Plagiarism - Top 10 Ways to Stay Out of Trouble When Writing Your Dissertation, Thesis, Or Paper

With increasing frequency, colleges and universities are making use of Web-based plagiarism checking services to scan papers for stolen material. And the consequences can be dire: at one end of the spectrum, a failing grade for the assignment; at the other end, dismissal from an academic program. If you are intentionally plagiarizing in your paper, thesis, or dissertation, this should give you pause. But if you are notintentionally plagiarizing, there could still be reason for concern. Plagiarism checking software catches an ever-growing amount of appropriated material--and sometimes the student has not even meant to do anything wrong! In what follows, I'd like to offer some simple tips for avoiding plagiarism of the unintentional variety.

1. Know what constitutes plagiarism. Simply put, plagiarism is the use of the words or ideas of another person without giving credit to the person from whom they are borrowed. Right off the bat, this tells us something important: you can't simply change a few words of a borrowed text (so that the passage is no longer a direct quotation) and think that you are out of danger. Unless the material is "common knowledge," a citation is needed for any material you borrow--whether it is a direction quotation, a paraphrase, or even just an idea.

2. Know what your professor will look for. Even before the advent of the computer, professors caught students who plagiarized; the Internet has just made it much, much easier. So what might give a clue to a professor that the material you've presented as your own really came from someone else? 

• Fluctuations in style
• Vocabulary that isn't typical for you
• Harsh connections between passages
• Deviations in the point of view from which the text is written
• Contradictions in the theories or positions maintained in the paper
• The failure of the paper to address the specific topic assigned (suggesting it may have been borrowed or purchased)
• The unavailability in your university/college library of the sources referenced in the paper
• The use of exclusively Web-based sources
• Recognizing the material (Your professor is probably an expert in this field, after all!)

On its own, nothing on this list is a guarantee that material has been plagiarized. However, the combination of several of these points will certainly raise suspicions and will probably cause your professor to dig deeper.

3. Know how anti-plagiarism programs work. If your college, university, or professor is using a Web-based anti-plagiarism service, it's a good idea to know what the program searches for. If you're intentionally plagiarizing, chances are that you won't outsmart these programs; if you're not intentionally plagiarizing, understanding the programs will help you to avoid plagiarizing inadvertently. Anti-plagiarism programs currently in use do a combination of the following: 

• Search the Internet for word strings that may have been lifted. The easiest way to get caught plagiarizing is to take something from a source available on the Internet. You will almost certainly get caught, as even the simplest and cheapest programs do this much.
• Search cached sources. Even if your source is no longer available on the Web, it may still be available to the anti-plagiarism search as long as it was on the Web at one time.
• Search databases of papers, theses, dissertations, articles, and books, usually comparing your paper against millions of archived sources. This means that even print sources that have never been available on the Internet may turn up in the search.
• Compare documents. This allows professors and universities to submit multiple papers (even over a number of years) to compare them for material that they share in common.
• Make internal comparisons. The more sophisticated programs use algorithms to examine sentence structure and synonyms, allowing them to catch even paraphrased material that has not been copied exactly.

4. Don't cut-and-paste. By definition, if you are doing this, you are borrowing material, and you're likely to leave clues (see tip #2, above). NOTE that this rule applies even to borrowing your own material from papers you've written previously. If you ignore this rule, then be sure to cite the source of whatever you've borrowed.

5. Don't paraphrase without citing the source. Yes, it's plagiarism even if you change the words. If it's someone else's idea, a citation is needed. Always.

6. If you use someone else's words, always use quotation marks (or block quote formatting). No exceptions. Period.

7. Know your style sheet. Each academic style sheet (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian), has its own conventions for citing sources. If you don't follow the right conventions, you could inadvertently wind up being accused of stealing the material.

8. Beware of "common knowledge." This is the one big gray area--what really is "common knowledge"? If there's the slightest doubt in your mind, find the source and cite it. If you can't find the source, drop the material from your paper.

