Importance of Cutting the Roots of Plagiarism
When people know the hard facts about plagiarism and how it would affect the people involved in the act, more and more people might stop doing it. It should be duly noted that there is a thin line between good and bad. Thus, more awareness about the act will help people tread on the thin line of crossing between plagiarism and strictly allowable paraphrasing. When plagiarism is stifled even before it has taken roots, then there would be more chance of succeeding effort to cut off plagiarism permanently. Another reason would be to have a compact view of what plagiarism is because there are multiple views and descriptions of what it really is.

Downside of Plagiarism
Plagiarism might be suitably described as a subtle way of cheating, especially when the one reviewing the piece cannot anymore spare more time to work on verifying the contents of a newly-submitted article. Subtlety mostly results to a piled up work of more and more plagiarism. When this ill behaviour remains unnoticed, the doer of the cheating might think that plagiarism is really a helper to make his submissions easier. However, the moment one is get caught committing plagiarism, he would be duly punished for him to bear in his mind that plagiarism can hurt and that stopping one’s self from doing the crime is an easier way out. Another thing is that when the disobedient citizen gets caught red-handed, there might be serious legal repercussions like paying for the damages that you might have brought upon the name, company, or any employer when you used their name. You may also be brought to court and thus, you would have to spend for a lawyer in your defence. This would besmear your name and reputation. You may also be asked to pay the value of how you have bothered other people. Thus, plagiarism is a quite an expensive mistake to commit and to be caught with.

Alternative Attitude for Plagiarism
Instead of thinking of how to get out of the hook easily, authoritative figures should able to point out to the people, like the students, how sweet the fruit of labor and sweat is. People should be taught that the more they would struggle to get out without lifting as much as a finger, the more that they would be lifted back to the starting line. Anyhow, creative and active thinking are fun. People should also be given the taste of how it would be when you get to see what you have conceptualized slowly come to life. By then, everyone would hopefully get more cooperative to fight against plagiarism.

Role of Authoritative Figures
One of these authoritative figures which can help shape people’s disposition towards plagiarism is the teacher. The teacher can help the students make the program of his course in a way that would eliminate some of the temptations of plagiarism. This can be done by providing the students a reliable research site that would give almost everything that he would need for his paper. The teacher can also help stifle plagiarism by carefully instructing the students as to how to write citation pages, particularly the bibliography. Even if some people might be disobedient, it would not be easy to break the authority vested on these powerful teachers. Another authoritative figure would be the parents. The reward and punishment psychology may get an impact on the child who would grow up to be a conscientious citizen.

Research paper is a combination of personal ideas and other sources opinions. It requires a clear understanding and stand regarding the subject matter. At the same time, it requires a thorough research and clear process of incorporating the research into the paper. With all these processes, uncertainty usually comes in the way.
How can one incorporate his ideas and argument regarding the subject with the information taken from other sources? If there are certain changes in the idea of the original thinker, is citation still needed? How can one avoid plagiarism?
These are just some of the questions that can be encountered in writing a research paper. To be able to overcome these problems, the following information can help in coming with a great research paper and be able to avoid plagiarism:

Pre-writing phase

1. Preparation and planning of the paper
   
   It is crucial that the researcher prepare and plans the entire research paper before the research and the writing even begin. This is an essential phase in the study since it will clarify which arguments and ideas will be integrated. This is also important since this will give the writer the chance to identify the scope and limitation of the study.
2. In doing this, the writer should prepare an outline. Written in the outline are the details and statements that will be discussed in the paper. At the same time, it will include a detailed and orderly arrangement of the facts. This step is a great way to avoid plagiarism since the writer will be able to know where to place and indicate the information that comes from other sources.
3. Sorting out of notes
   As already mentioned, writing a research paper involves a lot of research. To be able to get this task done properly, one should jot down the details and facts that are taken from other sources. While doing this, the writer should also indicate the necessary information about the author and source for citation purposes.
4. While making notes, personal ideas can sprout and they need to be written down as well so it will not be forgotten. So that it will not be mixed with the gathered information, the writer can use colored pens or markers to classify personal opinions from sources’ information. By doing these, plagiarism can be avoided.
5. Talk with the adviser
   Not only does this have to be done before the writing process, this must happen all throughout the research and writing phases. Especially with matters regarding plagiarism, there are some information that advisers can be a lot of help. No matter how a researcher checks out different websites to seek clarification regarding plagiarism, there can be no other method that can defeat a well explained statement especially from a respected person from the academe.

