Plagiarism?

Question

What are some of the most important rules to follow to avoid plagiarism?

Answer 1

Don't copy. Think for yourself. If you must quote a source, use quotation marks and give the source.

Answer 2

Since most plagiarism is unintentional, the best way to avoid plagiarism is to develop good habits of scholarship and writing, and to be familiar with the concepts related to plagiarism. Some of the necessary habits of scholarship are simple common sense. When writing a paper:

give yourself enough time to do a good job. Students who procrastinate are more likely to plagiarize because rushing makes them sloppy. (Being out of time is also the primary incentive for deliberate dishonesty.)

revise your paper. Significant re-writing can eliminate plagiarized passages.

proofread for errors. Proofreading can help you find missing citations and quotation marks, as well as other errors.

Using other people’s ideas is a recognized and important part of being a good scholar. It becomes plagiarism only if credit is not given appropriately to the original source. The very same uses of other people’s material that might be considered plagiarism if presented in one way are not considered plagiarism if they are presented correctly.

Take a look at the research done by others:
http://library.csusm.edu/plagiarism/howtoavoid/index.htm

Answer 3

Every time you think you have an original thought, go back and research as to who might have thought of it first. If you can add their name to your research, you borrow their credibility and authority. If you cannot possibly find a reference to anyone who said it, thought it, or wrote it down, check with a good reference librarian. If a reference librarian can't find it either, you are fairly safe.

I prefer to quote rather than postulate whenever possible however, except when drawing my own conclusions. I like the company I am keeping and it sounds so much better than just me saying it!