How to Avoid Plagiarism in Academic Writing

<h2>What&nbsp;Counts&nbsp;as&nbsp;Plagiarism?</h2><p>Plagiarism&nbsp;is&nbsp;broader&nbsp;than&nbsp;copy-pasting.&nbsp;It&nbsp;includes&nbsp;paraphrasing&nbsp;without&nbsp;attribution,&nbsp;submitting&nbsp;your&nbsp;own&nbsp;previous&nbsp;work&nbsp;without&nbsp;permission&nbsp;(self-plagiarism),&nbsp;and&nbsp;failing&nbsp;to&nbsp;put&nbsp;quotation&nbsp;marks&nbsp;around&nbsp;direct&nbsp;quotes.</p><h2>Cite&nbsp;Everything&nbsp;You&nbsp;Did&nbsp;Not&nbsp;Originate</h2><p>If&nbsp;a&nbsp;fact,&nbsp;idea,&nbsp;or&nbsp;argument&nbsp;came&nbsp;from&nbsp;a&nbsp;source&nbsp;—&nbsp;cite&nbsp;it.&nbsp;Even&nbsp;if&nbsp;you&nbsp;paraphrase&nbsp;heavily,&nbsp;the&nbsp;original&nbsp;idea&nbsp;belongs&nbsp;to&nbsp;someone&nbsp;else&nbsp;and&nbsp;must&nbsp;be&nbsp;acknowledged.</p><h2>Use&nbsp;a&nbsp;Plagiarism&nbsp;Checker&nbsp;Before&nbsp;Submitting</h2><p>Tools&nbsp;like&nbsp;Turnitin,&nbsp;Grammarly,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Copyscape&nbsp;flag&nbsp;unattributed&nbsp;matches&nbsp;before&nbsp;your&nbsp;professor&nbsp;does.&nbsp;Run&nbsp;your&nbsp;paper&nbsp;through&nbsp;one&nbsp;of&nbsp;these&nbsp;tools&nbsp;at&nbsp;least&nbsp;24&nbsp;hours&nbsp;before&nbsp;submission&nbsp;so&nbsp;you&nbsp;have&nbsp;time&nbsp;to&nbsp;fix&nbsp;any&nbsp;issues.</p><h2>Understand&nbsp;Proper&nbsp;Paraphrasing</h2><p>Changing&nbsp;a&nbsp;few&nbsp;words&nbsp;in&nbsp;a&nbsp;sentence&nbsp;is&nbsp;not&nbsp;paraphrasing&nbsp;—&nbsp;it&nbsp;is&nbsp;still&nbsp;plagiarism.&nbsp;True&nbsp;paraphrasing&nbsp;means&nbsp;understanding&nbsp;the&nbsp;idea&nbsp;and&nbsp;restating&nbsp;it&nbsp;entirely&nbsp;in&nbsp;your&nbsp;own&nbsp;words&nbsp;and&nbsp;sentence&nbsp;structure,&nbsp;then&nbsp;citing&nbsp;the&nbsp;original&nbsp;source.</p><h2>Keep&nbsp;a&nbsp;Source&nbsp;Log</h2><p>As&nbsp;you&nbsp;research,&nbsp;record&nbsp;every&nbsp;source&nbsp;as&nbsp;you&nbsp;go.&nbsp;Note&nbsp;the&nbsp;author,&nbsp;title,&nbsp;publication&nbsp;date,&nbsp;and&nbsp;page&nbsp;numbers.&nbsp;Trying&nbsp;to&nbsp;reconstruct&nbsp;citations&nbsp;after&nbsp;writing&nbsp;is&nbsp;how&nbsp;accidental&nbsp;plagiarism&nbsp;happens.</p>