Writing phase
1. State references
It is important that a writer should remember that in case of uncertainty, it will be better to mention references. Citing references does not mean that a writer does not have enough idea about the topic and he is entirely depending to other people’s ideas. This is not true. In fact, there are lots of benefits in doing this.

• avoids plagiarism. This can happen with the proper use of citation formats, and
• gives the impression that a writer is capable of organizing different opinions and other sources’ ideas into one.

To be able to able to come up with a very effective solution to plagiarism, the target should be its roots. This would give a significant impact in forming an efficient strategy intended to combat the problem on plagiarism. The following are helpful tips to do so:

1. acquaint yourself with the causes why there is plagiarism
2. know in what ways plagiarism takes place
3. inculcate proactive actions to plagiarism in the school curriculum

Motivation to Commit Plagiarism
Plagiarism is undeniably one fast way to overcome one hard school task. This is just one of the many reasons why some pupils if not most resort to cheating. As students run out of time and as many more school stuffs pile up, there is a greater tendency to commit such intellectual dishonesty. For these reasons, plagiarism here is intentional. But there are also some circumstances wherein one unconsciously commits plagiarism; this takes place when one cannot identify the thin line distinguishing research and plagiarism. What are other circumstances that motivate plagiarism? And how can we be wise in anticipating such? Cutting off the roots before a plant grows is a good analogy to determining what makes plagiarism one easy choice to accomplish a project before such misdeed is done.

Purposeful Plagiarism
Adventure may be one fit word to link with plagiarizing. This may be one way of students to test the intellectual capacity and resourcefulness of the instructors to be able to identify which is copied from whom and which is not. This becomes one exciting quest for some who take risk of intentionally doing so.

Researching and Thinking
Accessibility of information online makes it convenient for students to run through data needed for school work. What makes it easier is that these pieces of information include some other useful data related to it. For instance, a site for the articles of a certain author also includes the commentaries or reactions and analyses of the readers and perhaps analyses also of other fellow authors. This is more than just a little help, this greatly enables students to grasp some ideas from those posted analyses which some if not most try to own.
It is of much importance then to train the students on shaping and making their own views to various matters. Individuality makes sense. In connection to this, different people have different perceptions on things and it is much easier to process one’s own bits of data to information especially when there is understanding of the issue.
It is inevitable that students tend to be conscious about their own work because of what they had already read. They may find their work way poorly written and done compared to other provided analyses. Thus, students think of excusing themselves from the burden of hard task by just copying the ready-made analyses and reaction paper. But we must always remember that one’s own ideas may transcend others’ if we have the drive to really know the details.
A way to encourage students to refrain from plagiarism is to let them know that each has unique way of understanding matters and expressing opinions. Everything is a learning process that does not only take a blink of an eye but it takes effort and perhaps so much time. Moreover, people have different lenses in looking at things due to the different agents of learning they may be exposed to. There is also a chance that the analysis a student has come up with is even more relevant in the field compared to what a person with expertise on the topic has analyzed. But as students who try to learn new things, they are not much expected to level up with those who are experts. They are only encouraged.

Grades and Plagiarism
Education loses its meaning as many students see it as a leeway to attain an end which we may say a materialistic one. For example, earning six-digit salary and more which arises from the pressure of a either poor or rich family. Pressure from other groups such as friends and teachers also agitate students to work hard, to strive well and do the prohibited acts. And plagiarism is not an exemption to these forbidden behaviors. Instead of focusing and doing well on “how” one attains an objective, students’ attentions are eyed on the end itself.

4. Have the Students Present Drafts
   When the students start to write a particular work, you should be browsing through it in order to make certain that each student’s work is an original. Requiring them to submit drafts every now and then would persuade them to really make a work of their own. Once they submit a draft or even an outline to you, it would definitely be best to write comments about what they have written and in turn, once they submit it again, you would be able to check if they were able to apply what you have advised them to do. By doing this, you would be able to see immediately the improvements of your students.

