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What Is Considered Plagiarism And How to Avoid It

Students often encounter the term plagiarism as part of their school or university’s academic honesty policy. The word might also be referenced in a course syllabus, or perhaps be covered by an instructor or librarian during a class session.

Plagiarism is usually couched in strong language about the seriousness of the offense. To plagiarize, as defined by the "Merriam-Webster Dictionary,” means “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” and “to commit literary theft” by failing to acknowledge or cite source material.

"Think of Google Books posting entire pages and chapters online, YouTube hosting music and movies, or sites copying and cross-posting content from other sites,” said Brian Ryckman , eLearning Librarian at Southern New Hampshire University.

As a librarian, Ryckman works with students on a daily basis to address concerns about researching, using and citing information. The majority of questions he receives are about how to cite sources correctly, followed by when to cite. Below are answers to such questions as well as other things you should know about the topic, including some ways to avoid plagiarism.

Types of Plagiarism

The Plagiarism Spectrum is a continuum of 10 common types of plagiarism compiled by Turnitin, a company that provides tools to ensure originality for educators. Some of the major types include:

• Copying or submitting someone else's work – From copying-and-pasting to buying term papers online, this is one of the most frequent and most serious types of plagiarism, according to Turnitin's worldwide survey.
• Improper citation – This form of plagiarism can take various forms, such as not using quotation marks correctly, paraphrasing multiple sources by cobbling them together, and citing non-existent sources or inaccurate information from your sources.
• Self-plagiarism – Contrary to what many students believe, it is possible to plagiarize yourself (for example, borrowing "generously from [your own] previous work without citation," or turning in a paper for one class that you wrote for another).

Intent to cheat and extent of plagiarism are important factors when it comes to assessing the severity of a plagiarism case, according to Tracey Bretag in a "PLOS Medicine" article titled “Challenges in Addressing Plagiarism in Education.” Intention is especially important when evaluating cases of accidental plagiarism, which can result from poor note taking, not quoting or citing properly or paraphrasing incorrectly.

"Librarians have countless stories about people copying a quote or statistic, and then needing help to track down the source days later with very little information about where or how the source was found," Ryckman said. "There is so much information available and many paths to find supporting research that it's no wonder students have difficulty tracking down sources."

Before the ubiquity of the internet, students often used the note card system for researching. They would go the library and write longhand on index cards to track topics, sources, key information and ideas (paraphrased from the original), as well as page numbers from library books and other resources. The libraries, meanwhile, functioned as informational gatekeepers, helping to curate credible sources and reputable works for students and researchers to reference.

What Constitutes Plagiarism in the Digital Age?

A 2011 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center and "Chronicle of Higher Education" found that “(most) college presidents (55%) say that plagiarism in students’ papers has increased over the past 10 years. Among those who have seen an increase in plagiarism, 89% say computers and the internet have played a major role.”

Today, many students in the United States applying to university as freshmen have grown up as digital natives, with unprecedented access to information, resources, knowledge, expertise and opinions by way of computers, mobile devices and other technologies. Libraries are now expected to teach people how to determine what information is trustworthy and reliable, according to Pew Research Center’s 2016 survey on libraries. That’s no easy feat in a world where the answers to questions are available as Google search results, Wikipedia entries, Facebook posts, Twitter hashtags, YouTube videos, Reddit forums, news sites (real and fake) and more.

Students are often told that general or common knowledge does not require citation. When it comes to what is common knowledge in respect to plagiarism, this includes facts that are widely known to the public, ones that are not the results of original or unique research. Such facts are available from numerous (credible) sources and are not protected by copyright laws.

Common knowledge examples include the following:

• Two-thirds of Earth’s surface is covered by water.
• Citrus fruits are a good source of vitamin C.
• Mars is the fourth planet from the sun in our solar system.
• Columbus set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492.
• Leonardo da Vinci painted La Giaconda, referred to as the Mona Lisa in English.

Context matters when it comes to common knowledge. "I think we can all agree, for example, that bats are nocturnal mammals. But if we were to say bats are nocturnal mammals whose population has been decimated by White-Nose Syndrome, then we want to cite the source from which we learned that the bat population has been affected," Ryckman said. "Not only does including the source strengthen our argument, it also gives the reader an opportunity to learn more."

Facts serve an essential role in research papers or projects, but real learning is more than simply memorizing or replicating facts. Students should understand the material, demonstrate that understanding, and contribute their original thoughts, comparisons or interpretations.

Knowledge does not exist in a vacuum, which is why learning how to cite your sources and influences is a basic life skill. “Citing helps to strengthen one’s argument by referring to previous research and ideas from experts and industry,” Ryckman said. “Understanding what has been written about in one’s field helps to move conversations forward and not rehash the same ideas over and over.”

In other words, not giving credit where it is due is a way of taking credit, and thus, of plagiarizing. Avoiding plagiarism requires students to engage deeply with ideas, research and readings; synthesize learned material with original thinking and analysis; and properly cite others’ work as they build on and contribute to existing knowledge on topics.

There’s a world (wide web) of information out there. For instructors, teachers, librarians, professors, and other educators, the challenge is teaching people to parse and use that information in ways that are ethical and responsible.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

Technology makes plagiarizing (accidentally or on purpose) a real possibility, but it also makes catching plagiarism easier. A quick Google search by a moderately tech-savvy teacher or professor can reveal plagiarized content. But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Students, researchers and instructors alike can use online plagiarism checkers and detection software (available for free or a fee) as learning tools to help ensure the originality and integrity of their writing and research.

While such tools are useful, instructors and librarians are students’ greatest allies in the fight against plagiarism. These professionals are embracing technology to help teach fundamental digital and information literacy skills, including finding, assessing and integrating sources (including images) while citing and attributing them appropriately.

At SNHU, there are several avenues for students to get help finding and citing sources, according to Ryckman. "We work closely with the Writing Center, Online Writing Center, and faculty, all of which are resources to help students navigate, interpret, and cite sources. We also welcome every opportunity to show students the information landscape surrounding a discipline,” he said.

Finally, students should take advantage of the numerous educational resources available for free online - including Plagiarism.org , which defines plagiarism and explain ways to avoid it while giving examples. Other websites, such as Dictionary.com , provide citations in several formats, allowing you to easily include them in a document’s bibliography. Ryckman recommends students and faculty review the Association of College and Research Libraries' recently adopted framework for information literacy in higher education for exploring research as inquiry and scholarship as conversation.

While plagiarism is not illegal, the consequences vary by institutional or organizational policy, from a failing grade to a damaged reputation. So when in doubt about whether or not to attribute a quote or source, remember that, more often than not, cite makes right.

Sofia Tokar is a freelance copywriter and editor in higher education. Follow her on Twitter @stokar or connect on LinkedIn .

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Best Practices to Avoid Plagiarism 

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Since plagiarism has serious consequences, there are many safe practices that you can employ in order to avoid plagiarism. Citing sources is the best way to build credibility for yourself to your audience and helps writers to have a better grasp of the information that is relevant to their topic or course of study. Mistakes can happen, especially when plagiarism is unintentional, so follow some of these tips, which will help you improve as a researcher and as a writer.

Reading & Notetaking 

• Take notes with the same citation habits you would use in the paper. Use a signal phrase “According to [source],” at the beginning of your notes on a particular source, include in-text citations with page numbers any time you copy/paste or write a quote in from a source, and include a bibliographic citation immediately after the notes on a source end.
• If you have a lot of online sources such as journal articles in PDF format, use a PDF reader to write your notes on the source directly so they do not get disconnected from the original.
• Use a citation manager like Zotero and keep a copy of your notes associated with the source entry there (helps you cite accurately and also helps you keep your notes together with the correct source).

