8 Mistakes to Avoid When Plagiarizing: Advice for Students

As the semester comes to a close, students across the country are feeling the pressure of final essays and term papers. With so many assignments due in such a short period, it can be tempting to take shortcuts to get everything completed. Unfortunately, one of the most common shortcuts – plagiarism – can have serious consequences, including academic failure and expulsion. To help students avoid these pitfalls, we’ve put together a list of eight mistakes to avoid when plagiarizing.

1. Don’t copy entries from Wikipedia.
While it may be tempting to use Wikipedia as a source for your paper, it’s also one of the easiest ways to get caught. Wikipedia has a distinct writing style that is easy to recognize, and professors can easily track down its sources. Even if you rephrase the sentences, your professor could still detect plagiarism. Therefore, it’s best to avoid any content on the internet if you’re not willing to rephrase it in your own style and language.

2. Don’t cobble together the free excerpts from several different “free essay” sites.
Using multiple sources to build an essay might seem like a good idea on paper, but it usually ends up being a poorly written, factually incorrect mess. And professors can usually find these sites quite easily since they tend to have almost the same structure.

3. Don’t copy your professor’s work or that of their colleagues.
It might seem like a good idea to plagiarize from your instructor, but it’s one of the easiest ways to get caught. Professors know their content, and their students better than anyone else. Therefore, it’s essential to avoid copying assignments from them or their colleagues.

4. Don’t paste formatted text into your papers.
If you’re going to plagiarize, at least do it right! Make sure to format the text you’re copying and pasting into the same font, size, and style as the rest of your paper. If you don’t, it will be apparent that you copied and pasted.

5. Don’t submit papers written by someone else, especially if the story is not relatable to you.
If you are using someone else’s paper, make sure that the content is related to your life or your experiences. If there is no connection between your life and that of the author, it will be apparent that you haven’t written the paper yourself.

6. Don’t use fancy concepts that have not been covered in class.
Using complicated terminology in a paper that is not relevant to the assignment or the course is an obvious sign of plagiarism. Professors are likely to catch it since they didn’t assign such concepts for you to use.

7. Don’t use writing that is much better than your own.
If your writing has been terrible for weeks, but suddenly on the final paper, you have excellent writing, the professor is going to wonder what’s going on. In most cases, the professor will catch you for that paper you wrote because it’s too perfect compared to your previous piece.

8. Don’t copy long passages (or many short passages) from your course’s textbooks.
Professors know their content – and their textbooks – like the back of their hand. Copy-pasting long or short material from these textbooks without referencing them will lead to immediate failure. Instructors review a lot of material, and you can’t trick them by simply copying and pasting parts of their material.

In conclusion, it’s best to avoid plagiarism; it’s the smartest yet easiest option. It’s better to do good research, write your paper and draw conclusions based on your reflections on what you’ve discovered.

If you are struggling with your assignment or unsure of how to move forward, talk to your professor, and seek help. Trying to plagiarize can have many consequences, including academic failure and expulsion. By avoiding these common mistakes, you can ensure a successful academic career without taking any shortcuts.