Avoiding Plagiarism - Essay Example

Avoiding Plagiarism Avoiding Plagiarism Introduction not keen to learn the concept of plagiarism face a major challenge when writing academic papers. “Plagiarism refers to the failure to give credit to another person’s original works and passing them as you own or copy pasting from secondary sources of information” (Wong, 2011, p. 4). Plagiarism is a serious offense, which could result in poor grades or expulsion from college. Learning how to overcome plagiarism can help students even later in their career.

For instance, when writing reports or in creative writing as in journalism. It is therefore critical for students to learn how to reference other author’s ideas, sounds, picture, and words. This reflection paper provides insight into my experience with researching, referencing, and writing academic papers.My strengths After a critical analysis of my writing skills, I discovered that I am very cautions with plagiarism. The college has strict policy against plagiarism, which could result in failure in my coursework or even expulsion in extreme situation.

To avoid these consequences I have learned how to paraphrase my research, do quotations, and summarize material from secondary sources of information in my own words. According to Neville (2007), it is critical for students to write in their own voice, which is a foremost factor when trying to avoid plagiarism. I am also good at critiquing other author’s ideas. This gives me an opportunity to my make my own contribution to a certain topic by improving on literature available. I believe that every field of research needs new ideas which can be possible through evaluation of literature available and adding your own views.

In addition, I take citations very seriously. My Weakness I discovered that I rely heavily on auto formatting tools in word processing. The over reliance on auto formatting tools can be time consuming and reduces my ability to improve my writing style. According to Wong (2011), students should ensure they master the difference between research and plagiarism. Sometimes after extensive research on a topic, I tend to reproduce the ideas in the same format as the author, which increases my chances of plagiarizing my work.

Therefore, I have to use anti plagiarism tools to ensure my work is original. This process can be time consuming and mastering how to avoid plagiarism would increase my confidence when writing academic papers.Growth Plan I have not perfected in text citations, I keep referring to class notes, and I use auto-formatting tools to ensure that all papers I write are cited properly. My plan is to learn how to cite properly from memory. I have been practicing by writing the same essay in different referencing style.

The process of writing one essay in different writing style helps me to identify the major differences between the referencing styles. I am also working on improving my writing style through practicing regularly and consulting with my lecturers whenever I have a problem. In addition, am working on improving my research skills by writing an outline using key words to assist in writing the final draft of my paper.Conclusion Advancement of technology has increased amount of research material on the Internet making it so easy for students to plagiarize through copy and pasting or failure to give credit to others person’s original works.

With the consequences of plagiarism, it is critical for students to learn how to overcome it through developing referencing, researching, and writing skills.ReferencesNeville, C. (2007). The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism. New York: Open University Press.Wong. K. (2011). Avoiding Plagiarism: Write Better Papers in APA, Chicago, and Harvard Citation Styles. San Francisco: iUniverse Publishers.