Submitting a non-plagiarized term paper is the minimum requirement for receiving a passing term paper grade in university courses. "Plagiarism" means submitting someone else's work as if it were one's own, and it is one of the most serious academic offenses. The student is responsible for inadvertent plagiarism just as much as for intentional plagiarism; therefore, the student should take care to submit only original work.
Students who wish to write non-plagiarized term papers begin by performing their own research. They do not simply copy someone else's bibliography on the subject; rather, they search the library catalog and the research databases for themselves. These searches should produce a line of research that is at least somewhat unique, which will in turn help the student write a unique paper.
Second, students who write non-plagiarized term papers use their research sources in wise ways. If the student wants to use the exact phrasing of a research source in the term paper, he or she must put quotation marks around the quote and then cite the source according to the requirements of the style manual. If the student wants to use the ideas found in a research source but does not need to use the exact phrasing, he or she may paraphrase sentences or summarize paragraphs but must still cite the source. In order to paraphrase or summarize without plagiarizing, the student must significantly alter the source's word choice and sentence structure.
Third, the student who writes a non-plagiarized term paper includes original composition within the term paper. Even in a research-driven expository term paper, the student still has control over the organization, flow, and transition statements of the paper, and all of these elements serve to make the term paper unique.
Non-plagiarized term papers are papers that students have written for themselves. The writers of such papers have performed their own research; have quoted, paraphrased, and summarized that research correctly in the paper; and have included their own original thoughts and words appropriately.
Related posts:
- Plagiarized Term Paper A plagiarized term paper is a paper that uses someone else's work without citing it properly. Plagiarized term papers can cause students to receive a failing grade for the project...
