How to Avoid Plagiarism When Writing a Dissertation

Writing a dissertation can be frustrating. Incorporating ideas from different previous sources into your literature review, information, evidence, and values can be an exhausting task. If a researcher is not careful, this content can result in daunting plagiarism. Plagiarism is the unethical practice of using other authors' work or ideas as their own. This practice is a serious academic offense, resulting in harsh consequences such as loss of researcher credibility. Therefore, any author or researcher must understand how they can avoid plagiarism when writing a dissertation.

Tips on how to avoid plagiarism

1. Paraphrase your content.
   

   Ensure that you do not copy and paste directly from the sources. Read the sources, understand them and restate the idea in your own words. To paraphrase well, make sure you know the opinions of the research paper well and what the paper communicates.

2. Use quotations.
   

   By using quotations, you inform the reader that the extracted content was from another source. Ensure that the question is exactly as how it appears from the reference paper. The extracted text should always be in quotation marks.

3. Cite sources.
   

   All the ideas and text obtained from another source should be cited. Even if some of the referenced papers are yours, they should be cited to avoid self-plagiarism. The in-text citation of the research papers should correspond to the reference list.

4. Add value.
   

   As a researcher, try to add your insights to the paper. Do not use all the information obtained from the sources. This will show that you understand the topic and what you are talking about.

5. Proofread.
   

   After writing your paper, it is important to go through it and ensure that every information obtained from previous papers has been cited. This will help in eliminating the chances of plagiarizing your dissertation paper.

6. Reference page.
   

   To avoid plagiarism, make sure to include a reference list at the end of your paper. This list shows where the sources were obtained and provides links for the same.

7. Use a plagiarism checker.
   

   To evaluate the percentage or amount of plagiarism in your dissertation paper, you can use plagiarism checkers, which are software that determines and shows plagiarism levels in your content. When research papers are submitted to their respective institution, they usually are checked for plagiarism. To avoid plagiarism detection after submission, make sure to run the dissertation on a plagiarism checker before submitting.