Plagiarism

What is the meaning of plagiary/plagiarism?

Plagiarism, as described by the Cambridge Dictionary, is “to use another person's ideas or work and pretend that it is your own”.

How to detect plagiary?

Various software are available for the detection of plagiarism. The University Grants Commission has instructed the use of Urkund software to all the universities for the purpose of plagiary detection.  However, no software is capable of detecting plagiary and it can only detect similarity.

  •  Similarity means quoting the same words of other authors as used by them with or without acknowledging them. 

  •  Plagiarism means using the same words as well as the ideas of other people without acknowledging them.

We know that we can rephrase sentences to remove the similarity which is detectable by the software but the idea still isn’t our own and therefore plagiary still exists and is undetectable by the software. This brings us to the conclusion that an actual plagiary report can only be presented by a person with knowledge of the subject.

How to solve the issue of plagiarism?

Plagiarism is a general problem among students, what is required to solve this problem is being consistent in always acknowledging and giving credit to one’s sources. It is alright to use someone else’s words or thoughts as long as you cite the source and acknowledge it. Citing is both the ethically and the technically correct way of using existing literature.

Some tricks for removing plagiary may involve the use of synonyms, sentence reconstruction, use of passive voice and indirect speech.

We teach how to properly review previous literature and how to rewrite it in your own words with proper referencing.