5. Provide Particular Topics to Your Students
   By providing particular topics to your students, this would make you certain that the probability of being able to find a certain paper that has already been written which may be copied would be avoided. Your students would not be constraint with regard to having the means for them to truly express what they would like to say if for instance you would allow them to get an assistant or simply consult with you. You may even set a schedule when you would be able to meet them.

6. Require them to Answer Questions Orally
   Once you require the students to answer various questions pertaining to the how they would like their work to turn out, like how they go about research, this would aid you in terms of ascertaining whether the students actually know what they are doing or not. Aside from that, your students would also become more at ease with the research that they should do and how they would be able to come up with brilliant ideas that would also contribute a lot to their paper.

7. The Annotation of the Bibliography of the Students should have a Personal Touch
   The students should learn to make an annotation that is brief and concise so that they would be able to put to good use all the sources that they have. However, it should be taken into consideration that the annotation should be made in such a way that the students do not simply copy whatever is written on the sources that they were able to get. It should be written in such a way that it is based on how the students were able to understand it, which means that they have to write using their own style.

8. An Alternative to Submission of Drafts or Outlines
   Aside from requiring your students to submit drafts or answer to questions, an alternative to that would be to require them to submit a particular paragraph wherein the students would be discussing how they were able to come up with the topic that they have. The process that they had to undergo in terms of how they started with the research and how they were able to get a hold of sources and what exactly is its significance.

9. Sources Used Should Be Recent
   The students should not rely on sources that may have been written long time ago since these may no longer be applicable at present. Sources should be the most recent in order to make certain that all the latest developments regarding the study and the students’ work would become even more significant.

10. The Work Should Be Brief yet Sensible
    The work that your students would submit should be brief yet the essence should still be there. Students may just use ideas that are actually part of their sources.

1. Clearly identify the source
   In mentioning the original source of the information, it is a necessity that the writer be able to identify clearly who is the source of the information. There are some ideas that are revived and rephrased by an author from another author. When this occurs, it is a rule of thumb that the writer states the name and not just merely relies on pronouns.
   Writers should remember that plagiarism can also occur if proper citation is not followed. To avoid this, the writer should think about who says what and state this clearly in the paper. This is a sure way of avoiding plagiarism.

2. Identify reliable and credible sources
   Research is a tedious task. It is not tedious just because gathering data will require many sources. The most important and crucial step that a writer should remember in writing is identifying if a source is reliable or not.
   One cannot rely entirely in the data that are gathered. There are some information that are not really credible. Especially when it comes to Internet sources, writers should take the necessary precautions in evaluating information. Details like the author’s name, date published, and where the information is from are essential and basic guide to evaluating a source. Moreover, the writer should observe the quality of writing, stand and arguments of the entry, and credibility of the information stated. These also serve as hints to further evaluate certain information. Once these categories pass the standards of the researcher, there is a chance that the source is reliable.

3. Learn proper paraphrasing
   With paraphrasing, one can write someone else’s idea into own words. This will just simply show that the writer has the ability to properly integrate his ideas with someone else’s opinions and stand. Aside from that, paraphrasing makes it clear that there are other thinkers that agree the stand or argument of the study. Also, it enables the paper to flow smoothly. There is a misconception that this is done to avoid many direct quotations in the paper. Another misconception of its use is that it keeps the fact that one relies too much on other sources. All these are just misconceptions. As already mentioned, it is even beneficial.
   Writers, on the other hand, should somehow remember that doing this is not just about merely changing the words of the original text. Paraphrasing is the use of one’s own words and sentence construction. Above all, it still needs citation since it is not a writer’s original idea.

