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Basic hints on how to write a plagiarism-free research paper

Plagiarism is an epidemic problem in academia. Plagiarism, which is taking words from others works and presenting it as your own, is academically illegal and you can face harsh penalties, up to and including expulsion from the academic world. That is not even touching on the fact it is morally reprehensible and academically dishonest. The stealing of ideas is a problem, but it sadly happens all the time. Writing a plagiarism free research paper is still quite doable, even if it is harder than just writing someone else's research paper over again and taking the credit.

Plagiarism causes many problems. If you do not want to write a plagiarized paper, a simple solution presents itself: do not plagiarism, under any circumstances. Because that's not the kind of thing, a good person does. Plagiarism undermines the whole system of free speech, teaches you nothing, and hurts the people around you. Entire careers have been destroyed over this, and it is no surprise; it is bad. However, the solution is of course simple- do not take other's work and present it as you’re won. However, what about, small accidental plagiarism? What if you read something somewhere and forgot a certain phrase was not yours? What can you do about this?

There are actually strategies to avoid accidental plagiarism. There are various online tools that are helpful for this, and you can find them quickly through any search engine. This lets you see what parts of your paper can be found on the internet, and where you can find them. You can see if these are everyday common phrases that do not need to be worrisome, or if you accidentally copied a whole sentence or idea. If it is the later, you have adequate tools to just change it until it is presentable. This will allow you to be plagiarism-free when it comes to words.

However, there is a more subtle, more insidious form of plagiarism. It is impossible to steal ideas indirectly, even if you do not steal the words. This is harder to deal with, but you should just in general be aware of what research has been done and what angles it was done with so you are not just taking ideas directly from someone else. Being inspired by someone and taking a new angle on a topic is one thing, it is quite another to openly steal an idea, even if you write all the words yourself.