has said in last few paragraphs.

Fortunately, the problem can be overcome by using various techniques. And one of these effective techniques in annotation.

What is Annotation?

An annotation is a note, explanation or comment about some particular part of the text. This note enables you to question, understand or explain the key ideas presented in that portion of the text. Annotations are generally given in the margins of the text book.

Unlike highlighting, annotating is a more active form of reading. While highlighting, you just point out the important phrases, things you need to understand or questions that need to be answered. This does not engage you much with the reading process.

But when you annotate a text while reading it, you are able to explain various ideas, pose questions and your first response to the text and engage yourself in the activity better.

How to Annotate?

This section will introduce you to the strategies and methods you may use to annotate effectively. We are going to look at the activity step by step.

Survey the Article:

When you come across the article/book, look at its credibility first. Research about the author and its year of publication to get the context. Note the title and try to make sense of what the topic is and what is the author going to argue about.

Look at the headings and subheadings and see what they offer to understand. Highlight the bold or italicized phrases or words and look for an abstract or methodology, if provided.

Skim:

Secondly, skim through the article and see what it has to offer you. Read the introduction and try to identify the thesis statement. Comprehending the main theme helps you remain focused.

After you are done with the introduction, skim through the body paragraphs and look at the main ideas by concentrating on the first few lines of each paragraph.

Read:

Finally, go through the whole article paying attention on the small details. You have already got a good idea of the main theme and the argument of the article. Highlight the main themes, write important questions in the margin and circle the words or definitions you don’t recognize. Mark the transition points and the change of tone as well.

Make it Easy for yourself:

Annotation is an activity that helps you fathom the complex ideas you could not comprehend otherwise. Therefore, it’s imperative that you make it easy enough to be understood when you go through the text next time.

A few strategies can help you in this regard:

If you use highlighters to mark the important points in the text, always use different colors for different kinds of reactions to the text. For example all the definitions can be highlighted with green while all the disagreement or confusions can be given the yellow color.
Add a key to your article explaining what kind of color is used to indicate a particular kind of reaction or information.
Do not underline or highlight everything. Use various shapes including circle, triangle or even question mark to indicate different kinds of information. Add this in your key too.
Use each margin for one purpose only. Questions in the left, statement/reactions in the right, definitions in the top and summary in the bottom margin, for instance.

Why Annotation is Helpful?

It keeps you awake:

Have you ever noticed that you have been reading a book or article but suddenly you realize that you don’t know what these last few paragraphs were about? It happens often. Annotation keeps you awake and alert because you have a pencil and a highlighter in your hand to jot down your instant reactions on what the author has said.

Active reading:

A book on light fiction or an ordinary topic might not need a lot of attention. However, when you are reading works of great literature, they need more concentration. You need to read between the lines. Annotation helps you read a book actively and engages you with the text for better understanding.

A conversation between reader and author:

Reading a great book by a reputed author doesn’t mean you have to be a passive receptacle and accept everything. Annotation enables you to converse with the author by stating your own responses. You may disagree, just the way you do when having a conversation with your teacher in class. This creates an environment that helps you concentrate more and keeps you active. Because now you are not reading something, rather you are conversing.

Category: Writing Tips

Q&A: What You Should Know About Avoiding Plagiarizing