Interviewing & Conversing

• Take lots of thorough notes; if you have any of your own thoughts as you’re interviewing, mark them clearly. Always make sure in your notebook or computer document you leave a space for your own ideas and not to let it mix with your respondent’s ideas.
• If your subject will allow you to record the conversation or interview (and you have proper clearance to do so through an Institutional Review Board, or IRB) place your recording device in an optimal location between you and the speaker so you can hear clearly when you review the recordings. Test your equipment and bring plenty of backup batteries and equipment.
• If you’re interviewing via email, retain copies of the interview subject’s emails as well as the ones you send in reply. If your email server allows it, create individual folders that you can further organize in order to have easy access if you need to go back.
• Make any additional, clarifying notes immediately after the interview has concluded. For further information, please refer to Conducting Primary Research: Interviewing .

Writing Paraphrases & Summaries 

• Use a statement that makes it clear you are referencing another source (e.g. According to Jonathan Kozol…).
• If you are struggling with a summary, try to paraphrase or summarize the text without looking at the original source material, and simply rely on your memory. What sticks out to you about the original source is what will be important for you to discuss anyways.
• For example: savage inequalities” exist throughout our educational system (Kozol).
• Note which phrase is being quoted and that the author is the one who coined the term, but you want to keep it for your own stylistic reason or because it will be important in your analysis.

Writing Direct Quotations 

• Keep the source author’s name in the same sentence as the quote.
• Mark the quote with quotation marks or set it off from your text in its own block, per the style guide your paper follows.
• Helpful hint: If you need to provide context, you can paraphrase part of that paragraph, which can lead to the quote. But this can lead to moments of citing multiple times, depending on your style guide.
• Do: Kozol claims there are “savage inequalities” in our educational system, which is obvious.
• Do Not: Kozol claims there are “[obvious] savage inequalities” in our educational system.
• Note how the first one includes a part of your analysis that you will explore further explore. In the second one, though, you are suggesting that the original author is stating that it is obvious, when that is not what they meant, even though that is what you believe and will explore further.
• For Example: “None of the national reports I saw made even passing references in inequality or segregation…Booker T. Washington was cited with increasing frequency, Du Bois never, and Martin Luther King only with cautious selectivity” (Kozol 3).
• Note how you are indicating that you have taken out portions that are considered unnecessary and have continued your quote to the end.
• You should use quotes with the most rhetorical, argumentative impact in your paper. The phrase in the previous example, “savage inequalities” makes an argumentative impact because both words have deeper meanings and together can be open to your own interpretation, versus simply only quoting, “Booker T. Washington was cited with increasing frequency” (Kozol 3). Simply stating this is presenting a fact and there is very little that you can do to interpret or analyze the meaning.

Writing About Someone Else's Ideas 

• For example: Kozol shows that a connection between race and the quality of education are connected.
• Parenthetical citations, footnotes, and endnotes are used to refer readers to additional sources about the idea, as necessary. This is why citation is important so that your teachers or classmates are able to find the original source material if they want to.

Revising, Proofreading, and Finalizing Your Paper

Proofread and check your notes and sources to make sure that anything coming from an outside source is acknowledged in the following ways:

• In-text citation, otherwise known as parenthetical citation
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Bibliography, References, or Work Cited Page
• Quotation marks around short quotes; longer quotes set off by themselves, as prescribed by a specific research and citation style guide
• Indirect quotes: citing a source that cities another source

If you have any questions or concerns about citation, ask your instructor well in advance of your paper’s due date, so if you have to make any adjustments to your citations, you have the time to do so. You can also schedule an appointment in the writing lab and let your tutor know specifically that you want to make sure your citations are correct.

StudentVersity

Ultimate Plagiarism Guide for College Students (24 Quick Q&As)

This is the most comprehensive plagiarism guide for college students who are interested in learning about everything related to plagiarism in college.

In this new guide, you’ll learn everything ranging from what plagiarism is to how to avoid plagiarism as a college student.

(Including lots of answered questions that have never been shared on any website before.)

Let’s dive right in:

Table of Contents

1. What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism (also be referred to as infringement of copyright) is a term that is used to denote when a person presents another person’s words, sounds, images, ideas, or language; whether in print or electronic form, as his/her own without properly acknowledging the real owner of this intellectual property.

2. What is Self-plagiarism?

Self-plagiarism is when a student reuses or resubmits an old research paper, college essay, or college paper that has been previously submitted by him/her as a new research paper, college essay, or college paper in another assignment without properly referencing this old, already submitted paper where the idea, word, sound, image, or language was drawn from.

3. What is Considered Plagiarism in College?

Plagiarism in college usually occurs when a student takes full credit for another person’s work either by simply copying and pasting this person’s work intentionally or unintentionally on a college essay or research paper or by simply buying a paper entirely written by someone else and using this bought paper as their own research or college paper.

4. What is The Punishment For Plagiarism in College?

There are different penal codes put in place for plagiarism policy defaulters in college .

In college, violation of the plagiarism policy can result in an automatic reduction of your grades, failing you with an F in that specific assignment or course, college sanctions for you, as well as a possibility of being temporarily suspended or completely expelled from your college based on the gravity of the offense.

5. Why is Plagiarism An Important Issue in College?

Plagiarism is an important issue in college because of the rising number of plagiarism defaulters. 

Colleges considered it as a breach of academic integrity by offenders who aim to belittle the institution’s scholarly standards that have been put in place, as well as undervalue the degree that is awarded to other students who strive and work hard to earn their degrees fairly and squarely. 

6. How Do Students Commit Plagiarism?

According to Turnitin , there are a couple of ways by which a student can commit plagiarism. Like:

• Copying and pasting a complete article without any change
• Finding and replacing some words within a paper
• Patching together different materials to form a single article
• Self-plagiarising your own work
• A hybrid combination of cited and uncited sources
• A mashup of different disjointed papers to create a paper that lacks flow
• Using false citations that do not exist or correlate with the article
• Using citations without inputting your own original idea

7. How Serious is Plagiarism in College?

Plagiarism is a very serious offense in college thanks to the ever-increasing amount of students who engage in the act whether intentionally or not.

There have also been different rules put in place, with consequences ranging from a mild reprimand to complete student expulsion just to show the level of seriousness at which colleges and institutions now place on plagiarism amongst students in college.

8. How Can College Students Avoid Plagiarism?

As a college student who wishes to avoid plagiarism in your college paper, there are a couple of ways by which you can do this .

To avoid plagiarism as a college student:

• Understand clearly what plagiarism really means for students in your institution
• Properly cite any academic article or sources you use in your college essay or research paper
• Keep uncited information sources for your college paper or assignment securely in a folder for future purpose
• Paraphrase or reword your writing in an original way that is completely different from your research source
• Uniquely present your idea and add new ideas as well
• Quote sources that are written in your college paper or texts which aren’t yours
• Use a plagiarism checker to check for plagiarism after completing your college essay or research paper

9. What Are The Consequences For Plagiarism?

In college, there are serious consequences for plagiarizing another person’s work as your own without properly citing or giving due respect to the original owner of the plagiarized material.

