Avoiding Plagiarism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Avoiding Plagiarism - Essay Example This reflection paper provides insight into my experience with researching, referencing, and writing academic papers. After a critical analysis of my writing skills, I discovered that I am very cautions with plagiarism. The college has strict policy against plagiarism, which could result in failure in my coursework or even expulsion in extreme situation. To avoid these consequences I have learned how to paraphrase my research, do quotations, and summarize material from secondary sources of information in my own words. According to Neville (2007), it is critical for students to write in their own voice, which is a foremost factor when trying to avoid plagiarism. I am also good at critiquing other author’s ideas. This gives me an opportunity to my make my own contribution to a certain topic by improving on literature available. I believe that every field of research needs new ideas which can be possible through evaluation of literature available and adding your own views. In addition, I take citations very seriously. I discovered that I rely heavily on auto formatting tools in word processing. The over reliance on auto formatting tools can be time consuming and reduces my ability to improve my writing style. According to Wong (2011), students should ensure they master the difference between research and plagiarism. Sometimes after extensive research on a topic, I tend to reproduce the ideas in the same format as the author, which increases my chances of plagiarizing my work. Therefore, I have to use anti plagiarism tools to ensure my work is original. This process can be time consuming and mastering how to avoid plagiarism would increase my confidence when writing academic papers. I have not perfected in text citations, I keep referring to class notes, and I use auto-formatting tools to ensure that all papers I write are cited properly. My plan is to