One out of three high school students has admitted to plagiarising their assignments from the Internet. 36% of undergraduates admitted to copying a few sentences from the Internet without footnoting it. 14% of students admitted to falsifying a bibliography. As per a study by the Center for Academic Integrity, 80% of college students have admitted to plagiarising assignments.
All these statistics prove that plagiarism has always been an eternal issue for teachers, parents and writers. Most students may even end up plagiarising their assignments unknowingly. So, check out the ten most common types of plagiarism you should be aware of throughout your academic life.
1. Find-Replace
This plagiarism happens when you change only a few specific phrases and keywords from the original document. The rest of the document remains intact. You may have changed some words in the original content, but it won’t matter if you use the majority of the original source. You can get college essay help if you find it difficult to get rid of this plagiarism in your document.
Example:
Original
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
Plagiarized
Elephants are browsing and non-stationary animals. They usually eat leaves, fruits and tall grasses. Elephants consume nearly hundreds of pounds of food each day. They drink nearly 190 litres of water. They also travel in herds rather than having a fixed living place.
2. Clone
This is the most troublesome form of plagiarism detected by professors from all over the world. Clone occurs when you copy the entire work from an original source and submit it as your own. You may end up getting an F if you submit a ‘cloned’ assignment.
Example:
Original
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
Plagiarized
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
3. CTRL+C
This one is almost similar to the clone plagiarism. However, there are small changes in the former. In CTRL+C, students copy only a specific section or paragraph in the original document without any alteration. Let’s say you want to use an idea from a particular paragraph in your assignment without plagiarising it. So, you can type ‘solve my assignment’ on Google and let an expert help out with that.
Example:
Original
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day.
They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
Plagiarized
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day.
The best thing about elephants is that they are the largest mammals on Earth. But they can so kind too. They use their trunks to greet other animals or to pick up objects.
4. Remix
This form of plagiarism occurs when you paraphrase from a variety of sources and fit the pieces of information together in your assignment. Make sure you cite the sources while paraphrasing words from multiple sources. You may change the words in your paper, but the lack of citation will still label your work as ‘plagiarized.’
Example:
Original
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. (Source 1)
They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place. (Source 2)
Plagiarized
Elephants usually survive on leaves, tall grasses and fruits. These animals also consume at least hundreds of pounds of food every day. Elephants drink at least 190 litres of water and they like travelling in herds from one location to another.
5. Recycle
Recycle is also termed as ‘self-plagiarism.’ It happens when you borrow information from the work you had done previously. This form of plagiarism can either occur intentionally or intentionally. Let’s say you got the same topic for two semesters. Your work won’t be considered plagiarized in the first semester. However, the same work will be considered plagiarized if you turn it in the next semester.
6. Mashup
Mashup occurs when you mix up the words collected from a range of sources without creating any original work. Lack of quotations or citations present the document falsely and don’t make your work seem original. Copying from one source is already considered a direct red flag. When you do the same thing with two sources, it leads to a more serious form of plagiarism.
Example:
Original
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. (Source 1)
These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. (Source 2)
They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place. (Source 3)
Plagiarized
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
7. Hybrid
This plagiarism consists of both appropriate source use and inappropriate source use. You may have cited some of the passages in your assignment accurately. But, other passages may not have appropriate citations. Ineffective paraphrasing can also cause this form of plagiarism in your paper.
Example:
Original
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
Plagiarized
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. “Though the largest mammals on Earth, elephants are yet peaceful animals. The females may be aggressive while in the presence of their younger calves.” Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
8. 404 error
This one occurs when you use a non-existent source or when you provide wrong source information in your assignment. Most of you may do this when you aren’t able to find the actual source of information to support the arguments you made in your paper.
Example:
Let’s say you have cited quote 1 as contributed originally by author A when Quote 1 is in fact from Author B originally. Another example is when you attribute a certain text to Author/Source B within your assignment. But, you don’t mention the same in your reference list at the end of your document.
9. Aggregator
In this plagiarism, you may have cited all the sources accurately without contributing anything original in the assignment. Your professors may think they are reading someone else’s work in your paper. ‘Aggregator’ plagiarism occurs when you just copy and paste the whole text from one source and cite it. Your work can have ideas from other authors, but it should also consist of your original ideas.
Example:
Original
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
Plagiarized
Elephants are herbivores animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place. (R. Williams, p. 69)
10. Re-Tweet
This form of plagiarism occurs when you do not meet the mark of appropriate paraphrasing. You may have given proper credits to the original work but without adjusting the words and structure right. Despite the citations, your work would still lack any original thoughts, ideas and arguments.
Example:
Original
Elephants are browsing animals. They feed on leaves, fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume almost hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. Most elephants prefer travelling in herds from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
Plagiarized
Elephants are animals that eat leaves fruits and tall grasses. These animals consume hundreds of pounds of food each day. They even drink up to 190 litres of water. They like moving in from one place to another rather than having a fixed living place.
Wrapping Up,
Most of the times, plagiarism is unintentional, especially because students have to submit tasks amid a packed schedule. Whether it is intentional or unintentional, you must get rid of plagiarism before turning your paper to your professors. Proofread your copy thoroughly and use a trustworthy plagiarism checker to assess the originality of your work.