According to Bowdin university , the consequences vary between :

• Failure on the plagiarized assignment
• Grade reduction in the specific course
• Failure on the specific course
• Suspension of the offender
• Complete expulsion and removal of the offender from the student database

10. Which Tool Can You Use To Check For Plagiarism?

As a college student, there are numerous free and paid online tools to help you check for plagiarism in your research paper, college paper, college essay, or assignment.

Some of these tools include:

1. Grammarly (Score: 5/5)

Best online plagiarism checker for all students

Grammarly is an online writing tool that helps to detect grammar and punctuation errors, plagiarism, writing style, and spelling checks in a college student’s essay or research paper.

• Overall writing function for extensive purposes
• Seamless performance
• Easy to use
• Doesn’t ignore spelling errors in cases of business words or nouns
• Not 100% accurate in grammar correction

Click here to experience Grammarly!

2. Copyleaks (Score: 5/5)

Best proofreading tool for students

Copyleaks is an online plagiarism checker with an extensive database of academic resources which are most times not found on other plagiarism tools.

• Parses PDF files easily
• Intuitive interface
• Good customer service
• Saves scanned documents to its database
• Plagiarism point checkers are expensive to purchase

3. Turnitin (Score: 4/5)

Best for professors and tutors

Turnitin is an online plagiarism tool that is used to check for originality of any text inputted into its broad database.

• Useful for college professors
• Supports a wide variety of files
• Fantastic, feature-rich tools
• Lacks internet access for grading college paper
• Takes a longer period of time to generate similarity report

4. Unicheck (Score: 4/5)

Best plagiarism check for students and professionals

Unicheck is an online tool that scans documents and text against a wide array of other texts on the internet and files in its own database.

• Userfriendly interface
• Thorough scanning of texts
• Only copy-paste option available

11. What Are Some Free Plagiarism Checkers For College Students?

Whether you want to check your research paper, college paper, college essay, or college assignment for plagiarism, there are different free online plagiarism tools for you to use as a college student.

Some of these free plagiarism checking tools include:

• Plagiarisma
• Small SEO tools
• Search engine reports
• Pre-post SEO
• Duplichecker

12. How Do Professors Detect Plagiarism?

College professors have years of experience in the subject they lecture and have pored over thousands of hours worth of information in that specific course.

If a student submits a plagiarized work, most college professors can detect it by simply reading through the paper or assignment. 

For college assignments submitted online, the college’s canvas turn-it-in system already has a built-in text matcher that simply scans through the student’s paper or essay for plagiarism and returns the plagiarism score to the professors if it is a plagiarized work.

13. Can Professors Detect Plagiarism on Hard Copy?

Yes, college professors can detect plagiarism on a student’s college paper or research paper in hard copy.

All the professor has to do is read through the introduction, conclusion, and the body of the college essay or assignment, and if he finds that it sounds like something he has read before, the professor can simply search for a sentence from this paper on Google by including quotation marks in order to check if there’s an article with the exact sentence match on the internet.

14 . How Serious is Self-plagiarism?

While self-plagiarism isn’t as serious as other forms of plagiarism which all tend to focus on you using someone else’s work, it still is a serious matter that has consequences, if the school’s policy isn’t adhered to .

At the University of Oklahoma , if a student is caught self-plagiarizing, such student can be awarded a zero on the assignment, fail the class exam, and/or be forced to take a remedial class on academic integrity.

15. Can You Plagiarize Yourself in College?

Yes, you can plagiarize yourself in college.

This process of plagiarizing yourself in college is what is known as self-plagiarism , and even though it isn’t as severe as other types of plagiarism, it still has its consequences if your professors’ guidelines aren’t adhered to.

16. Do Professors Check For Self-plagiarism?

Yes, professors do check for self-plagiarism.

For assignments or college essays submitted online, most colleges have an online plagiarism detection software for professors like Turnitin that simply checks for any and every form of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism of a submitted assignment or college essay.

It is therefore advisable to speak with your college professor if you do have an assignment or college paper that is similar to the current assignment given by your professor, and to properly cite this old material to avoid being penalized for self-plagiarism.

17. Do Professors Always Check For Plagiarism?

Yes, they do. These days, professors spend time checking for plagiarism while grading a student’s research paper, college paper, college essay, or assignment.

Most college professors already understand how to use online plagiarism tools like Turnitin which makes checking for plagiarism easier, and as such, checking for plagiarism with the aid of these online plagiarism-checking tools makes it easier for them to always check for plagiarism.

18. What Do You Do When Your Professor Accuses You of Plagiarism?

If you believe you have been wrongly accused of plagiarism by your college professor, there are a couple of steps you can take to appeal this claim .

Some of the steps to take to appeal your professor’s plagiarism claim include:

• Discussing the issue with your professor and showing the citations of sources you used
• Asking your professor for proof of plagiarism
• Asking for a review of your college paper by another professor
• Appealing to the faculty dean about the issue
• Having a higher authority get involved in the matter
• Follow the formal appeal process of your university

19. How Much Plagiarism is Allowed in College?

In college, copying someone else’s words without giving credit is never allowed, implying that 0% plagiarism isn’t allowed.

However, in cases of similarity reports like in mathematics, computer science, biology, etc., it is impossible not to use calculations, general formulas, or statements and terminologies, hence between a 5%-15% plagiarism score is allowed by some professors.

20. Is It Possible To Accidentally Plagiarize?

Yes, it is possible to accidentally plagiarize your college essay or research paper. This form of plagiarism is called accidental plagiarism .

Accidental plagiarism usually happens as a result of forgetfully not citing a source you used, or due to poor paraphrasing most times.

21 . What Happens If You Accidentally Plagiarize?

If you have no prior history of plagiarization, and you unintentionally or accidentally plagiarize your college essay , college paper, assignment, or research paper, your professor would most likely lower your grade in that specific paper or have you failed in the course.

You will also be expected to attend a plagiarism workshop so you can learn more about plagiarism and how to prevent it in the future.

22. How Can You Save Yourself From Plagiarism?

According to scribbr plagiarism checker , there are four tips to save college students from plagiarism in their college essays, assignments, or research paper.

These tips include:

• Noting down the full details of the sources you used while writing
• Quoting sources you used in your paper properly
• Including proper citations of the sources you used
• Confirming with an online plagiarism checker tool whether or not your paper has any plagiarized source

23. Can Plagiarism Checkers Detect Essays Bought Online?

Yes, online plagiarism tools like Turnitin have successfully devised a way to check and detect essays bought from third-party sources now.

Turnitin has developed a new software, the Turnitin Authorship Attribution software that compares students writing style and patterns on their submitted college paper, research paper, or assignments with their old assignments or prior submitted work. The software then analyses the document and offers a score on the probability of contract cheating by the student.

24. Are Online Plagiarism Checkers Accurate?

No, online plagiarism checkers are not 100% accurate in detecting plagiarism in students’ work, but they however have helped to breach the ever-growing trend of plagiarism across universities around the world.

Plagiarism in College: How to Avoid Academic Dishonesty at the Highest Level

• Posted on December 22, 2021

What Can Be Plagiarized?

Well, nothing can be. Plagiarism is the use of work that does not belong to you while claiming it as your own. It is not only the use of selected words that have appeared elsewhere. Plagiarism is stealing ideas, photos, music, videos, and any other work belonging to another creator that the perpetrator is claiming as their own.

Plagiarism should not be confused with legitimately using common knowledge. You do not plagiarize when you state historical facts known to most people. Give attribution when it is more advanced information.