9. Get your work edited. Whether you rely on a professional editing service, a professor, someone from your college's writing center, or a really smart friend, a second set of eyes may catch what you missed, saving you a major hassle in the end.

10. When in doubt, CITE!

Wishing you success in your writing,

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What Ever Happened to Quality?

In his essay, "Quality", written in 1911, the great writer, John Galsworthy, recounts the tale of two brothers. Shoemakers with their own shop somewhere near the end of the 19th century, they exemplify the issue of quality in Mr. Galsworthy's mind. They knew each customer. They made patterns of the customers' feet, cut the shoes to fit, had the customer try the shoes, and then adjusted the shoes as necessary to each customer's satisfaction, offering to take the cost off the bill if the shoes or boots were not acceptable.

In time, faster, cheaper, and more efficient ways were found to make shoes and boots, and the little shopkeeper was, at the last, forced into barely being able to survive. Until the last, he insisted on making only the finest quality product, even as his customers deserted him for the cheaper product provided by the factories.

An interesting note is Galsworthy's statement, "I ordered several pairs. It was very long before they came--but they were better than ever. One simply could not wear them out."

My father was almost obsessive about quality. One of the first lessons I had was that most things should last a long time and serve you well. When he died in 1981, my mother gave me a pair of his boots that he had worn for several years. I wore them regularly and comfortably for several more years myself, and they did not give up the ghost until I had worn them for over 15 years. In the 1960's, I bought a pair of pants at Ed White Clothiers in Pensacola, Florida. I gave them to charity in 1990 at the insistence of my wife. All my father's tools are still in fine condition, at least the ones I have. His watch is fine, thank you, or should I say watches, as I have the pocket watch he carried since before I was born as well as his Seiko wrist watch. Of course, he was a watchmaker, so they don't count.

While these may be extreme examples, they stand in contrast to the shirts I bought from Target two years ago, both of which had to be taken back because the buttons fell off within a few days of their purchase. Or the pants, also from Target, which rapidly became donations to a local charity because of the poor workmanship and overall lack of quality. Let's not leave out the two rather expensive shirts purchased last year from Sears. They still fit reasonably well and are nice looking shirts...except for the sleeves which shrank and now miss my wrists by four or five inches. The leather belt I also purchased from Sears a few months ago is beginning to come apart. I have lost track of the number of watches I have discarded over the years because they simply did not last, but I am hard on watches, so maybe that doesn't count.

Those are small potatoes, but a few years ago, my wife and I, who were experienced over-the-road drivers and truck driving instructors, purchased a Peterbilt truck for over $100,000. The name Peterbilt used to be synonymous with quality. In the first eleven months that we owned that truck, we were unable to drive for eight weeks because of repairs and mechanical problems. One of the most frustrating facts was that several times after the truck had been worked on by Peterbilt certified mechanics, we had to return to get something fixed that they had messed up! We eventually managed to force Peterbilt to buy back the truck under a Wisconsin lemon law, but not before we lost thousands of dollars and experienced months of frustration. Even more frustrating is the fact that, after talking to several other people who owned the same type of truck, we found that almost everything that was wrong with the one we had purchased was being experienced by other owners as well.

It is not in the interest of most manufacturers to condone quality. First of all, it is usually more expensive to build items of quality than to mass produce things that "will do". If things last too long, many of these folks would go out of business. Watch carefully, and you will see that things change, often not for the better, but just so that we will be tempted to dispose of the old and purchase the new. The advertising media are always more than happy to earn their bread by reminding us that what we have that was new last year is now out of date and must be replaced.

After they have worked so hard to create a perceived need in the populace, is it any wonder that in order to maximize profits, these manufacturers have chosen to seek out cheaper labor and lower manufacturing costs?

And is it all their fault?

When we vote, and vote all of us do with our wallets (or debit and credit cards), do we cast our votes for quality products that we will be happy to use for years, perhaps even passing them on to another generation, or do we simply buy that which is the cheapest?

