Basically, plagiarism means replicating someone else’ work without giving them due credit. It is a grave offence that can even lead to eviction in many academic institutions.

Plagiarism can terminate your academic career regardless of whether it is intentional whereby you actually set out to copy other people’s work or accidental whereby you use somebody’s work without your knowledge.

Below are some ways to keep away from plagiarism:

Stating your sources might sound very basic. You can blame it either on unawareness or slothfulness but you will be surprised at the number of students who simply do not refer to their sources.

Often, students are just so relieved to finally complete a paper that they fail to remember to refer to the sources as they are winding up. Furthermore, a student might not be cognizant that he has to mention the source when he makes use of somebody’s work.

Careful revision is paramount as it is very easy for references from other works to find their way into the paper without your knowledge. Therefore, you should go through your paper again after finishing your write up.

Delete immediately from the paper any words or sentences that you believe were lifted from another place else either willfully or unknowingly since there is no difference between deliberate or inadvertent plagiarism.

You should use clear-cut words in the paper if you are rephrasing somebody else’s words. When rephrasing and remember to always close it in with quotes as you refer to your sources either at the end or in sequence. You should not feel enticed to change even a single letter from the original work.

When you are aware of the rules to follow as well as you thoroughly go through your paper, you will easily steer clear of plagiarism. Remember that the penalty for not doing so could be grievously dangerous; thus you should not be slothful with your paper but you should carefully revise it before submitting it.