For example, in writing an essay on US history, you do not have to cite sources that identify the date the Declaration of Independence was signed. When it refers to anything else important about the date or of the times, then you must give the correct attribution of the sources.

Another action that is not considered plagiarism is using the information from another work and adapting it for your purposes, such as using your wording and particular vocabulary and acknowledging the source. Giving due credit to the source material for your conclusions avoids any charges of plagiarism.

Common Types of Plagiarism in Higher Education

There are numerous common types of plagiarism in academia. The following are the most common examples:

direct plagiarism

accidental plagiarism (versus intentional plagiarism)

source-based plagiarism

patchwork plagiarism

self-plagiarism

paraphrasing

Direct plagiarism  is the most aggressive. The writer takes everything from the source material word-for-word without attribution. If some of the material is modified or some passages deleted, the work is still primarily that of another person and is still their original work. It is also called intentional plagiarism and is probably the most common example. Former First Lady Melania Trump copied parts from a speech earlier given by another former First Lady, Michelle Obama. Trump copied paragraphs, as well as the themes.

In  accidental plagiarism , the writer neglects to cite the source material, misquotes the source, unintentionally paraphrases it, or omits proper attribution. It differs from direct plagiarism because it is a mistake or is careless. One famous example of this type is when George Harrison, a former member of the legendary group, the Beatles, was successfully sued for accidentally plagiarizing the melody from “He’s So Fine” by The Chiffons.

Source-based plagiarism involves using multiple sources while only attributing to one by mistake. Another example of this is fictitious quoting, often done to give false credence to the idea. Monica Crowley, selected by former President Donald Trump for service in his White House as Senior Director of Strategic Communications for the National Security Council, was accused of doing this for her dissertation written in 2000. She copied from multiple sources with the inappropriate organization of citations. She was also accused of direct and patchwork plagiarism (see next example) for her 2012 book, “What the (Bleep) Just Happened?”

In patchwork plagiarism , the writer copies from several sources and rearranges the material, pasting them in their order while not attributing the source material. It is closely related to direct or intentional plagiarism. It is sometimes also called ‘quilted’ plagiarism as the final document resembles a quilt of multiple, disparate sources all copied and pasted by the writer into their work. Jane Goodall, a famous anthropologist, was accused of this when she published her book ‘Seeds of Hope.’ Goodall copied material from various sources. The book was revised to correct this.

Self-plagiarism  is when an author reuses their own work and passes it off as new. The final document incorporates multiple sources of the previous work and is depicted as the original. The author compounds this by failing to secure permission to reuse the rights from whomever originally solicited it, such as previous college professors, or even the publisher of the work, should it have achieved prior publication. Jonah Lehrer was accused of this when he failed to cite his earlier work for an article he had written for The New Yorker.

Paraphrasing  is plagiarism, even though it may initially seem innocuous. When you reword phrases, sentences, or whole paragraphs, and then pass them off as your own without proper attribution to the source material, this is considered plagiarism. Using quotation marks is considered as a way of deflecting any suspicion. It does not remove the duty of proper attribution, however. Before they instituted the requirements for reference links and editorial paper trails for correct attribution, Wikipedia was accused of this; along with many of the other types described above.

Consequences of Plagiarism in College

There are numerous penalties for plagiarism  in college. Expulsion is amongst the more serious consequences. It may not happen to a student if it is their first time; in such cases, a failing grade may be the only punishment. If the student persists and is found guilty again, academic probation or other sanctions may be the penalty.

Nevertheless, copying word for word the work of others and portraying it as your original work is dishonest and deceptive and perhaps is considered more the behavior of students in high school. Graduate students most of all have a duty to establish their academic credentials and reputation if they wish to progress further along in academia.

In the publish-or-perish pressure of higher education, where institutions base their reputation upon the academic credentials of their professors, it is not unheard of for a faculty member to be found guilty of plagiarism in various forms. In higher education, the integrity and reputation that one achieves by using original research are destroyed by charges of plagiarism. Therefore, the risk is not worth it. What took years to build and develop can take even longer to repair. There are useful and easy ways to avoid these costs.

Easy Ways to Avoid Plagiarizing

There are numerous ways any college student can avoid plagiarizing  and preserve academic integrity and honor. Traditional options include the proper citation of sources, using your own words as much as possible along with the correct attribution to the source material, and the use of formatting manuals such as the MLA Handbook, the APA Style Guide, or the Chicago Manual of Style.

There are also more contemporary methods by which one can avoid plagiarizing. Using plagiarism detection software is recommended. One such example is QueText, an online plagiarism checker with a dedicated citation generator.

Quetext’s custom citation generator helps cite sources and gives proper attribution. Instances of plagiarism are detected, and it enables writers to automatically generate the correct citation inside the text with the correct formatting. With the correct use of such a tool as QueText, there is little reason why any writer in academia should fall prey to plagiarism. It identifies unoriginal passages providing the ability to correct issues.

QueText offers tools and protection a writer needs when there is just so much information out there online, and the temptation to just copy and paste to meet deadlines or due dates is prevalent.

When you consider the importance of academic integrity, not only your own but that of your academic institution, using tools such as QueText are invaluable aids in keeping yourself free from charges of plagiarism. It greatly reduces the risks to your career and further advancement and is well worth obtaining.

What To Do If You’re Accused of Plagiarizing

Sometimes college students are accused of plagiarizing. However, an accusation is not a conviction. Knowledge is crucial in this event. It is helpful to know the various forms of plagiarism and use that information to defend your work.

Knowing the plagiarism policy of your school is critical. See if your institution’s policy has outlined a set of actions that will be taken in response the various forms of plagiarism. Does it allow for the rewriting or editing of the academic work? If you’ve kept your research notes and the various versions of your work throughout the numerous drafts you’ve written, you may even be able to prove that your work is original. In any case, the goal is for you to uphold your—and your institution’s—academic integrity.

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This guide on plagiarism, what is plagiarism, types of plagiarism, consequences of plagiarism, can you plagiarize yourself, plagiarism resources, education liaison librarian.

Plagiarism is a complicated and common problem that can have serious consequences.  It is important to know what plagiarism is so you can avoid plagiarizing, whether the plagiarism is intentional or accidental.  This guide is intended to help you recognize what plagiarism is, understand the consequences of being caught plagiarizing and understand how to avoid plagiarizing.  Technology has made it easier than ever for people to plagiarize, but it has also made it easier than ever to catch people who have plagiarized.

In its Academic Honesty Policy, The University of Central Missouri defines plagiarism as:

"Plagiarism - Plagiarism is defined as the borrowing of ideas, opinions, examples, key words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or even structure from another person's work, including work written or produced by others without proper acknowledgment. "Work" is defined as theses, drafts, completed essays, examinations, quizzes, projects, assignments, presentations, or any other form of communication, be it on the Internet or in any other medium or media. "Proper acknowledgment" is defined as the use of quotation marks or indenting plus documentation for directly quoted work and specific, clearly articulated citation for paraphrased or otherwise borrowed material." 

Most students know that plagiarism (passing off another person’s work as your own) is a form of academic dishonesty and is strictly prohibited.  It is possible, however, for an individual to be unintentionally guilty of plagiarizing-- by using another individual’s work without attributing the work to the original author or by changing another’s work only minimally.  It is important to understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it. 

("Plagiarism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 July 2017.)

According to turnitin.com, these are the ten most recognized types of plagiarism.

