Types Of Plagiarism And How To Avoid It

Studenthelpers is all about preparing a student for professional life and polishing their critical thinking to make them better problem solvers in their field. This is why countless assignments are given to students measuring the aspects mentioned above during a semester. However, plagiarism is like a capital offense for academics, and many top universities punish their students for committing them. Plagiarism, in simple terms, is copying someone else’s ideas and writings and presenting them as your own. For a better explanation, look at the following types of the same and how to avoid it.

1. Global Plagiarism

When all the content is presented as your own without any changes, it’s called global plagiarism. This is one of the worst kinds of plagiarism students can do, resulting in a suspension from the college or freezing of their semester. Similarly, if someone else writes your paper and you claim it to be yours, it will also be considered global plagiarism. If you want to remove it, just write everything from scratch and don’t copy anything. Remember, your original work, no matter if it’s weak, has far more worth than a copied one Studenthelpers

2. Verbal Plagiarism

As the name suggests, copying someone else’s words in your paper falls under this type. If you have altered the words slightly but kept the keywords, it will fall under verbal or verbatim plagiarism. Now adding other experts and author’s quotes in your academic work is important to enhance the authenticity and quality of your work, but passing them as your own words is a foolish mistake. The best way to avoid such a mistake is to put the statement in quotations and cite the source against it. Remember, you have to be up to date with all the changes in major referencing and citation styles.

3. Paraphrasing Without Citing

Paraphrasing or rephrasing is the most common type, and nearly all students do it. This is simply a retelling of original source material in your own words without compromising the meaning or context of the original content. However, the conflict arises when you don’t cite the original source that is rephrased. Even if you translate the original text in your native language and don’t cite the original source, it will be considered paraphrasing plagiarism. Therefore when you paraphrase, don’t forget to reference the original writer.

4. Mosaic Plagiarism

Patchwork or mosaic plagiarism combines different sections of various studies related to the same topic and passes them as your work. You can rephrase it, edit some sections or keep the same structure as the original; it will still be classified as mosaic plagiarism. Consequently, this type of plagiarism is hard to detect and requires premium software or an expert on the topic to catch it. Therefore, the best way to avoid it is to reference the original work. Since you mention the original source and do not own it, plagiarism will not be considered.

Plagiarism is an academic offense and can hamper your ability to get excellent grades, eventually affecting your final scoring. Therefore, don’t attempt it and always write original content.