A small cautionary tale about buying cheap.

Years ago, I was a federal purchasing agent for the Texas Army National Guard. I, and the others in my office, were tasked with purchasing supplies for various military units in the Guard, many of which are now serving in Iraq. Part of our mission was to get the "best price possible", and we were told to ignore issues of "name brands" which might be known for their quality. One day, the lady who worked at a nearby desk nearly jumped up in the air because she had just placed a large order for strapping tape at about one-half the expected price. She had saved the federal government, and the American taxpayers, a few hundred dollars.

A few days later, while working with one of the units, we had cause to use the tape she had purchased. It was worthless. It would not stick, even to itself, and shredded and fell apart. The tape was used to hold groups of field gear together in bunches for quick and efficient deployment of a combat unit. We wound up using about three times as much tape as we would have needed had a better (name) brand been purchased, and that does not take into account the rolls that became so snarled and shredded that they were simply thrown away as useless.

Things that last well often are worth the extra cost simply in the extra service they can provide over their lifetime...if we let them live that long.

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Essay Writing How-to - Including Counter-Arguments in Your Essays

When writing essays, including a counter-argument is a great way to strengthen your whole piece (apart, of course, from employing a good writing software).  Instead of skirting what could potentially water down your position, you face it head on with your stance coming out unscathed. The result is an essay that is better thought-out and contains a more complete coverage of the surrounding issues.

Counter-Arguments Serve To Validate Your Piece

Though counter-arguments are not always required in college essays, adding them often leads to better results, as it shows diligence and a willingness to consider other facets of the subject.  In professional pieces, you may want to consider adding them in every time, to preempt lingering questions in your readers' minds.

Good counter-arguments offer a reasonable disagreement with the main idea you are pushing, which you'll then resolve within the body of the piece.  The result is an opinion that gets attacked, yet is able to keep itself intact.

Conceding Then Refuting

Rather than just presenting possible objections and leaving it at that, you'll have to find a way to show that your stance offers better value in spite of them.  If you don't, you'll leave your argument thin and largely devoid of impact.

An effective technique for presenting counter-arguments is to concede to its validity (as in, there is good reason for people to adopt it) and then to summarily refute it afterwards (as in, it's not the best option).  Done this way, you substantiate potential objections (as opposed to dismissing them) but also show how things can be handled in a better way.

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Get Creative With Different Essay Styles

School years are never complete without those numerous essay assignments that teachers keep handing out. It is safe to say that a number of students even developed a considerable amount of stress and hair-pulling antics, what with all the demands of original ideas and smooth compositions.

Indeed, it gets old after a time, not to mention extremely difficult, to keep on coming up with creative ideas for an article. One recommended guide then to make all these a little easier on the mind is by browsing the different essay forms. Indeed, by learning the different styles, the student can be steered on the various approaches that one can make in essay writing, thus infusing a fresh angle to the material.

Here are four styles of essay writing:

Narrative

The narrative approach, as the term implies, recounts a story. It can be a personal incident worthy of retelling, or a fictional experience based on a hyperactive imagination. But whatever the case, the resulting essay demands a rich level of vividness that should capture readers into the story. It is not enough that the readers simply understand the narrative, it should be engaging enough that said readers cannot help but get caught up in the drama (or the humor) of it all.

How can this be accomplished? The one great tip is to infuse essays with sensory details. A doggy breath smell, the bittersweet taste of dark chocolates, the red and purple rays of the sunset; these are all graphic descriptions that automatically causes readers to recreate the narration in their heads, thus becoming involved in the storytelling (whether they like it or not).

Comparative

The comparative essay discusses any two subjects. Relatively, the discussion centers on these two subjects' similarities, or differences, or both. Whereas the writer has full control on whether to lead a biased or impartial discussion, it is still recommended in more formal essays that the objective way of discourse be followed. In this way, readers will also impartially perceive all the positive and negative aspects of both sides.

If the comparative essay is meant for entertainment purposes mostly, then by all means, the writer is allowed to write with all the biases that can be mustered.

