Why one should compare documents?
Plagiarism is defined as “representation of another author’s language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one’s own original work.” It is a breach of ethics and a severely punishable offense.
Plagiarism is a Moral Offense
While intentional plagiarism often has grave consequences, sometimes, one can accidentally plagiarize too. Especially with numerous articles being uploaded on the internet on the same topic, it is easy to paraphrase without realizing it and may have serious consequences.
The main kinds of plagiarism are:
- Paraphrasing: Altering someone else’s work by a few words or resembling framework without due credit
- Direct plagiarism: Directly copying sentences or phrases without due acknowledgment
- Self-plagiarism or Auto-plagiarism: Submitting someone’s own previously published work without necessary attributions
- Inaccurate authorship: It is eitherwriting an article without due credit or getting acknowledged without authorship
- Mosaic plagiarism: Interlacing someone else’s work into one’s own without permission. These are hard to detect.
Whatever the reason, plagiarism is a severe offense. People sometimes even lose jobs or receive penalties in college for plagiarism. So, does one have to compare documents all the time to avoid plagiarism? Well, it’s not that scary.
Here are some ways in which one can avoid plagiarism:
- One should use quotations when citing someone’s work and also mention sources
- It is better to understand the context and write in one’s own words instead of copying an article
- It is better to run document files through a plagiarism checker. There are different toolsfor checking plagiarism supported by various programs like Microsoft Word, Google docs, and other platforms.
- It is always useful to manage references and include them after completing the whole article.
So, practice these methods, and avoid plagiarism in a written text.