For a closer look at each of these types of plagiarism, visit The Plagiarism Spectrum, a report prepared by turnitin.com.  The report contains statistics on the frequency of each of the types of plagiarism, as well as examples of each.

(Turnitin : Results : Plagiarism Spectrum. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2017)

• The Plagiarism Spectrum

At the University of Central Missouri, plagiarism is considered a violation of the Academic Honesty Policy.   This policy clearly defines what plagiarism is and describes the process that will be used for a student who has been accused of plagiarizing. Most if not all universities and colleges have a similar policy in place.

While plagiarism is a problem often associated with school or college, these are not the only places where one can face the consequences of plagiarism.  iThenticate, a leading producer of anti-plagiarism software, reports on six different consequences of plagiarism:

The consequences of plagiarism can be personal, professional, ethical, and legal. With plagiarism detection software so readily available and in use, plagiarists are being caught at an alarming rate. Once accused of plagiarism, a person will most likely always be regarded with suspicion. Ignorance is not an excuse. Plagiarists include academics, professionals, students, journalists, authors, and others.

Consequences of plagiarism include:

Destroyed Student Reputation

Plagiarism allegations can cause a student to be suspended or expelled. Their academic record can reflect the ethics offense, possibly causing the student to be barred from entering college from high school or another college. Schools, colleges, and universities take plagiarism very seriously. Most educational institutions have academic integrity committees who police students. Many schools suspend students for their first violation. Students are usually expelled for further offences.

Destroyed Professional Reputation

A professional business person, politician, or public figure may find that the damage from plagiarism follows them for their entire career. Not only will they likely be fired or asked to step down from their present position, but they will surely find it difficult to obtain another respectable job. Depending on the offense and the plagiarist’s public stature, his or her name may become ruined, making any kind of meaningful career impossible.

Destroyed Academic Reputation

The consequences of plagiarism have been widely reported in the world of academia. Once scarred with plagiarism allegations, an academic’s career can be ruined. Publishing is an integral part of a prestigious academic career. To lose the ability to publish most likely means the end of an academic position and a destroyed reputation.

Legal Repercussions

The legal repercussions of plagiarism can be quite serious. Copyright laws are absolute. One cannot use another person’s material without citation and reference. An author has the right to sue a plagiarist. Some plagiarism may also be deemed a criminal offense, possibly leading to a prison sentence. Those who write for a living, such as journalists or authors, are particularly susceptible to plagiarism issues. Those who write frequently must be ever-vigilant not to err. Writers are well-aware of copyright laws and ways to avoid plagiarism. As a professional writer, to plagiarize is a serious ethical and perhaps legal issue.

Monetary Repercussions

Many recent news reports and articles have exposed plagiarism by journalists, authors, public figures, and researchers. In the case where an author sues a plagiarist, the author may be granted monetary restitution. In the case where a journalist works for a magazine, newspaper or other publisher, or even if a student is found plagiarizing in school, the offending plagiarist could have to pay monetary penalties.

Plagiarized Research

Plagiarized research is an especially egregious form of plagiarism. If the research is medical in nature, the consequences of plagiarism could mean the loss of peoples’ lives. This kind of plagiarism is particularly heinous.

The consequences of plagiarism are far-reaching and no one is immune. Neither ignorance nor stature excuses a person from the ethical and legal ramifications of committing plagiarism. Before attempting any writing project, learn about plagiarism. Find out what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it. The rules are easy to understand and follow. If there is any question about missing attribution, try using an online plagiarism checker or plagiarism detection software to check your writing for plagiarism before turning it in. Laziness or dishonesty can lead to a ruined reputation, the loss of a career, and legal problems.

("6 Consequences of Plagiarism." Plagiarism Detection Software. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2017.)

• University of Central Missouri Academic Honesty Policy

Surprisingly, the answer is YES.

When a paper you submit to satisfy a class assignment was originally written for a different assignment in a different class, that is considered self-plagiarism and is a violation of the Academic Honesty Policy.

"The Ethics of Self Plagiarism" an article from iThenticate which explains self-plagiarism and the issues that surround it.

• The Ethics of Self Plagiarism
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• What is plagiarism and how to avoid it? Database Article found in Academic Search Complete
• The 'Write' Stuff: Simple Techniques Designed to Teach Students How to Avoid Plagiarism Database article found in Academic Search Complete
• Last Updated: Feb 19, 2024 12:38 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.ucmo.edu/plagiarism

Essay Writing: Plagiarism

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Avoid Plagiarism

Avoid plagiarism cite your sources  .

Using in-text citations:

• shows the reader that you have done your research
• shows that you know how to credit the sources of your information.
• points your reader to the full citation   on your References page for more information.

Defining and Understanding Plagiarism:

  important in the research and writing process.

From the Plagiarism.org Website:

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
• to use (another's production) without crediting the source
• to commit literary theft
• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud . It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward .

ALL  these are considered plagiarism:

• turning in someone else's work as your own
• copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
• giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
• copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)

Monroe College Academic Integrity Polices

The monroe college code of academic & scholarly integrity.

Monroe College is an academic community. Its fundamental purpose is the pursuit of knowledge in preparation for a career and for life. Essential to the success of this educational mission is a commitment to the principles of academic integrity. Every member of the college community is responsible for upholding the highest standards of honesty at all times. Students, as members of the community, are also responsible for adhering to the principles and spirit of the following Code of Academic and Scholarly Integrity.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY DEFINITIONS

Activities that have the effect or intention of interfering with education, pursuit of knowledge, or fair evaluation of a student’s performance are prohibited. Examples of such activities include, but are not limited to, the following definitions:

A. CHEATING:  Using or attempting to use unauthorized assistance, material, or study aids in examinations or other academic work or preventing, or attempting to prevent, another from using authorized assistance, material, or study aids. Ex: using a cheat sheet in a quiz or exam, altering a graded exam and resubmitting it for a better grade, etc.

B. PLAGIARISM:  Using the ideas, data, or language of another without specific or proper acknowledgment. Ex: copying another person’s paper, article, or computer work and submitting it for an assignment, cloning someone else’s ideas without attribution, failing to use quotation marks where appropriate, etc.

C. FABRICATION:  Submitting contrived or altered information in any exercise. Ex: making up data for an experiment, fudging data, citing nonexistent articles or sources, etc.

D. MULTIPLE SUBMISSION:  Submitting, without prior permission, any work submitted to fulfill another academic requirement at Monroe or any other institution.

E. COPYRIGHT : All students, faculty, and staff must comply with U.S. Copyright Law, in particular the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. Section 1, et seq., as amended.

ADMINISTRATIVE DISMISSAL

Students are expected to comply with the rules of conduct, academic regulations, and established policies and practices of the College and the KGS. Should a situation occur whereby a student violates the Guidelines, codes, and regulations, or fails to comply with requests of administrative authorities, or plagiarizes, he or she may be dismissed from the College or the KGS. Students have the right to appeal a dismissal to the Dean of the College or the Dean of Graduate Programs.

A Monroe College Research Guide

                 THIS RESEARCH OR "LIBGUIDE" WAS PRODUCED BY THE LIBRARIANS OF MONROE COLLEGE                    

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Higher Education Student Handbook

• Essay Writing

Defining Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a form of cheating and is a serious academic offence. It arises where work submitted by a student is not their own, but has been taken from another source. The original material is then hidden from the marker, either by not referencing it properly, by paraphrasing it or by not mentioning it at all.

