Reeves Library Research Guides: Avoiding Plagiarism: Avoiding Plagiarism

Preparation

Make sure you are ready to write your paper by organizing everything that you need before you actually begin to write. This is a fundamental part of the writing process. Think of everything that you may need to do to communicate your ideas effectively. TIME is essential here, so make certain that you do not procrastinate.

Know the Assignment

Have the assignment in writing to refer to when needed
What type of paper is supposed to be written (argument, opinion, study, etc.)
Talk to your professor if you find something is unclear
Pay attention in class when the assignment is being discussed
Take good notes
Understand what types of resources can be used

Know Your Topic

If a topic is assigned to you, decide how you would like to explain it to the reader
If you are at liberty to pick the topic, researching and writing about something that interests you can make the process easier.
You may need to get an okay from your professor on the topic.

Research

Research can be a stressful and time consuming part of the writing process. If you are struggling with your research, reach out to the librarians who are happy to help you get started! Here are some things to keep in mind about research:

Start Your Research Early
Can you find enough articles freely available through Reeves Library or will you have to order some articles? Some articles can take 3 or more days to obtain. If you need to request physical books through MOBIUS, this can also take a few days to arrive. It's best to give yourself ample time, since you might not know where your sources are going to be coming from.
Keep Track of Your Sources
Plan on a place to keep your articles and/or citations. Keep these as you find them and do not save only the URLs. Make sure you save permalinks and know what is needed for your citations! Keeping your articles in a digital place like Notability is a great idea! Also, It's always best to create your citations as you go, instead of waiting until the end of your paper to complete the work cited page.
Map Out Your Sources
A great tip when reading through various articles for a project to is keep track of the main ideas of each article. This can help you remember where you found bits of information, which will make the citation process much easier! Reading through multiple articles and taking bits and pieces from each out to explain your thesis is called Synthesizing, and it's a great way to effectively use your sources! Here is some more information on this topic, which offers a resource map and helpful tips!

Outline and Write

Organize your information and your thoughts before you begin to write. How do you want to introduce the reader to your topic? What is the most important information that you want to express in your writing?

Creating an outline can save time as well as help you to recall what you want to include in your paper
A rough draft may be required, but if it isn't, it may still be helpful.
Writing the outline and rough draft the day before you review and rewrite your paper can give you time to step away from the information that you already have written down and then come back to it and add, subtract or reword parts of your paper.
Don't wait until the day/night before the paper is due to begin writing. This is when a lot of mistakes are made. You may begin to rush through the process and forget to use quotations, forget a citation, include something you thought you read in a resource and other common errors that lead to plagiarism.
Work in times to take breaks and
AGAIN it is essential to allow enough time to prepare and write your paper.

Here we have an example of what an essay outline can look like:

Quotations

Quotations are a big part of successfully avoiding plagiarism. It's important to cite if you are copying text, and treating it as a quotation, and not just a simple paraphrase. However, knowing how to best use quotes will assist you with turning in quality assignments, and successfully avoiding accidental plagiarism.

A few helpful tips can be found below, but remember to use quotes sparingly! There are some fields, science and social science, were quoting is not the norm in academic papers, and is done very little. Then, there are some, like the humanities, where it is expected in moderation.

It's important to make sure your quotes are bringing meaningful points to your paper, and are integrated successfully.

Here are some helpful links to learning more about quotations:

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is expressing someone else's thoughts in your own words. This does NOT mean to merely change out words, shorten phrases, or rearranging a sentence or paragraph, you must rephrase the information differently and clearly. And remember, you must still give the author credit for the idea/information.

In the example below, sections have been altered and words substituted to make the section sound different, but these minor changes simply amount to a slight alteration of the original source. This is an example plagiarism and poor paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing should summarize or explain the ideas presented in the original source. Do not simply re-arrange and replace words to make a variation of the original idea.

Examples of Appropriate and Inappropriate Paraphrasing:

Original referenced text

The shifting fortunes of war had a terrible impact, and not just on those who were killed or maimed in the fighting. When the republican General Custine's forces took the city of Mainz in the Rhineland in October 1792, local patriots created a Society of Friends of Liberty and Equality with five hundred members, adapted their own version of the 'Marseillaise', the 'Bürgerlied der Mainzer', and planted a liberty tree.
Text used with permission, from p. 182 of: McPhee, P. (2016). Liberty or death: The French revolution. Yale University Press.

Quality Paraphrasing

A group of patriots from the captured city of Mainz formed their own society honoring the ideals of the Revolution, expressing these ideals by planting a liberty tree and creating a local variation of the 'Marseillaise' (McPhee, 2016).

Plagiarism (Poorly Paraphrased)

When the republican forces took Mainz in 1792, a group of patriots formed a society with five hundred people. They wrote their own version of the 'Marseillaise', and planted a liberty tree.

Cite

Citations are necessary when both quoting directly and paraphrasing. However, your paper can still be considered plagiarized, even if you have cited your sources. You need to be able to mix your citations in correctly, and also make sure you are providing enough of your own original thoughts and writing.

Below are some resources to assist with citations, and you can use the Citation Guide featured on this page. The Writing Center can also assist you with citations, so if you are struggling, make an appointment to chat with a writing tutor.

https://owl.purdue.edu/

https://apastyle.apa.org/

https://style.mla.org/

Ask for Assistance

Know your strengths and limitations when it comes to writing.

Ask your professor, the Writing Center or a fellow student to look over your work, but do NOT expect them to write your paper (even parts of it) for you (that is considered plagiarism!).

Ask a librarian for assistance in research. Often finding quality research can help start you off on the right foot. If you have easily accessible articles to cite, you are less likely to be scrambling the night before and tempted to forge a citation!