When you submit academic content for evaluation or publishing, it needs to be an original representation of your thoughts and efforts. This does not mean that you cannot be inspired by other’s research, it means that you need to provide credit where it is due. When you present someone else’s thoughts and ideas as your own and do not acknowledge their contribution, it is known as plagiarism. While you might not intentionally plagiarise someone’s work, it is not only an ethical issue but also a serious breach of institutional guidelines.
What will my school/college/university do if they detect plagiarism in my work?
The punishments for this offence usually vary, but they can include
- Warnings
- Fines
- Being debarred from an institution
- Removal from a PhD program and prevention from joining any other similar courses
The severity of the punishment is linked to the degree of plagiarism in the submitted work. There are different types of plagiarised content, ranging from using the exact same content as the source to falsifying the references that are included in a project.
How will my school/college/university know if I have plagiarised content?
Most institutions take plagiarism very seriously and have dedicated software for detecting it. Universities use different options such as Turnitin or Urkund to find copied material. Plagiarism checking software generates a ‘similarity score’, which gives the user a rough idea of how much of the content has been copied from other sources. A Similarity Index up to 20% is generally considered acceptable for submission.
Before you submit your hard work to an online free plagiarism checking software read this!
It might be tempting to submit your essay or thesis to an online tool, especially one that’s free of charge, but there’s a hidden cost that not many people talk about. Submitting your essay to these sites means that it is included in their database and future essays will be cross-verified against it. So when your university submits your final copy of an essay or paper to check for plagiarism, the similarity score value will be extremely high and that can land you in a lot of trouble.
How do I remove plagiarism from my work?
- Start by ensuring that you cite all your sources appropriately, making sure that you include all the credible references that you have used.
- Paraphrase your content, re-writing flagged sections of your work so that they retain the original meaning but are not a carbon copy of someone else’s efforts.
Do you have more questions about plagiarism and paraphrasing? We offer extensive services and guidance related to these areas and should you require any assistance, please feel free to
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