Plagiarism FAQs: 10 Most Commonly Asked Questions on Plagiarism in Research Answered

Plagiarism is a hot topic in academia as authors are expected to present authentic ideas and original papers. Unfortunately, now and again, articles are identified as plagiarized, leading to accusations, loss of integrity, and bad press. This is why you must know how to write your papers with minimal plagiarized content.

In reality, many people are unsure what plagiarism means or how to avoid it. To help you minimize plagiarism and keep originality, we've compiled the ten most frequently asked questions about plagiarism and research and offered practical answers to each.

Before we start, let us first understand what plagiarism means from a research perspective.

What is Plagiarism?

According to established academic publishers, plagiarism occurs when one author uses another author's work without permission, credit, or acknowledgment. Plagiarism takes different forms, from literal copying of text to paraphrasing another author's work.

If you want to learn more about plagiarism, we suggest you check out our comprehensive guide about plagiarism. It will help you gain an in-depth understanding of the topic.

Here are the most commonly asked questions on plagiarism.

Q1 - Why is plagiarism a problem in research?

In academic writing, plagiarism leads to false or misleading findings. Often when an author copies someone else's work, the learning process involved would not have been complete. Since they are concluding without thoroughly studying the topic or considering the premise, it leads to incorrect conclusions and the propagation of falsehoods.

Plagiarism is frowned upon in academic circles as it undermines academic ethics. By not citing sources or giving credit, you are not only ignoring contributions made by others but also blatantly stealing the recognition they deserve. It leads to a loss of credibility and integrity for the author, their research, and any affiliated institutions. Worse, plagiarizing authors could face legal action, jeopardizing their career prospects.

Q2 - How much plagiarism is allowed in a research paper?

The short answer is not much. The amount of plagiarism allowed in a research paper depends on different publishers. Publication giant Springer specifies that up to 15% of similarity is permitted. For a chapter in a book, this limit is about 5%, and in a thesis, less than 10% is accepted. The best practice is to check plagiarism before submitting it to publications. There are many free plagiarism checkers available online that you can use to detect plagiarism.

Use our research paper template to skip the structure setup.

Q3 - What is the best way to prevent plagiarism and fraud in research?

According to a study, one in every 100,000 US scientists is involved in plagiarism and other malpractices. The same study also reveals that Biomedical search engine PubMed had to retract around 0.02% of submissions from the library due to misconduct.

Academic publishers recommend that to avoid plagiarism and other related malpractices, you should:

• Review and check plagiarism related guidelines set by the journal publisher or your institution before you start writing your content.
• Get in touch with the reviewers or the editors if you have any questions.
• Use footnotes or endnotes labeled explicitly as coming from a specific co-author
• Links and URLs to relevant sources used by a co-author must be added within the main body of your text.
• Use hyperlinks to display additional information about a topic written by someone else.

Use plagiarism detection tools and software to detect plagiarism and eliminate “copy and paste” content. They can help you detect text copied from other sources and paraphrased text that has been slightly altered to avoid detection of plagiarism.

There are many free plagiarism checkers online. Aside from those, some of the best tools to check plagiarism are:

• Turnitin's iThenticate
• Grammarly
• Quetext
• ProWritingAid
• Plagiarism CheckerX (Free version is available)

Q4 - How can plagiarism be removed from thesis?

Firstly, it is vital to understand that academic writings and essays almost always involve using and discussing material written by others. It helps you develop your argument by explaining its foundation and prove its validity or relevance. Careful attribution and referencing ensure this text is not considered plagiarized content. When you quote or cite someone else's work in your own, it's a good idea to make this clear both in the footnotes and in the body of your text.

Use our essay writing template to skip the structure setup. On top of that, you can use the Scispace Write tool, which helps you check plagiarism in your manuscript while giving you access to more than 40,000 journal templates to make it submission ready.

Q5 - Do peer reviewed journals do a plagiarism check?