Persuasive / Argumentative

There is no mistaking what this type of essay aims to do. But just to stress it further, the persuasive or argumentative essay reasons out key points in order to convince readers toward the writer's point of view.

For this form of essay, the material can go from comical to dead-serious deliveries. Indeed, all writing tones are open for the writer, as long as the article does not lose touch of its primary goal of persuading readers on a certain opinion.

Critical

The critical essay tends to be the more solemn of all essay types, and probably the one that requires the most hard work. In this form, the writer focuses on a specific matter, and attempts to nitpick every aspect of that said topic. The analysis normally covers the topic's meaning, methods, objectives, strengths, and weaknesses.

Normally, the critical essay speaks about other creative works. The critique can be about another essay, a film, a book, and a poem, to name a few. From there, the material can begin with a brief overview of what the subject is all about, then followed by the main body of critical points that the writer perceived on the topic at hand.

Only Four, but there's More

These are just four of many essay styles to sustain every student's creative approach to writing. Endeavoring to attempt all forms not only enhances the writer's composition flexibility, it also keeps the reader (the teacher, that is) entertained with all the imaginative unpredictability.

Krista Cornell is a freelance article editor and part-time web designer in Michigan. Her literary loves deviate to themes of nature, history, and the occasional science-fiction novels. When not writing and leasing her deft hands to a graphic arts company, Krista can usually be found trying to reproduce a new Italian recipe she surfed in the internet.

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Technical Writing - Help, My Document's Too Long!

It's a question I often get asked, or a variation on the theme. "I work for XYZ software company and we've got a great product in ABC niche. Over time we've added hundreds of features and functions, and we've kept adding them to our product manual. What was once a simple 50 page document is now over 500 pages and counting! What can we do make things easier for our users?"

Don't Shred What You've Got

I agree this kind of documentation is not much good for your users but it may well be the best way to organise all your data for your helpdesk staff. Having an all inclusive gold standard manual is a good thing for those who will support your software.

Don't Let Your Guide Stand Alone

In the short-term if this is really your only piece of user documentation it's time to write some "quick start guides". Break down the functionality inside your system and work to the processes and tasks common user groups are likely to need. Then try and bring this into single documents based on those profiles. It's exceedingly rare to find a highly complex system where all users need all functions and features.

Get Your Manual Online and Make It Searchable

That doesn't mean dump a giant size PDF file on your website; it means actually upload the data into a content management system that allows users to search by functionality. This isn't a quick fix task and it's why you should start with simpler function oriented guides first, but it is a worthy one. Once the data is fully searchable, with a few nice indexes generated by function it won't feel like 550 pages anymore.

That's important because users won't be put off by browsing through for what they need because they can't perceive the work that your search facility is doing, and better still they don't have to do it themselves.

Talk To Your Users

It's always amazing how many people ask other professionals for advice, rather than asking the people who matter. End users who are familiar with your manual will have multiple suggestions on how to make it better. If you have a smallish user base, call them and find out what they want. If you have a huge user base then why not generate a questionnaire and see if you can put some feedback forums together too.

Overly long documentation can seriously impede the user experience, but that doesn't mean the data you have is no longer valuable. Don't be in a hurry for a quick fix, spend some time working out how you can add to your documentation range to deliver real value without wasting the work you've already done.

Nick is the President of [http://www.authoring4u.com] a specialist consultancy based in Shenzhen China, which helps companies from around the world save time and money in the areas of; technical documentation, Internet presence and marketing and Press Relations.

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Reading a Book is a Good Source of Knowledge and Entertainment

The invention of television and Internet has dragged a considerable number of people to depend on these audio visuals for information as well as entertainment. This is because television and Internet are easy means of communication. What holds maximum importance here is the fact that, visual communication are much more attractive and interesting then written words. On the contrary, it does not allow you to use your imagination or creativity because everything is provided readymade. You are no longer required to shuffle through the encyclopedia to obtain the information that you require. Everything is made available in a nutshell. Therefore, it is often recommended to maintain reading habits. It is still considered one of the best source of information that enforces your imagination and helps you to a have a good grasp on the language.

