How to Avoid Self-plagiarism

HOW TO AVOID SELF-PLAGIARISM

Self-plagiarism may be a relatively foreign term ti most students because it sounds paradoxical. However, students should realize that it is possible to plagiarize, even when reusing their own words. Take for instance, the case of a student who uses data from a study he/she did recently used in a study that she did and was published. While this student may not have the intentions to plagiarize, he/she may be flagged down for self-plagiarism. As All Homework Solutions, however, we want you to succeed. As such, we have written an in-depth guide for you to help you know what to look out for in a bid to avoid self-plagiarism. Dive in below for more.

Definition of self-plagiarism

Self-plagiarism involves the presentation of work that was previously done as new work. It is wrong in the academic field because your instructors always expect that as a student, you present new and original work every time. The aim of presenting new information every time is so that the student can build on their current knowledge. Self-plagiarism denies the student a chance to build on existing knowledge and is therefore, frowned down in the academic set-up. As a student, you should therefore, find ways to avoid self-plagiarism by all means. Below we outline some of the steps you can take to avoid self-plagiarism.

Avoiding self-plagiarism

• Avoid old assignments. More often than not, you may be assigned topics that you have tackled before and the temptation to simply recycle the old paper may creep in. in this case, look at your institution’s plagiarism policy. You will most likely notice that you are not allowed or advised to reuse old assignments. However, make the point of talking to your professor if the code of conduct is not clear on self-plagiarism to establish if it is acceptable to use a previous assignment. Even in this case. However, ensure that you make proper citations that will keep you off the professor’s anti-plagiarism radar.

• Checking publication guidelines. This tip especially applicable to academics and other researchers who want to avoid self-plagiarism. You will notice that a majority of publishers discourage self-plagiarism or alternatively, allow a small percentage. In fact, most publishers will fail to publish your work simply because a part of it has been published before. If, however, a small percentage of plagiarism is allowed and you are in the biomedical field, ensure that you properly cite your paper. Alternatively, contact us at All Homework Solutions for help with either compilation or citing of your paper for the best results.

• Reviewing existing work on a topic. Sometimes, as a student, the best approach you can take is to look at existing material on a topic that you have written before to avoid duplicating ideas, leading to self-plagiarism. If the work involves opinions, especially, it is easy to duplicate ideas. It may, therefore, be helpful to look at what you have written before, even if it was for a different class or course.

• Reframing ideas according to topics and the audience. Writers sometimes tend to be passionate about certain topics and may be inclined to write about them more than once. In this case, use other factors such as your audience and the purpose of the paper to determine what you will write in the paper and how you will introduce your ideas. Such changes in perspective help improve content and increases your chances of coming up with original ideas. This means that the ideas you may have used for your class paper can cleverly be used for blog content without raising worries of self-plagiarism.

• Expanding on old ideas. Expansion of ideas may include adding new and different concepts to the previous ideas you had. Additionally, you can reinterpret previous ideas or use them as background information for your new text. You can also make old ideas better by building on the old ideas with new ones. Apart from helping you avoid plagiarism, it will also help you show the instructor how you have grown in your knowledge.

Consequences of self-plagiarism

In some institutions, self-plagiarism attracts penalties as serious as traditional plagiarism does. However, policies of how to deal with self-plagiarism may vary according to the institution and as such, some may allow some form of self-plagiarism. However, be careful not to fall victim if your university is not self-plagiarism tolerant by checking with your lecturers if the university allows you to use previously submitted work.

If you are a researcher, you may not be bound by the rules of an institution. However, as earlier mentioned, self-plagiarism may cause you problems with publishers. If a publisher notices self-plagiarized work, they are either likely to delay publishing while consulting you or block the publishing of your work altogether. Additionally, you may be reported for copy-right infringement. To avoid chances of either of the above happening, read through the publishers’ submission requirements as these are likely to have guidelines concerning self-plagiarism. Additionally, you can take advantage of writing platforms such as All Homework Solutions to help you generate clean and original content that will not cause you any disruptions during publication or cause you issues with your institution.

To avoid cases related to copyright infringement, ensure that the ideas and structure of your paper are not similar to any other author’s. If anything looks similar, however, you should contact the person/institution that owns the publication copyright and keep them in the know that you are using their previously published work in whatever capacity. This will keep you safe.