In our previous article, we introduced some tips and tricks about the definition of plagiarism and instructions on how to avoid plagiarism. This article offers additional information and examples on how to avoid plagiarism in research papers.

Use proper citation

To recognize where your own ideas came from: If you are using ideas of someone else, make sure you give them credit. These include ideas you have paraphrased or summarized.  One of the most important ways to avoid plagiarism is to include a reference page or a page of citations at the end of the research paper. Again, this page must comply with the document formatting guidelines of your educational institution. This information is very specific and includes the author, the date of publication, the title and the source. Follow the instructions on this page carefully. You want to make sure the references are correct.

You can follow the following tips to include the original author in the text citations and reference list:

·        In text citation: When using a work by someone else in a paper, it is necessary to give credit to them by citing the source directly into the text of the paper. The citation should include the author's name and publication year. For example: ( Holzinger, A., Langs, G., Denk, H., Zatloukal, K. and Müller, H., 2019. Causability and explainability of artificial intelligence in medicine. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 9(4), p.e1312.).

·        Reference list: At the end of the document, you should include a reference list that provides detailed citation information for all sources used in the document. The reference list must be placed in alphabetical order by author's last name.

·        Use citation style rules: Different citation styles have different rules for citing sources. Make sure that you follow the rules of the citation style you use. You should follow the rules of the citation style throughout the text and be careful when citing all sources.

·        Cite your own material: If you use content from previous papers, you must cite yourself.

Use quotation marks

 When you use a specific word from another person, you must place it in quotation marks and quote the source. Using quotes indicates that the text was taken from another paper. The quotes should be exactly as they appear on the paper from which they are taken.

Cite Sources

When using someone else's ideas, you need to translate them into your own words and cite the source. Paraphrase or reword the contents of other papers and quote the source. To paraphrase or rewrite other documents and cite sources, follow the following steps:

·        Ensure that you understand the original text before you begin paraphrasing. Paraphrasing refers to writing the original text into your own words.

·        Make sure you don't just change some words here and there, but actually change the wording of the text.

·        Use synonyms to replace words in the original text.

·        Change the structure of the original text. 5.Ensure that you cite the original text source.

Use the plagiarism checker

Use the plagiarism check tool to self-check your documents: The plagiarism check tool can help identify any plagiarism in your documents. You can use plagiarism check tools such as Grammarly, Turnitin and Plagiarism Checker to check plagiarism in your paper. Use a plagiarism scanner to identify any plagiarism problems in your documents before you submit them. Use anti-plagiarism tools to detect any accidental plagiarism. For example, plagiarism detection software like Cross Check

Keep track of the sources

To track sources, you consult in your research, follow the following steps:

·        Use index cards: Use one card per source consulted. Note the bibliographic information of the source at the top of the card so that you have the information ready when you need to cite the source in your bibliography.

·        Use citation managers: citation managers such as Zotero and EndNote can help create citations and direct note to citation information and sources.

·        Note Cards, Excel and Sketch: You can also keep a note card, excel and Sketch to organize.

·        Save the source as you go: Save the source as you go so that you don't have to look for it again later.

·        Keep track of useful sources when you find them: Write information about your sources when you find them. Include the title of the article, the author and the journal information: title, publication year and number of volumes/issues.

Do not depend on AI writing tools.

Although artificial intelligence tools can write grammatically correct sentences, you do not expect well-organized and clear plans. Most of them contain confusing and in consistent paragraphs. AI can synthesize data only and follow basic grammar rules; it cannot integrate different information in the most logical way. Most of text generated using AI tools can be detected using plagiarism checker and AI content detector tools.

Summary

Researchers' awareness of plagiarism and plagiarism detection tools plays an important role in preventing plagiarism. Consequently, researchers should be aware of the tools available to detect plagiarism and identify plagiarism.

If you would like to know more about patchwriting, quoting, paraphrasing and more, read the next article in this series!