The most common forms of plagiarism are:

• Cut/copy and pasted material from the Web;

• Copying the work of another student (past or present), including essay material;

• Copying course material or lecture notes;

• Copying material out of a textbook or journal.

It is important to realise that plagiarism may occur in a number of other forms, as well as in conventional written work. Another student may be involved, or the plagiarism may arise from the misuse of sources outside University College Birmingham.

The key is proper attribution of source material. None of the activities listed above is, of itself, necessarily wrong.

Plagiarism is a serious matter for University College Birmingham. If not dealt with, it will ultimately devalue all UCB’s degrees to the detriment of both students and University College Birmingham. It also introduces a fundamental and inevitable distortion when the work of a student cohort is being assessed.

Student Responsibilities

A student at University College Birmingham is expected to submit work that demonstrates compliance with two important prerequisites:

• A level of independent thought, grounded in the teaching received

• The provision of clear referencing to all sources consulted, both within the main body of the work submitted and in any separate listing of sources.

It should be clear from a consideration of these two key requirements why plagiarism is unacceptable. By definition, a piece of work that has been plagiarised will never be able to meet either of the above criteria. Asking yourself prior to submission whether your work passes both tests is a useful method for determining whether there is likely to be a problem with plagiarism.

‘Accidental’ Plagiarism

University College Birmingham accepts that students, particularly in view of the severe penalties that may be applied in cases of serious plagiarism, will be anxious to avoid inadvertently submitting plagiarised work. It is, for example, possible to cite a source in the separate reference list and still commit plagiarism by then incorporating a significant amount of unattributed material taken directly or indirectly (through paraphrasing) from that source into the body of the assignment.

Above all, the student body is not a single grouping and University College Birmingham is aware of the need for a sympathetic approach to plagiarism, particularly in the first year of undergraduate studies and where there is no conscious attempt by the student to deceive. However, penalties may be applied at any time.

The onus is on individual students to ensure that the academic conventions applicable to study at University are understood and acted upon. University College Birmingham will ensure that you have clear guidance on what is expected of you in terms of the referencing of source material. If you are worried about committing plagiarism, always seek help and advice from your year manager, module lecturer, or course Assistant Dean. Members of staff are experienced in dealing with questions about proper referencing and will be happy to help.

The Way in Which University College Birmingham Deals with Plagiarism

This is a complex area. In broad terms, these are the various stages:

• If University College Birmingham is sure that any plagiarism that arises is not deliberate on your part and may be put down to an unfamiliarity with the referencing conventions required for University College Birmingham study, then it may simply provide guidance and a warning concerning your future work. Obviously, this position will not be taken with a student where it is reasonable to expect that they would know how to cite source material properly and would normally only apply to Level 4 study and to the early stages of a postgraduate course;

• If University College Birmingham believes that some form of sanction may be necessary, it will first ask you to attend an interview where you will be able to explain in detail the relevant circumstances.

• Following on from the interview, University College Birmingham will determine the level of plagiarism (if any) that it believes has arisen.

There are three general categories:

• Poor academic practice
• Moderate plagiarism
• Serious plagiarism

• If University College Birmingham considers that a warning is insufficient, it may do one of the following:

• Require you to resubmit the work, with the mark capped at the pass level
• Reduce the final mark for the work to an appropriate level, including the award of 0
• Reduce the final mark for the entire module involved to an appropriate level, including the award of 0
• Have the case referred, after scrutiny, to the Plagiarism Panel and the University Disciplinary Process. Depending upon the severity of the case and after hearing all the evidence, you may be suspended or required to withdraw from University College Birmingham. 

You should also consult the Code of Practice on Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct. This provides detailed and definitive information on how University College Birmingham will deal with plagiarism.

Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, what’s the deal with college essays and plagiarism.

A bit stressed here because I've been reading about severe consequences of plagiarism. What specifically happens if someone accidentally includes a few lines in their college essay that are too similar to something online? How do colleges even find out?

Plagiarism in college essays is a serious concern, and I'm glad you're thinking about its consequences. Admissions offices often use sophisticated plagiarism detection software to scan essays for originality. If a college discovers that parts of an essay are not original, it seriously jeopardizes that student's chances of admission. It's the sort of academic dishonesty that institutions take very seriously, and it can result in a rejection or even the rescinding of an offer if discovered after acceptance.

Accidents do happen, but plagiarism isn't just about copying large blocks of text. It also means using someone else's ideas or phrases without proper attribution, even if it's just a line or two. To avoid these issues, it's crucial to write your essay in your own voice and cross-check any phrases that you feel might not be entirely your own creation. Make sure that any quotes or paraphrased material is properly cited, even though formal citations aren't common in admission essays.

It comes down to being meticulous and ensuring your work is genuinely your own. If you're truly worried you've unintentionally included someone else's words, consider revising those parts, or even better, rewriting them entirely to express your thoughts authentically. Remember, colleges are interested in your individual voice and experiences, not someone else's.

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

Information about what plagiarism is, and how you can avoid it.

The University defines plagiarism as follows:

“Presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition, as is the use of material generated wholly or in part through use of artificial intelligence (save when use of AI for assessment has received prior authorisation e.g. as a reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability). Plagiarism can also include re-using your own work without citation. Under the regulations for examinations, intentional or reckless plagiarism is a disciplinary offence.”

The necessity to acknowledge others’ work or ideas applies not only to text, but also to other media, such as computer code, illustrations, graphs etc. It applies equally to published text and data drawn from books and journals, and to unpublished text and data, whether from lectures, theses or other students’ essays. You must also attribute text, data, or other resources downloaded from websites.

Please note that artificial intelligence (AI) can only be used within assessments where specific prior authorisation has been given, or when technology that uses AI has been agreed as reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability (such as voice recognition software for transcriptions, or spelling and grammar checkers).

The best way of avoiding plagiarism is to learn and employ the principles of good academic practice from the beginning of your university career. Avoiding plagiarism is not simply a matter of making sure your references are all correct, or changing enough words so the examiner will not notice your paraphrase; it is about deploying your academic skills to make your work as good as it can be.

Students will benefit from taking an  online course  which has been developed to provide a useful overview of the issues surrounding plagiarism and practical ways to avoid it.

Forms of plagiarism

Verbatim (word for word) quotation without clear acknowledgement Quotations must always be identified as such by the use of either quotation marks or indentation, and with full referencing of the sources cited. It must always be apparent to the reader which parts are your own independent work and where you have drawn on ideas and language from another source.

Cutting and pasting from the Internet without clear acknowledgement Information derived from the Internet must be adequately referenced and included in the bibliography. It is important to evaluate carefully all material found on the Internet, as it is less likely to have been through the same process of scholarly peer review as published sources.

Paraphrasing Paraphrasing the work of others by altering a few words and changing their order, or by closely following the structure of their argument, is plagiarism if you do not give due acknowledgement to the author whose work you are using.

A passing reference to the original author in your own text may not be enough; you must ensure that you do not create the misleading impression that the paraphrased wording or the sequence of ideas are entirely your own. It is better to write a brief summary of the author’s overall argument in your own words, indicating that you are doing so, than to paraphrase particular sections of his or her writing. This will ensure you have a genuine grasp of the argument and will avoid the difficulty of paraphrasing without plagiarising. You must also properly attribute all material you derive from lectures.

Collusion This can involve unauthorised collaboration between students, failure to attribute assistance received, or failure to follow precisely regulations on group work projects. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are entirely clear about the extent of collaboration permitted, and which parts of the work must be your own.