Yes, peer-reviewed journals will definitely perform a plagiarism check to detect plagiarism. This is because the journal is looking to ensure the quality of the research being published within its pages.

If you are submitting your work to a peer-reviewed journal, ensure you've maintained originality in your content and included appropriate citations. Many journals have a plagiarism policy that instructs and guides authors to avoid plagiarising their work. You can find it online in the Instructions for Authors section on the journal's website.

An example of the plagiarism policy of Springer is illustrated below:

Q6 - How can you avoid unintentional plagiarism when revising your draft?

According to the Modern Language Association (MLA), about 60% of all students admit to having committed unintentional plagiarism in their academic careers. People often commit these missteps due to insufficient knowledge of citation and paraphrasing conventions.

Keep these points in mind to avoid unintentional plagiarisms:

• Every discipline has its writing style and citation norms, so familiarize yourself with content reuse best practices before you start writing your content.
• Get permission to use images as there are several kinds of rights associated with their usage in academic articles, presentations, or other assignments.
• In most disciplines, you are expected to use the style guide from either APA or MLA when citing and referencing sources. The rules for these two styles are different and must be followed precisely for each source.
• Check the ‘PhD by publication’ rules at your affiliated institution to determine whether you can reuse a PhD thesis.

Q7 - What happens if you get caught plagiarizing your dissertation?

Plagiarism is a serious offense. Getting caught could lead to expulsion from the program and even the university. You will also be barred from any future admission to that institution.

You may also face criminal charges in some jurisdictions, depending on how severe your offense was and how many people were affected by it.

A few expected consequences of Plagiarism include:

• Damage to your professional and academic reputation
• Damage to the credibility of the affiliated institution
• Legal repercussions
• Monetary repercussions
• Plagiarised research affects society

Q8 - What must be done to avoid plagiarism when including direct quotes in research paper?

The first thing to do is ensure you're quoting a reliable source. If it comes from an unreliable source (such as an unverified Twitter handle), try not to use it in your paper. Next, make sure that each time you use a quote, you cite it accordingly.

The three ways in which you can include direct quotes in your paper without plagiarism are:

1. Direct quotation: Direct quotations can be used when the author's exact words are necessary to convey their meaning. Use phrases like "stated," "mentioned that," or "in the words of." To avoid plagiarism, always use quotation marks when quoting another author's words.
2. Indirect quotation: An indirect quotation is when you use the text with minor grammatical changes. Such quotes do not require quotation marks.
3. Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing involves rewriting the text completely using your own words.

Q9 - What are the three methods to provide in text citations in your research paper and avoid plagiarism?

There are three methods to provide in-text citations in your research paper:

1. Footnotes: Footnotes provide additional information about a specific piece that appears in your body text. Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the page. Each footnote should include the author's last name and the page number.
2. Endnotes: Endnotes are similar footnotes but should be placed at the end of your document after the conclusion section (or after any appendices).
3. Parenthetical citations: Parenthetical citations should be placed within parentheses next to the relevant sentence or paragraph (no punctuation before the parenthetical citation).

Q10 - How to take careful notes while conducting research to avoid the possibility of plagiarism?

When conducting research, it is essential to take careful notes for two reasons: you want to be able to remember what you read, and you don't want to plagiarize someone else's work accidentally.

If you find it difficult to remember what you've read, try taking notes immediately instead of waiting until the end of your research session. You can also take down all the keywords related to the topic so that they're easy for you to find later on.

Finally, make sure that when writing your final draft of the paper, everything has been cited correctly and included in an appropriate bibliography style (i.e., MLA or APA).

Conclusion

Plagiarism is a global problem that is rising along with the use of the internet and digital technology. But you can still protect your work by following some basic rules. We believe that the information in this blog post clarifies the topic of plagiarism and research.

If you think anything is missing or feel we could have answered an FAQ better, please feel free to leave a comment!

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