With the new era and the development of the Internet plagiarism has become a big concern for writers and people who make original research work. Publish materials are not safe from anyone who knows how to use the computer and has access to the internet. The product of your mind and hard work, the write ups, article, research, and literary works that you have spent time doing can easily be stolen through simple copy and pasting or downloading. Yes, plagiarism is stealing; it is the stealing of someone else’s intellectual work and research. The writer’s idea of posting their work and publishing it is for the public to appreciate, and for them to share your knowledge and ofcourse to earn money from their hard work, and not to be owned or copied by someone who just wants to make a few bucks without actually exerting effort or a student who just want to finish his term paper.
When does plagiarism happen?
Well, when people copy your work without proper citation that is plagiarism already. Some people are just down right lazy and intentionally copy works of other people thinking they can get away with it. As the person who conceptualized and did all the hard work it is up to you to take charge, control, defend and protect your hard work. When you caught someone plagiarizing you and your work do the proper steps, make them regret what they did, it will teach everyone a lesson that plagiarism should not be taken lightly and that it is a serious offense. Press charges to site owners who publish plagiarized work.

Are there ways to know if my work has been plagiarized? Yes, use the internet and other resources. Search engines over the internet are a big help. Some anti plagiarism software are free or just make use of the free search engines.
Search engines will display results that are in the same subject or field of your work, you just have to be smart in using the search engines. Manual checking is time consuming, but with the internet it is very easy to detect plagiarism.
Here are some tips that you can do to detect if someone has plagiarized your work.

First, and the easiest way is to buy an anti plagiarism device, software or system via the internet, you can also download free anti plagiarism software. A lot of industry have developed programs like this because they know the demand, and they are aware that plagiarism is happening very rampant. A downloaded software can be used either offline or online so it is very easy to use.

Second tip, add a little something on your work. Add up a distinctive phrase, sentence or paragraph that will blend in with your works content. This way when you use the commercial search engines and type in the distinctive phrase you add up, anyone who copied your work will be presented to you. The title may have changed, they may have also changed the format and other stuff but with the use of a distinctive phrase plagiarizers may not realize that it is like a trap and just copy the whole thing.

Just remember not to let your hard work go to someone else’s hand. You are in charge, you have the power to protect and defend your right. As much as you do not like your physical stuff to be stolen, you should also not let anyone take away your intellectual products.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is a serious breach of the concept of ownership. When one commits plagiarism, he trespasses the rights of others, particularly the owner of the idea or work being copied. Trespassing is never good. Aside from stepping on the line of privacy of an owner, plagiarism also entails committing other sins. These sins would include lying, deceiving, and stealing. This is another reason why committing a single plagiarism would certainly burden one’s conscience. There are also people who would hide behind the reason that they are ignorant of how exactly plagiarism is committed. Thus, this forms another classification in plagiarism. There are plagiarisers who know that they are plagiarising but still get on with it. The second classification would be those plagiarisers who keep on doing what they normally without knowing that they are already plagiarising. The second group would be like guilty for the actual commitment of the sin but since they do not know that they are doing subtle or outrageously loud cheating, they may be excused.

Kinds of Plagiarism
As how a famous legally-related quote is stated, “ignorance excuses no one,” since there are still many who claim of unknowingly plagiarising the works of other people, the best way to cure their ignorance would be to educate them well. The next time around, they cannot protect themselves if they will continue the habit of plagiarism. Here are the different ways by which plagiarism can be done:

1. Citation of sources
   This is usually due to the absence of proper coverage of the whole sources of the contents of the work that you wrote. There are certain conventions and formats as to how the citations should be laid out in order to avoid being accused of plagiarism. Anyone can access these through the Internet. Your sources should be given the right amount of spotlight for without them, you would not have been able to create the piece that you have now.
2. Paraphrasing
   This is like gathering different pieces of works and putting them all together in “your” work, just like doing a paper mosaic. This may result to a believably beautiful piece but that you would proudly own as yours. Because there are many original and scattered sources, the plagiarized work may not be totally proven as plagiarised at all. However, there are now plagiarism checkers stored as software. Thus, caution should be totally at the side of the plagiariser. With technology, the identification of plagiarism can be easily done.
3. Word redress
   This is the simple changing of the words themselves in order to deceive the reader through the new appearance of the piece of work but essentially, the plagiarised work has the same concept as the original. Redressing can be done by using the synonyms of each word or by rearranging a few words here and there.

How Do you Stop It?
In order to make the unknowing commitment of plagiarism, everyone, especially the student who are the ones more likely tempted to plagiarise works, should be taught of the consequences of violating the ownership rights of other people by plagiarising their work. This is why patents are made, in order to help in the argument of who owns what. Patent is a legal title that will be awarded to the original creator of an idea or piece.

