6 Tips for Plagiarism Checking and Why It Matters

Someone may say that it is not a big deal to write a paper, but the chances are high that such a person has neither done the research nor spent many hours collecting info, nor written a masterpiece. This activity involves a lot of work since a writer should investigate an issue, build a well-tailored structure, and follow all the guidelines. Besides, one should remember that their work must be free from plagiarism. You cannot just “borrow” one interesting thought or argument here and there. 

The original work should have nothing to do with your writing. Otherwise, someone may blame you for ordinary stealing. Have you ever heard about intellectual property protection? This is the case. Thus, if you want to save your time, it is better to study an essay shark review than copy-paste parts of someone’s work. Yes, a task may seem overwhelming at first glance, but you can handle it if you make an effort and learn useful tips on how to avoid plagiarism in your papers.

Why is plagiarism checking important?

Even though we have already mentioned this concept, let’s examine this question more accurately. What is plagiarism? Imagine a situation: you have got an assignment to write an essay on some specific topic. You go online and search for material on the theme. When you run into some statements or ready-made work, you decide not to waste your time writing and present this work found as your own. Thus, a stranger spent hours or even weeks writing this paper while you have decided to cheat and simplify your life. Besides, the chances are high that you expect to get a good reward, even though you haven’t done anything besides copy-pasting. It is considered dishonest, at least. However, in fact, it is a crime. You break down ethical standards and just steal the property of another person. So, it is not surprising that it may result in various penalties and negative consequences for your further education and career.

And modern technologies allow you to check your papers just in a few seconds to define how many efforts you have spent on creating this work. Your professors need to assess your comprehension of the material, but when you provide them with someone else’s work, how can they grade you? Thus, it is crucial to create unique papers and indicate authors if you cite someone’s thoughts. That’s why if you don’t have time to work on your essays, allocate a few minutes to read paper help reviews and find a way out.

The same goes for a copywriter and posting articles on the web. For instance, Google is designed in such a way that it tries to provide users with relevant and reliable info. Thus, the search engine doesn’t show identical content in its search results. And when there are ten similar articles, it chooses the best version and brings it to the user. So, if your content leaves much to be desired in terms of plagiarism, it will hardly appear on a search engine results page.  

How to avoid plagiarism?

When you understand why it is so important to create unique content and double-check all your papers not to find yourself in trouble, it is worth considering tips on avoiding plagiarism. Indeed, today there is pretty powerful online checking software that can define whether you have used someone’s work or not. So, you should do your best to create one-of-a-king content at once. What tips and tricks can help you meet this challenge?

1. Paraphrase sentences and add references

If you have an original source in front of your eyes, you can just cite it. However, if you cannot find it anywhere, you can try to paraphrase the statement and add something from yourself. You should bring to the table the main idea in your own words. You should change the whole sentence and not just its one part. Otherwise, the special software will define the original source. Make it a rule not to find yourself blushing in front of your teacher. And you should bear in mind one key thing. When you rewrite someone’s statement and present it as your own, you still break the law. So, you should anyway mention the original author at the beginning of the sentence and then present your view of their ideas. Your ready-made paper should contain a reference list involving all cited material. This list has a certain format you should adhere to. So, it is worth reviewing the guideline on creating a reference list since you can get a lower grade if something is wrong with it.

2. Quote sources

When you make a quote, you should be sure that it is written precisely as in the original source and with the usage of quotation marks. And as it has already been mentioned, you will need a reference list to identify the author. You can do that with the help of adding the citation in brackets after the quote you have used. And don’t forget that it is bad manners to make a quote consisting of more than 45 words. Your papers shouldn’t consist of various quotes only since such an approach challenges your knowledge and skills level.

3. Cite materials

Citing material will help you avoid accusations of plagiarism since you provide all the required info about the primary work and its creator. Here you will also need to follow the required guidelines. Bear in mind that they can differ from institution to institution, so it is better to check whether your guide is relevant. And if you decide to repeat your smart statement from the previous work, you should cite it as well since there is such a concept as self-plagiarism that you should avoid too.

4. Get interested in your topic

When you are not interested in the topic, your brain offers you different solutions to the issue. That’s why many students look for easy ways and resort to plagiarism in their papers. They just want to do decent research and waste time searching for the primary sources. At such a moment, they are tempted to hang out with friends, surf the net, or even call their grannies. Indeed, the lack of interest makes them do everything except for writing and results in a high plagiarism percentage. Thus, you should find at least a small trifle you will be interested in. It will help you create more quality work and do decent research.

5. Use a plagiarism checker

Even though it is the most obvious and effective way to create a unique work that cannot be accused of plagiarism, many people turn a blind eye to it. If you open a browser and type “online plagiarism checker,” you will come across various programs that may come in handy. While you will have to pay for some of them, others can be used free of charge if you check a limited number of texts. So, you can decide what option will be enough for you.

6. Cite online resources too

Many people lose sight of the fact that online resources don’t differ much from hard copies when it comes to citing all resources they have used. Online resources provide even more specific citation demands. Thus, for example, you should indicate the date when you took the info since they constantly update online materials, so the chosen phrase can be removed or changed. Besides, you should cite only primary resources, so you should make sure you have chosen the right website. One more important moment is that all the chosen resources must be trustworthy and with well-checked info. The author should have a good reputation in the chosen area, and their info should be up to date. If your sources turn out to be irrelevant, you will hardly get high grades.