Other than just gaining knowledge, 'reading' has also become a good source of entertainment. It may be unbelievable for many, but most people find it more preferable to read various stories or articles rather than staying glued to the television or the Internet. Books can be categorised as fictional and non fictional. Fictional books have become very common now-a -days because they are interesting and presents everything as a story. The main feature of fictional books, that differentiates it from others, is that, it deals with concepts that are either fully untrue or partly untrue. Exaggeration is the main tool for the success of fictional stories. Everyone likes to read about things which are a kind of fantasy. Sometimes, it also comes up with concepts which are mythological. This means that it may deal with things or supernatural living beings that are partially believed to have been present in the past. There are a dozen books on dragon hunters, supernatural kungfuu warriors etc. Because of its fantasising concepts and plots, these fictions have become utterly popular among youngsters and kids. It is infact one of the best pastime while you are travelling by train, air or bus.

Novels are a good example of fictions. The success of a Novels depends on its plot, setting, themes and characters. It is in fact not restricted to a typical topic. It can be whimsical, serious or controversial. Novels are basically famous for its narrative impact, that most often prompt various directors and producers to make a movie out of it. Some of the famous novels are 'The Alchemist' and 'The Monk Who Sold His Farrari' by Paolo Coelho, 'Silas Marner' and 'The Great Expectation' by Charles Dickens and many more. In fact various other novels like 'The Godfather', 'Lord of the Rings' and the very famous 'Harry Potter' has fared tremendously response in the world market for their narrative excellence. In fact, they have also been screen played as movies and have come up with tremendous success.

On the other hand, there are a number of non fictional Books that have also become famous for their informative content and descriptive pictures. For example the encyclopedia is still considered to be one of the most accessible source of all information along with detailed description and realistic pictures. Non fictional category of novels depict historic subjects like 2nd World War, Gulf war, Mughal empire, Industrial revolution etc.

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The Power of Proofreading Your Work

Proofreading is a system of scanning a document and correcting errors. This can happen electronically or on hard copy using proofreading marks (paper). Self-proofreading is fine and do-able, however, it can be quite difficult to step back far enough from your work to see errors within. Any last faults often occur just when stress levels are uppermost and time shortest, readers' minds resist recognising them as errors. Under these circumstances, proof-readers are inclined to see only what they want to see.

As a proofreader I find the best way to go about proofing work from someone is to initially print off a copy and read it out loud. I always mark as I go, in case I miss something on my second go over. I read aloud so I can hear a run on sentence or any other problems that you tend to pick up more than reading quietly. I often use another piece of paper to block the lines below where I am reading because I have a habit of reading ahead. This ensures that I am focused on the line I am on only. After I read it twice I put it down for 15 minutes and then come back to it. Just that small distance from it allows me often to pick up more errors. I don't rely simply on spell check when proofing online because it won't deal well with homonyms (e.g., 'they're,' 'their,' 'there') or certain typos (like 'he' for 'the'). Once I feel the document is complete and that the standard of presentation is suitable for publication, I again scrutinise each word, punctuation mark and graphic element for discrepancies before sending back. I also check that the layout and type stipulations have been precisely followed, and that the line breaks, and table and illustration placements are appropriate.

Good presentation to any piece of work of any sort can make a huge difference. Whether it's a website, newsletter, essay, brochure, or corporate document; errors tell me and the general public that it is not good enough, not professional enough. They ask, 'If they make mistakes like this, will their service be any good?' A simple proofread can make all the difference in getting good and numerous customers, good grades and establishing a good reputation for producing quality work. Proofreading is vital to creating completed pieces of quality work. Typos and inconsistencies happen to the best of writers. A spell-checker can only fix spelling errors, but do not take into account substituting 'is' or 'it' or using the incorrect forms of other words.

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