E. Accurate citation of authors
In the body of a research paper where you utilize most the ideas of others like great author, make sure to state accurately who really said this and that to avoid confusing the readers. This is more important when you refer to various authors and experts. It is when ideas from them and yours are mixed up that you find it hard to show which are really from this author and which are from that person and which are from yours. In instances where you have to use pronouns to refer to your sources, you have to make sure that there will be no puzzle in identifying who you are referring to. Due credit to the authors are important and readers must not be confused whom to give this credit.
F. Correct paraphrasing
One way to convey the idea of others in your research paper is to paraphrase it. Paraphrasing is simply modifying the statement of your source by using your own terms and altering the sentence structure but still retaining the main idea of that statement. Moreover, when you paraphrase, it does not mean that you can already own that concept as yours. This still require proper citation of your sources so as not to be accused of plagiarism.
Paraphrasing is used to avoid so much direct quotations in a paper but to most students, this is purposely used to conceal the fact that they have used the ideas of others in their work. It is a stigma to them to let others know they have used someone elseТs idea to support their arguments. But what they do not know is that it would be much helpful if they explicitly admit referring and using the work of others so that they will have a stronger argument. This will also make the readers more convinced of the points and views you believe in especially when your sources are prominent and reliable experts. Using paraphrased statements in a paper is not bad as long as the sources are cited correctly and the authors are given due credit. Furthermore, paraphrased statements are significant to make your paper coherent and clear.
G. Assessment of all references
The information technology advances particularly the internet, and in this advent, it does not follow that everything found in the World Wide Web is correct. There is information which is wrong and there are sources which are not reliable. It is then very important to know what helpful websites to consult and who are the reliable authors to refer to. It is also suggested to know if these sources and information are updated and accurate so that there will be no problems in your paper especially when you are dealing with survey results, statistics in general.

C. Note-taking of “borrowed” ideas
Before putting your thoughts into words and before using the ideas of others in a paper, it is of much importance to know the details of all other sources. For instance, the internet links like the website from which you take some concepts in your paper, this should be found written along with other various references. You can also use other techniques to separate “borrowed” concepts from yours like highlighting them through colored pens (if you read it from printed media like books and newspapers) and (if it is from the internet or in soft copy) you can use different font styles and font colors or you can make it bold, italicized and underlined. It is also helpful to apply page numbers and write down the pages where the ideas you copy from someone else are included so that it would not be difficult for you to find the exact pages of these copied ideas. Do copy right there and then the bibliography and search engine URL of your sources so as not to forget them.
D. Citation of all possible references
Students have the tendency to always live up to the expectation of teachers thus leading them to take great ideas from someone else and from experts to be able to support their arguments. If you are one of these students, be sure to make an explicit cut between your original ideas and others’. If you are confused which ideas are absolutely your and which ideas are copied, it is wise to just cite the possible source where you take that idea from. This may be caused when you tweak and rephrase some sentences from a reference so it is very relevant to really know what you are doing and be familiar with the ideas you copied to distinguish it from yours.

There are times when you find it hard to properly cite you sources due to some uncertainties. One of which is being confused which ideas are originally yours and which are absolutely referred from others. This case occurs when one has somewhat similar ideas with a source. When you modify the phrases from a reference, does this still require proper citation?
Ignorance of what to do when we encounter citation problems would probably lead to plagiarism. And to be able to avoid such, here are some relevant guidelines:
A. Proper consultation with research instructors
Teachers know best when it comes to the research paper they assign to you. When it comes to your research topic, they can give you ideas of whom and what sources to consult. They can also teach you how to lay and organize your own ideas on your paper. They also have enough knowledge to teach you how to cite your sources properly. And they could also initially check the originality of your paper before the final submission. They would be much more than willing to help if you approach them to ask for their guidance in your work.
B. Organization of thoughts
It is often inevitable that you use the ideas of others to support your points in a research paper. With this, it is important that you know which ideas are really yours and which one are taken from others. It is also a necessity to explicitly show the different sets of ideas in the research paper, those which are yours and those of others. The readers must clearly know this for them to be able to understand more your unique ideas and this will also tell them that you are not plagiarizing.