Plagiarism is a widespread problemnot only among students but also among academics, professional writers, and businesses.
Paraphrasing services, especially when you can find a high-quality paraphrasing service, are a quick and easy way to avoid plagiarism, but you may lack the budget to use these types of services.
Therefore, if you are interested in knowing about what plagiarism is, what its main types are, and how it can be avoided in academic writing, business writing, and other types of written work, then this article will answer all of these questions.
Definition of plagiarism
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, plagiarism refers to the following:
To steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own: to use another’s production without crediting the source.
This definition dispels the misconception that plagiarism only occurs when you steal the words of another author. In fact, plagiarism also refers to stealing the ideas of other authors.
Another important feature of this definition is its emphasis on the fact that plagiarism arises when “the source” is not properly credited.
This means that one of the most basic and direct ways to avoid plagiarism – in general – is to ensure that you cite the original author whenever you use their words or ideas.
Types of plagiarism
Every type of plagiarism involves stealing another person’s words or ideas and passing them off as your own. However, there are different types of plagiarism, with the most common ones being listed below:
- Direct plagiarism: Also known as copy-and-paste plagiarism, direct plagiarism happens when you use a paragraph written by another author without citing it.
- Self-plagiarism:Many authors are surprised to learn that you can plagiarise yourself. This happens when you reuse parts of your work (e.g., a research paper from last year) without citing it.
- Global plagiarism: Global plagiarism happens when you ask someone else to write an original work for you but pass off the work as your own (e.g., purchasing an essay from a friend).
- Mosaic plagiarism:This form of plagiarism happens when you take bits and pieces from various authors, creating a patchwork of their ideas in an entirely new text. Although the text is new, its words and ideas are not.
Avoiding plagiarism
Avoiding plagiarism is much simpler than it might seem.
First and foremost, it is always possible to recruit the services of an experienced professional in the form of proofreading services. These are specialised services that authors can use to guarantee there is no plagiarism in their documents.
If a paraphrasing service is not an option for you, you can follow the steps below to ensure that your risk of plagiarism is minimised:
- Use direct quotes or paraphrasing (preferably paraphrasing!) whenever you need to draw on another author’s words or ideas
- Ensure that you have credited the source by including an in-text citation and adding the corresponding entry in your reference list or bibliography
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