How to Avoid Plagiarism While Writing
Picture this:
You write an essay, a blog post, a journal article, you name it. The moment comes to check and proofread the draft before submitting it for review. Besides, today’s age of AI text generators and same-looking content dictates additional text validation:
You don’t only revise stylistic, grammar, and punctuation mistakes in your essays; now, you also check them to prevent duplications, unintentional plagiarism, and robot-looking writing constructions in your texts. Thus, you go to a reputable plagiarism checker and AI detector, and… ta-da!
“Your text has 13% of plagiarism and is 65% likely AI-generated.”
What can you do? How do you write original and insightful texts so that plag check tools and AI detectors do not see them as generic or stolen from other authors?
These proven strategies will help.
5 Classy Strategies to Avoid Plagiarism While Writing
Plagiarism in writing appears when you copy-paste others’ text excerpts or content ideas without attribution but claim them as your own and forget to credit sources when using direct quotes. If you’re an author who has been writing for years already, you may also become a victim of accidental or self-plagiarism:
Dealing with many content assets daily, you start using the same verbal constructions, arguments, and insights in all your texts. Some facts and creative ideas seem common knowledge for you now, so you don’t consider them anything worth attributing.
The result?
A plagiarism checker says your text matches particular Internet sources. (Sad irony, it was you who wrote some of them.)
To avoid falling into this trap again, practice the following:
1. Paraphrase Like a Pro
Many writers use this tactic, and that’s why it’s among the most popular types of accidental plagiarism. Learn to use it right:
Convey others’ ideas in your own words, but give the author proper credit. (It can be a direct reference, quotation marks for borrowed words, — more on that below — or a complete reference to the provided citation.)
Rewriting in your own words, consider the following writing tactics:
- Modify the structure. (Paraphrase sentences, change word order, split compound sentences, switch between active and passive voice, and use different vocabulary with the same meaning.)
Attention! Refrain from playing with synonymization. Several synonyms are okay to add, but excessive synonymization turns your text into a pathetic parody, not expert content.
- Add personal details and insights. (It will tweak the source ideas and help your content look in-depth and professional.)
- Remember your writing style! (Even when paraphrasing, make the content sound yours: tone of voice, language patterns, sentence structure — show your readers a personality behind text sheets.)
And on top of that:
When paraphrasing, mention the source of that particular information anyway. Both readers and plagiarism checkers will see you acknowledge the original and praise the authorship.
If writing a college essay or any other academic document, ensure you follow the required citation style. Learn how to apply AMA, MLA, and Chicago in writing and cite sources accordingly within the text and in the reference lists.
2. Add Value
Due to content shock (it’s the phenomenon when the content supply is greater than its demand) and a short attention span, users are super picky today. With tons of same-looking superficial info online, no one will read your rubbish rewritten texts. Users crave expertise and insights, and it’s your chance to evade plagiarism checkers and AI detectors’ restrictions:
Make your article an original resource that solves a problem and meets the intent of the person reading it.
For that:
Try to use only some information from all the resources you’ve researched when writing a paper. Include your insights on the topic, too. Add personal examples, share case studies, try storytelling, use emotional writing tactics, consider humor if appropriate, etc.
Long story short, make your text genuinely original and valuable to the audience.
3. Use Quotation Marks for Direct Quotes
This one is short yet actionable:
When quoting somebody’s text directly, use quotation marks and mention the source. If quoting longer content sections, format them as block quotes for readers and plagiarism checkers to see you don’t steal those words.
According to the plagiarismcheck.org review, accurate plagiarism detectors are based on advanced technology today and, thus, can distinguish between exact text matches and proper quotations.
Here’s the main issue with that (for a writer):
Willing to “cheat” tools, you might face the temptation to cram a bunch of quotes into your text instead of proper paraphrasing. Please don’t do that.
Remember that direct citations are okay in content like literary analyses, for example, as it’s the only way to refer to the source. However, it would help if you didn’t overload your text with them when writing about surveys, studies, or scientific research.
4. Give Credit
Plagiarism appears when you keep the author’s original vocabulary and sentence structure in your text but don’t mention any credit.
Whether paraphrasing or using direct quotes, always credit original authors. For that, learn to distinguish between common knowledge that doesn’t require citation and specific info that does.
For example:
- “Barack Obama was the U.S. President.” — common knowledge.
- “During Barack Obama’s presidency, the majority of newborn babies in the U.S. were racial or ethnic minorities.” — specific info that requires citation.
How to credit like a boss:
- Include the author’s name before or after the citation.
- Mention more extended quotes in the bibliography or the reference list instead of quoting them directly.
- Use double quotation marks for short quotes and when citing up to three lines of poetry.
Attention! Never paraphrase direct quotes.
5. Write Like a Human
The problem with AI text generators is that they “write” generic info with no unique insights or human perspective. Their texts sound like 5th-grade schooler’s, able to cheat plag checkers but unable to communicate expertise. Those texts contain lengthy phrases, cliches, over-complex sentences, poor word choices, and redundant adverbs.
Primitive and monotonous text structures are also there.
Do you write like that? No wonder AI detectors highlight your writings as artificial. It’s time to change that: Polish your writing skills, praise the authorship, and avoid typical mistakes AI and poor writers make.
Final words?
Let’s not sound robotic and amateurish in our writing works — and no tool or reader will dare accuse us of plagiarism.