One of the most difficult challenges that students face today is plagiarism. No matter how hard they try to steer clear, this ethical culprit comes in the way. It makes completing homework assignments a burden they always want to shed off.
When you search for the right strategies to avoid plagiarism, you will likely see tons of results from SERPs. However, not all of them are trustworthy. In my previous article, I compared two of the most used plagiarism checker tools. I also explained how AI paraphrases are helping teachers and students to prepare notes.
I have done another research and found these 6 strategies I have discussed below pretty effective in coping with copy issues. So, without much ado, let’s check them out!
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Tips to Avoid Plagiarism in Assignments
Avoiding plagiarism becomes easy when you follow the right approaches. These tactics come in handy and help you achieve unique results for all your assignments.
- Use an Online Plagiarism Remover Tool
Using plagiarism remover is a great way to eradicate plagiarism from your papers. The reason I am mentioning this technique at the top is because this is the simplest solution you can use to wipe out worries.
All you have to do is visit the online plagiarism remover, upload or paste your text on the left box, and click the ‘Remove Plagiarism’ button.
By doing so, you will see a new version of text that is free from plagiarism. This refreshed text will appear on the box on the right side. This is the easiest solution you can use to get rid of plagiarism before you submit assignments to your professor at college or university.
2. Rewrite Ideas in Your Own Words
The next thing you can do is rewrite the text in your own words. This is possible for people who have enough knowledge and time to convert an existing textual material into a rewritten version.
If you have a knack for paraphrasing, this is something you can do with great interest and efficiency. However, for someone who does not know about grammar and things related to writing style this might be an intimidating thing.
The basic idea here is not to copy material directly from a given source. Instead, use your own words to express concepts so that you do not copy anything word-for-word.
Another advantage of doing so is that it fosters a sense of creativity and helps you in becoming a polished academic writer. That means you won’t have to rely on others to complete your assignments in the future.
3. Cite Your Sources
One of the biggest mistakes most students make while writing assignments is not to cite sources appropriately. This is a crazy thing that can put your credibility at stake.
Learn how to cite sources according to academic standards followed in your region. You should use in-text citations or full references at the end of your paper.
Things that should need reference or citation may include paraphrases, theories, direct quotes, facts, and unique phrases.
When you cite a source properly, you give credit to the original writer and push your readers to go and find further details themselves.
Different citation styles are followed in different universities and colleges across the globe. Learn what kind of citations are advised by your educational institution and make all your references in line with that standard.
4. Don’t Use Much Info from Original Source
Copying word-for-word is problematic and you are not supposed to do this if you don’t want to see plagiarism in your work.
Instead of copying most of the information from the original source, try using your own intellect. Trust me, this is not something you can’t do. It’s simply restating things with a little flair.
Add a personal touch, and feel free to include personal experiences where relevant. This will make the new version more customized, and it will be less likely to be recognized as copied content.
This might take a few practice sessions, but once you get the hang of this, producing unique content will become a piece of cake for you.
5. Run Through a Plagiarism-Checker
It is indispensable for a student to check his assignment for plagiarism using a credible plagiarism-checking tool available on the internet. Many web-based tools claim to be the best copy checkers, however, only a few of them are worthy of your trust.
CopyScape.com Premium and Turnitin.com are among the top plagiarism-checking tools that you can trust for academic integrity. Always get into the habit of running your work through these online platforms.
If they show some of your work as copied, go ahead and rewrite that specific part. Keep doing that until you see the assignment as 100% unique.
6. Ask for Feedback
Sometimes you can’t catch areas where you are lacking originality and this happens to many. To get this sorted, ask one of your friends, siblings, or tutors to proofread your work.
They might help identify areas of unintentional plagiarism that you couldn’t grab even after proofreading your work more than a couple of times.
Don’t take their positive criticism personally and stay open to making changes where they identify. This will do nothing but enhance your writing and save you from embarrassment in front of the professor.
Conclusion
Avoiding plagiarism is critical for the academic success of every student. The strategies discussed above can help you steer clear of copy-related issues.
Use an online plagiarism remover tool if you are not a wordsmith and don’t know how to tackle this problem manually. The tool will take your content and instantly convert it into unique text with just one click.
Alternatively, try rewriting the information on your own if you can put it in the right words without changing the context.
This could be a heavy lifting for those with a lack of vocabulary and grammatical accuracy. If you don’t feel right doing the job alone, try relying on the online plagiarism remover tool.
Moreover, focus on using standardized practice to cite sources, don’t use much information from the original source, and lastly, check your assignment using a reliable plagiarism-checking tool like CopyScape and Turnitin.