Inaccurate citation It is important to cite correctly, according to the conventions of your discipline. As well as listing your sources (i.e. in a bibliography), you must indicate, using a footnote or an in-text reference, where a quoted passage comes from. Additionally, you should not include anything in your references or bibliography that you have not actually consulted. If you cannot gain access to a primary source you must make it clear in your citation that your knowledge of the work has been derived from a secondary text (for example, Bradshaw, D. Title of Book, discussed in Wilson, E., Title of Book (London, 2004), p. 189).

Failure to acknowledge assistance You must clearly acknowledge all assistance which has contributed to the production of your work, such as advice from fellow students, laboratory technicians, and other external sources. This need not apply to the assistance provided by your tutor or supervisor, or to ordinary proofreading, but it is necessary to acknowledge other guidance which leads to substantive changes of content or approach.

Use of material written by professional agencies or other persons You should neither make use of professional agencies in the production of your work nor submit material which has been written for you even with the consent of the person who has written it. It is vital to your intellectual training and development that you should undertake the research process unaided. Under Statute XI on University Discipline, all members of the University are prohibited from providing material that could be submitted in an examination by students at this University or elsewhere.

Auto-plagiarism You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted (partially or in full), either for your current course or for another qualification of this, or any other, university, unless this is specifically provided for in the special regulations for your course. Where earlier work by you is citable, ie. it has already been published, you must reference it clearly. Identical pieces of work submitted concurrently will also be considered to be auto-plagiarism.

Why does plagiarism matter?

Plagiarism is a breach of academic integrity. It is a principle of intellectual honesty that all members of the academic community should acknowledge their debt to the originators of the ideas, words, and data which form the basis for their own work. Passing off another’s work as your own is not only poor scholarship, but also means that you have failed to complete the learning process. Plagiarism is unethical and can have serious consequences for your future career; it also undermines the standards of your institution and of the degrees it issues.

Why should you avoid plagiarism?

There are many reasons to avoid plagiarism. You have come to university to learn to know and speak your own mind, not merely to reproduce the opinions of others - at least not without attribution. At first it may seem very difficult to develop your own views, and you will probably find yourself paraphrasing the writings of others as you attempt to understand and assimilate their arguments. However it is important that you learn to develop your own voice. You are not necessarily expected to become an original thinker, but you are expected to be an independent one - by learning to assess critically the work of others, weigh up differing arguments and draw your own conclusions. Students who plagiarise undermine the ethos of academic scholarship while avoiding an essential part of the learning process.

You should avoid plagiarism because you aspire to produce work of the highest quality. Once you have grasped the principles of source use and citation, you should find it relatively straightforward to steer clear of plagiarism. Moreover, you will reap the additional benefits of improvements to both the lucidity and quality of your writing. It is important to appreciate that mastery of the techniques of academic writing is not merely a practical skill, but one that lends both credibility and authority to your work, and demonstrates your commitment to the principle of intellectual honesty in scholarship.

What happens if you are thought to have plagiarised?

The University regards plagiarism in examinations as a serious matter. Cases will be investigated and penalties may range from deduction of marks to expulsion from the University, depending on the seriousness of the occurrence. Even if plagiarism is inadvertent, it can result in a penalty. The forms of plagiarism listed above are all potentially disciplinary offences in the context of formal assessment requirements.

The regulations regarding conduct in examinations apply equally to the ‘submission and assessment of a thesis, dissertation, essay, or other coursework not undertaken in formal examination conditions but which counts towards or constitutes the work for a degree or other academic award’. Additionally, this includes the transfer and confirmation of status exercises undertaken by graduate students. Cases of suspected plagiarism in assessed work are investigated under the disciplinary regulations concerning conduct in examinations. Intentional plagiarism in this context means that you understood that you were breaching the regulations and did so intending to gain advantage in the examination. Reckless, in this context, means that you understood or could be expected to have understood (even if you did not specifically consider it) that your work might breach the regulations, but you took no action to avoid doing so. Intentional or reckless plagiarism may incur severe penalties, including failure of your degree or expulsion from the university.

If plagiarism is suspected in a piece of work submitted for assessment in an examination, the matter will be referred to the Proctors. They will thoroughly investigate the claim and call the student concerned for interview. If at this point there is no evidence of a breach of the regulations, no further disciplinary action will be taken although there may still be an academic penalty. However, if it is concluded that a breach of the regulations may have occurred, the Proctors will refer the case to the Student Disciplinary Panel.

If you are suspected of plagiarism your College Secretary/Academic Administrator and subject tutor will support you through the process and arrange for a member of Congregation to accompany you to all hearings. They will be able to advise you what to expect during the investigation and how best to make your case. The OUSU Student Advice Service can also provide useful information and support. 

Does this mean that I shouldn’t use the work of other authors?

On the contrary, it is vital that you situate your writing within the intellectual debates of your discipline. Academic essays almost always involve the use and discussion of material written by others, and, with due acknowledgement and proper referencing, this is clearly distinguishable from plagiarism. The knowledge in your discipline has developed cumulatively as a result of years of research, innovation and debate. You need to give credit to the authors of the ideas and observations you cite. Not only does this accord recognition to their work, it also helps you to strengthen your argument by making clear the basis on which you make it. Moreover, good citation practice gives your reader the opportunity to follow up your references, or check the validity of your interpretation.

Does every statement in my essay have to be backed up with references?

You may feel that including the citation for every point you make will interrupt the flow of your essay and make it look very unoriginal. At least initially, this may sometimes be inevitable. However, by employing good citation practice from the start, you will learn to avoid errors such as close paraphrasing or inadequately referenced quotation. It is important to understand the reasons behind the need for transparency of source use.

All academic texts, even student essays, are multi-voiced, which means they are filled with references to other texts. Rather than attempting to synthesise these voices into one narrative account, you should make it clear whose interpretation or argument you are employing at any one time - whose ‘voice’ is speaking.

If you are substantially indebted to a particular argument in the formulation of your own, you should make this clear both in footnotes and in the body of your text according to the agreed conventions of the discipline, before going on to describe how your own views develop or diverge from this influence.

On the other hand, it is not necessary to give references for facts that are common knowledge in your discipline. If you are unsure as to whether something is considered to be common knowledge or not, it is safer to cite it anyway and seek clarification. You do need to document facts that are not generally known and ideas that are interpretations of facts. 

Does this only matter in exams?

Although plagiarism in weekly essays does not constitute a University disciplinary offence, it may well lead to College disciplinary measures. Persistent academic under-performance can even result in your being sent down from the University. Although tutorial essays traditionally do not require the full scholarly apparatus of footnotes and referencing, it is still necessary to acknowledge your sources and demonstrate the development of your argument, usually by an in-text reference. Many tutors will ask that you do employ a formal citation style early on, and you will find that this is good preparation for later project and dissertation work. In any case, your work will benefit considerably if you adopt good scholarly habits from the start, together with the techniques of critical thinking and writing described above.

As junior members of the academic community, students need to learn how to read academic literature and how to write in a style appropriate to their discipline. This does not mean that you must become masters of jargon and obfuscation; however the process is akin to learning a new language. It is necessary not only to learn new terminology, but the practical study skills and other techniques which will help you to learn effectively.

Developing these skills throughout your time at university will not only help you to produce better coursework, dissertations, projects and exam papers, but will lay the intellectual foundations for your future career. Even if you have no intention of becoming an academic, being able to analyse evidence, exercise critical judgement, and write clearly and persuasively are skills that will serve you for life, and which any employer will value.

