Describe three steps that a student might take to avoid plagiarism in his or her paper. Why is giving yourself enough time the most important principle in writing?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: A research paper involves too many steps to cram even the writing into the stereotypical “night before it’s due.” Even if the data are all collected, and the analyses complete, a student—or a professional—needs time to think about the findings and consider implications and so on. If a student tries to read the articles and write the introduction quickly, especially if the student reads the article and writes at the same time, plagiarism is very likely. Besides giving one’s self enough time, there are other steps to take when writing to avoid plagiarism. One of these is to take careful notes that indicate what material is made up of a direct quotation and which is made up of notes in your own words. It is also important to keep track of all the needed information about a source so you can double-check yourself to make sure you have not plagiarized by accident. Another step is to make sure you have read the material and really absorbed it. If you can tell someone about the material without looking at it, then you can write about it without using the author’s exact words. Further, writers need to give credit for ideas and not just words. A lot of students think that they can use someone else’s ideas without citing, as long as they do not use their exact words, but that is not true. Also, students often come up with ideas based on reading several sources and see the idea as original—not needing a citation—when they really have borrowed the basis for the idea. Basically, when in doubt, use your own words, and cite your source.