LEO Topic Assignment: Plagiarism

I’m writing a research paper and want to avoid plagiarism. Some students who are not feel very comfortable to academic writing which usually have problem called plagiarism. As an international student, I don’t know how to quote the resources that I found on the internet or magazines when I first study in American university which cause the plagiarism. It is necessary to put more attention on plagiarism.

First, I we start at a definition:

Plagiarize \'pla-je-,riz also j - -\ vb -rized; -riz·ing vt [plagiary] : to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (a created production) without crediting the source vi: to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source - pla·gia·riz·er n

FROM: Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary 9th ed, (Springfield, Ma: Merriam 1981, p. 870).

In my words, it is stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

“Most students know that passing off another individual's paper as their own is plagiarism. However, fewer students understand that accidentally including someone else's sentence in their writing without quotation marks and a reference is plagiarism, too.” That is exactly what usually happened on me.

Next, there are several ideas that can be used to solve this question.

1.                          This avoids any ambiguity about who wrote it. After all, you do not want someone to accuse you of plagiarism.

2.                          You need to learn how to write in your own style. You may be influenced by authors that you find clear and easy to understand, but your writing needs to be YOUR writing. Mimicking someone else is not a productive exercise. You just learn to cut and paste.

3.                          An instructor who is reading or grading your work is interested in YOUR understanding of an idea. I am not interested in your ability to copy explanations from the textbook. I know that the author of the book understands it, which is why I picked the textbook. I need to know if YOU understand it.

4.                          Understanding and learning is more than just replaying something you have heard. Writing is a valuable exercise that tests your ability to explain a topic. I often think I understand something, until I try to write it out. This is an important part of learning.

 

Finally, I want to mention that students always put writing at the end of deadline of assignments. How about bring research resources forward, and have enough time to do the writing part. Hopefully, this is useful for your future.