8 Reasons Students Should Not Plagiarize

1. Complete plagiarism

This is the type of plagiarism where students Submit someone’s work as their own. in this case, the student does not omit any part of the work or add any new idea.

2. Self-plagiarism

This is the type of plagiarism where students take passages from their previous work without proper citation. Most students feel that it is not necessary to cite the work because they own it.

3. Paraphrasing plagiarism

This is the type of plagiarism where students re-write someone’s work by making some word and grammatical changes without a proper citation. This is one of the most common forms of plagiarism committed by students.

4. Mosaic Plagiarism

This is the type of plagiarism where students incorporate various sources together in their work without appropriate citation.

This is the commonest form of plagiarism practiced by students, especially those writing research projects.

5. Direct Plagiarism

This is the type of plagiarism where students copy part of someone’s work and incorporate it into their work without citing the source.

6. Hired plagiarism

This type of plagiarism involves students paying someone to write an essay or research paper for them. This also includes buying essays, articles, and term papers from academic websites.

Henceforth, note that it’s plagiarism to engage someone else to write any part of the work you claim as your own.

7. Borrowed Plagiarism

This is the type of plagiarism where students borrow already written work from their friends who may have offered that course before them.

It is worthy to note that it is considered borrowed plagiarism when you use a complete or part of an article written by a friend for a previous course,

8. Outline Plagiarism

This is the type of plagiarism where students adopt someone else’s structure to present their ideas. It has to do with writing your essay in accordance with another person’s paper outline.

9. Collaboration Plagiarism

This type of plagiarism involves claiming ownership of collaborative work. A group of students may team to work on a research project and then one person claims the work as she/his.

How To Avoid Plagiarism

It is very necessary to avoid plagiarism before it overwhelms you. Plagiarism is very addictive and it’s always difficult to end it once started. However, below are ways you can avoid plagiarism.

1. Avoid Copying And Pasting

It is advisable to explain people’s ideas in your writing using references and their importance in your point of view rather than copying and claiming ownership.

However. avoid making use of the copy and paste options on your device because it encourages plagiarism.

2. Read Widely

Many students do not spend time reading different sources before writing their term papers or assignment, they just depend on one source which can limit their flow of ideas and make them plagiarise.

However, reading a variety of books will trigger a flow of ideas and enable you to develop unique ideas based on the books you read.

3. Be Unique In Your Writing

There is nothing wrong with having your writing style, and a unique way of answering questions.

However, try and be truthful in your writing because no matter how you try to twist it, someone’s idea will always stand out from your writing and your teacher might easily notice and discipline you.

4. Avoid procrastination

Procrastination is bad, it deprives you of good things. As a student, when you are given a term paper to write or a research work of any kind, it is advisable to set to work immediately.

Good research requires time and when you keep on procrastinating, you run out of time and the thought of plagiarism will set in.

Nobody writes well under pressure because your mind will not be thinking straight, so to avoid a late hour rush, do your research early so you can seek the needed help where necessary.

5. Ask Questions

As a student,  normalize asking questions especially if you do not understand your assignment. It is better to ask questions and get an understanding of what you are supposed to do rather than resorting to copying or rebranding someone else’s work and presenting it as yours.

6. Keep Record Of Sources Consulted

When you are writing a research paper or voluminous assignment, it is necessary to keep a record of all the sources you have consulted to write your papers regardless of whether you found the information in a book, article, or website.

You can have a separate page where you write down all the sources you consulted and the ideas you extracted.

However, you will need this information for your bibliographies or references, so keep a good record from the beginning so you do not forget anything.

7. Use A Plagiarism Checker

before you submit your work, endeavor to scan it through a plagiarism checker to ensure it is free from plagiarism. However, if some part of the work is plagiarized, try rewriting it before submitting it

Plagiarism Checkers For Students

Plagiarism checkers are writing tools you can use to check if your work contains plagiarized text. However, as a student, you can use the free version of the plagiarism tool, or go for the premium if you can purchase it.

To use a plagiarism tool, you can copy and paste your writing in a space provided on the plagiarism checker website.

Moreover, some plagiarism checker tools allow users to upload their writing as a word document or other file format for scanning.

However, below are the types of plagiarism checkers for students.

• plagiarised work.
• Dupli Checker
• Copyleaks
• PaperRater
• Plagiarisma
• Plagiarism Checker
• Plagium
• PlagScan
• PlagTracker
• Quetext
• Small SEO Tools – Plagiarism Checker
• Grammarly
• Paper Rater
• ProWritingAid
• Copyscape
• WhiteSmoke
• Plagiarism Detector
• Noplag
• Unicheck
• Turnitin

Reasons Students Should Not Plagiarize

There are many tangible reasons why students should not plagiarize, and below are the reasons students should not plagiarize.

1. It Limits Students’ Thinking Ability

When you plagiarize every time, you limit your ability to think. What stands out about educated people is their ability to think and create new ideas. As a student, if you cannot put your brain to use, then the essence of going to school is defeated.

2. It Damages Students’ Reputation In School

Literary, nobody respects or wants to be associated with thieves, and so when you plagiarize someone’s work, you commit academics theft which is punishable by law.

However, your lecturers will distrust you, and rather see you as an unintelligent person no matter your academic history or how you pleased them in the past.

It is very difficult to plagiarize for too long because your lecturers will definitely single you out so make sure you always acknowledge the owner of every work you use to avoid ruining your reputation and your relationship with your teachers and friends.

This is one of the reasons students should not plagiarize.

3. It hinders Learning

When you constantly plagiarize people’s work, you cheat yourself of valuable knowledge.

Carrying out research enables students to learn new things and expand their horizons, but when students boycott research to claim ownership of already written work, then the essence of the research which is to acquire new knowledge is defeated.

4. It Is Stealing

Plagiarism is stealing someone else’s creations or ideas and presenting them as yours. Stealing is a great offense anywhere in the world and thieves are always dealt with mercilessly.

Although plagiarism is not forcefully taking what belongs to someone else, it causes pain and trauma to the person whose work is plagiarized. This is one of the reasons students should not plagiarize.

It is not right to plagiarize, inasmuch you will not steal in the market or forcefully take someone’s belonging, then you shouldn’t commit academic theft, it is unethical.

5. It Destroys Writing Skill

Writing skill is one of the skills sought after in this modern era and if you do not possess it, you are relegated to the background.

Although some people are born writers others learn how to write in school through writing their term papers, articles, and other assignments.

However, if you consistently plagiarise people’s work, you will destroy your ability to think and write because your ability to write well is guaranteed by constantly creating original content. This is one of the reasons students should not plagiarize.