Common Types of Plagiarism and How to Avoid It

How many times have you attempted online research just to end up copying someone else’s ideas? A lot, right?

Well, we are not fortune tellers. But we do know that this is the most typical method for writing articles, assignments, blog posts, theses, research papers, and other types of textual content. The main question is, why do individuals continue to fall victim to plagiarism while knowing the severity of this issue? The answer is simple—less knowledge about plagiarism. So, if you also face the issue of plagiarism frequently, this is the place for you.

Here, we’ll first educate you about the most common types of plagiarism. By understanding them, you will discover the many sources of plagiarism. And eventually, you’ll be able to avoid this form of academic misconduct more successfully. So, let’s get started without any further delay.

6 Most Common Types of Plagiarism to Avoid

Before delving into the different types, let’s start off by defining the concept of plagiarism. So, to put it in simple terms, when you borrow someone else’s wording and present that work as your own, you commit the sin of plagiarism or content duplication. This sentence captures the most fundamental aspect of plagiarism. Therefore, people assume that they can fully grasp the concept of content duplication by simply comprehending this single statement. But this assumption is incorrect.

Plagiarism is much more than merely passing off another person’s work as your own. So, in order to grasp this concept fully, you must first understand its different types. Here is a list of the most common kinds of plagiarism:

Direct Plagiarism

The truest form of content duplication is direct plagiarism. This type refers to deliberately copying someone else’s words and using them in your own work without any quotation or attribution.

Self-Plagiarism

The idea of self-plagiarism resembles a loop. This kind of content duplication happens when people duplicate some chunks of text from their earlier work without giving sufficient credit.

Paraphrasing Plagiarism

Paraphrasing is a process of reusing existing information using unique wording while keeping the original intent unchanged. However, when individuals do not cite the source of original information, they fall prey to paraphrasing plagiarism. 

Mosaic Plagiarism or Patch Writing

The mosaic form of plagiarism or patchwriting is equivalent to the concept of incorrectly quoting or paraphrasing the information. So, this type of content duplication happens when people borrow material from a source without using quotation marks or rewrite another person’s concept by simply substituting synonyms.

Source-Based Plagiarism

Citations surely help to establish the credibility of your work. However, when you use bogus references only to establish a reputation, you fall victim to source-based plagiarism.

Accidental Plagiarism

The entire concept of accidental plagiarism centers upon the phrase: ‘not intended.’ So, when individuals unintentionally paraphrase the information incorrectly, neglect to acknowledge their sources or use double quotes wrongly, they wind up accidentally plagiarizing their material.

How to Detect Plagiarism?

By now, you may have a thorough understanding of plagiarism and its different forms. So, let’s move to our next goal—avoidance. The avoidance of plagiarism depends on its detection. So, in order to avoid the possibility of plagiarism, you will have to identify it first.

If you have a firm knowledge of what plagiarism is and the many forms of it, you can simply determine whether you are plagiarizing or not. However, this approach has a limited scope. Therefore, you should attempt to use a state-of-the-art best plagiarism checker tool on your work in addition to this tactic.

A plagiarism detector is an automated tool that uses algorithms and databases to determine the originality status of a piece of text. This type of software compares the provided content against its database and highlights all the matching instances. The current versions of such utilities use deep search and various other advanced techniques to operate precisely. So, pick a modern-technology-based variant of these tools because the more sophisticated a plagiarism-checking software will be, the more efficiently it will be able to function.

Universal Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism of Any Kind

Once you’ve found all the underlying traces of plagiarism in your work, you can proceed further to remove it. So, use the following universal tips to save your work from any type of plagiarism:

Start Early

One of the main causes of plagiarism is the lack of research. But despite acknowledging the importance of research, people overlook it because they start working right before the deadline. They believe that adopting this strategy makes them more productive. But in actuality, it’s having the opposite effect.

Due to the fear of looming deadlines, people tend not to devote as much time as they should to the research phase. This practice often leads to plagiarism. Therefore, starting working early is the best approach here. Doing so will allow you to perform extensive research on your topic.

Use Your Own Point of View

The reason why humans are the best creation is that each person has a unique way of approaching a subject. Opinion differences are what set humans apart from other species. Therefore, expressing your point of view is still another excellent strategy to prevent plagiarism of any kind.

When you utilize your own point of view to describe a topic, it will definitely differ from others. So, avoid looking at existing sources while writing content. This will reduce the possibility of unintended plagiarism. And eventually, there won’t be any more duplicate content in your work.

Employ Paraphrasing

Sometimes, it becomes essential to use material from existing sources. So, in such situations, you can rely on paraphrasing the information.

The idea of paraphrasing is to describe an existing piece of content in your own words without modifying the actual meaning. While this strategy sounds simple, it’s not. It requires a great deal of time and effort. However, you can automate this step with the help of an AI-powered paraphrase tool. With the help of such a utility, you can revamp any piece of text instantly and accurately. So, if you don’t have the time or appropriate skills, you can take assistance from AI-driven paraphrasing tools.

Leverage Double Quotes

Paraphrasing the information is suitable for including chunks of text from existing sources. But if you want to include a short piece of text without rewording, you can use quoting.

Quoting the information involves the use of double quotes to enclose an existing text without modification. So, you can use this strategy to add important definitions or famous sayings without falling victim to plagiarism.

Add Citation

Successful implementation of paraphrasing or quoting can only eliminate the threat of plagiarism if they contain a reference to the original source. So, once you have paraphrased or quoted some information, it is essential to properly add citations. By including the in-text citation along with its complete form in a separate reference list, you can prevent your work from plagiarism.

Final Verdict — Key Takeaways

To sum up, plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct that occurs when you use someone else’s material without their consent. Committing this academic offense can result in various severe consequences. So, everybody tries their best way to eliminate this threat. But not everybody succeeds in accomplishing this because there are various types of plagiarism. So, in order to become familiar with them and learn the right way to avoid plagiarism, read the discussion above.