01/09, 02/09 - Why Plagiarism is a No-go and How To Avoid It

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 Vector Cartoon of Businessman Stealing an Idea To Another Man or Competitor Stock Vector - Illustration of humor, invention: 150601379


Plagiarism is a cardinal sin in academic writing. It is absolutely unforgivable in academia to the extent that even one instance of plagiarism in an academic work by anyone can lead to the perpetrator losing all credibility and respect of others. This week's class was about how plagiarism happens and how we can avoid it. 

Nikhil sir took us through the various kinds of plagiarism there is. He explained in detail what constitutes plagiarism. He also took us through how one can avoid plagiarism in essays. The two major ways he stressed are paraphrasing and citations. We learned the different ways of paraphrasing paragraphs and did worksheets to better understand them. This helped me understand how exactly one should paraphrase any kind of content. 

Any discussion on plagiarism and the like inevitably leads to the question of ethics. Paraphrasing if done right can get one out of plagiarism accusations, but one is ethically obliged to show sources if they are ideas taken from somewhere else. This is where citations come in. The second session of the week focused on the finer details of citing sources and the etiquette surrounding it. We discussed the various citation styles and where they are used. We were asked to use the APA (7th ed.) format. The session ended with Nikhil sir assigning us our very first argumentative essay on a topic of our choice. 

The week's session taught me a lot. Citation especially was something very interesting to learn, because I had only ever had experience with it in the occasional academic articles I encountered. It gives me a sense of confidence now that I know how to do it too. 

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