Borrowing essays from other students to adapt and submit as your own is plagiarism, and will develop none of these necessary skills, holding back your academic development. Students who lend essays for this purpose are doing their peers no favours.

Unintentional plagiarism

Not all cases of plagiarism arise from a deliberate intention to cheat. Sometimes students may omit to take down citation details when taking notes, or they may be genuinely ignorant of referencing conventions. However, these excuses offer no sure protection against a charge of plagiarism. Even in cases where the plagiarism is found to have been neither intentional nor reckless, there may still be an academic penalty for poor practice.

It is your responsibility to find out the prevailing referencing conventions in your discipline, to take adequate notes, and to avoid close paraphrasing. If you are offered induction sessions on plagiarism and study skills, you should attend. Together with the advice contained in your subject handbook, these will help you learn how to avoid common errors. If you are undertaking a project or dissertation you should ensure that you have information on plagiarism and collusion. If ever in doubt about referencing, paraphrasing or plagiarism, you have only to ask your tutor.

Examples of plagiarism

There are some helpful examples of plagiarism-by-paraphrase and you will also find extensive advice on the referencing and library skills pages.

The following examples demonstrate some of the common pitfalls to avoid. These examples use the referencing system prescribed by the History Faculty but should be of use to students of all disciplines.

Source text

From a class perspective this put them [highwaymen] in an ambivalent position. In aspiring to that proud, if temporary, status of ‘Gentleman of the Road’, they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society. Yet their boldness of act and deed, in putting them outside the law as rebellious fugitives, revivified the ‘animal spirits’ of capitalism and became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London, a serious obstacle to the formation of a tractable, obedient labour force. Therefore, it was not enough to hang them – the values they espoused or represented had to be challenged.

(Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213. [You should give the reference in full the first time you use it in a footnote; thereafter it is acceptable to use an abbreviated version, e.g. Linebaugh, The London Hanged, p. 213.]

Plagiarised

• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London, posing a serious threat to the formation of a biddable labour force. (This is a patchwork of phrases copied verbatim from the source, with just a few words changed here and there. There is no reference to the original author and no indication that these words are not the writer’s own.)
• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen exercised a powerful attraction for the working classes. Some historians believe that this hindered the development of a submissive workforce. (This is a mixture of verbatim copying and acceptable paraphrase. Although only one phrase has been copied from the source, this would still count as plagiarism. The idea expressed in the first sentence has not been attributed at all, and the reference to ‘some historians’ in the second is insufficient. The writer should use clear referencing to acknowledge all ideas taken from other people’s work.)
• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen ‘became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London [and] a serious obstacle to the formation of a tractable, obedient labour force’.1 (This contains a mixture of attributed and unattributed quotation, which suggests to the reader that the first line is original to this writer. All quoted material must be enclosed in quotation marks and adequately referenced.)
• Highwaymen’s bold deeds ‘revivified the “animal spirits” of capitalism’ and made them an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London.1 Peter Linebaugh argues that they posed a major obstacle to the formation of an obedient labour force. (Although the most striking phrase has been placed within quotation marks and correctly referenced, and the original author is referred to in the text, there has been a great deal of unacknowledged borrowing. This should have been put into the writer’s own words instead.)
• By aspiring to the title of ‘Gentleman of the Road’, highwaymen did not challenge the unfair taxonomy of their society. Yet their daring exploits made them into outlaws and inspired the antagonistic culture of labouring London, forming a grave impediment to the development of a submissive workforce. Ultimately, hanging them was insufficient – the ideals they personified had to be discredited.1 (This may seem acceptable on a superficial level, but by imitating exactly the structure of the original passage and using synonyms for almost every word, the writer has paraphrased too closely. The reference to the original author does not make it clear how extensive the borrowing has been. Instead, the writer should try to express the argument in his or her own words, rather than relying on a ‘translation’ of the original.)

Non-plagiarised

• Peter Linebaugh argues that although highwaymen posed no overt challenge to social orthodoxy – they aspired to be known as ‘Gentlemen of the Road’ – they were often seen as anti-hero role models by the unruly working classes. He concludes that they were executed not only for their criminal acts, but in order to stamp out the threat of insubordinacy.1 (This paraphrase of the passage is acceptable as the wording and structure demonstrate the reader’s interpretation of the passage and do not follow the original too closely. The source of the ideas under discussion has been properly attributed in both textual and footnote references.)
• Peter Linebaugh argues that highwaymen represented a powerful challenge to the mores of capitalist society and inspired the rebelliousness of London’s working class.1 (This is a brief summary of the argument with appropriate attribution.) 1 Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213.

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May 16, 2024

What Are the Consequences of College Essay Plagiarism?

Plagiarism has always been frowned upon by college admissions committees (and college honor policies!), but with the rise of AI writing softwares, the problem has taken on new proportions. It is  never  okay to pass off someone else’s writing as your own on college applications, but this extends to using AI to write parts or all of an essay , supplement, or portfolio. With these technologies still very new, and regulation still in its infancy, many students do not yet understand the gravity of using AI to write applications or do their assignments for them. We at  Ivy Coach  unequivocally denounce the practice, and we assure any skeptical applicants that risks of using AI far outweigh the supposed benefits. 

Why Students Should Not Turn to Plagiarism (Including AI) to Write Their Essays

Some students turn to plagiarism or AI for a quick and easy fix for their writing woes. While the downside of traditional plagiarism is obvious (one Google search and the plagiarized passages will be revealed), some see AI as an enticing alternative that is less detectable than wholesale copying. But using such softwares brings a whole new caliber of risks. For one thing, AI writing is repetitive, uninspired, and riddled with factual errors. The technology simply does not write with the same fluency as a talented, highly selective college-bound high schooler. Admissions committees read  a lot  of applications in a given cycle, and it’s highly likely that they already have ways to detect the fingerprints of various AI writing styles (which likely use AI themselves!).

All offers of admission are conditional . It’s in the not-so-fine print! Even if colleges don’t notice any plagiarism at first, they will not hesitate to rescind an offer of admission if the truth comes out. Even years after a student has enrolled, getting expelled will still be a possibility for those who plagiarized. For students who need extra help when writing their essays, they should turn to admissions experts for proofreading, editing, and feedback. These traditional methods of perfecting writing are available to all high schoolers and are encouraged by college admissions offices, leaving would-be plagiarizers with no excuse for their actions.

But none of that should even matter, because using AI is unethical. Colleges want to get to know  you , not some robot who does a poor job of parroting you. Even if AI reaches new technological heights, it will never be a substitute for the personal flair that comes through the most well-written essays. At best, these AI-facilitated writing samples will be received poorly for their cookie-cutter approach, but at worst, using AI on an application would be grounds for rejection. Highly selective colleges do not need  any  reason to reject an applicant, but that would surely be a good one!

Ivy Coach Calls on the Common App to Implement AI Detection Software

College admissions offices and the  Common App.  have either  declined to comment or released ambiguous messaging  when it comes to the use of AI-facilitated writing, leaving many high schoolers scrambling for answers. These organizations need to take a stand and clarify their positions before more high schoolers take part in a practice that they do not even realize could put them in hot water with prospective colleges. All emerging technologies go through a process in which their use is regulated, and AI should be no exception.

It’s high time that more regulation be put into place to halt the epidemic of plagiarized and AI-facilitated writing on college applications (and in colleges themselves!). Ivy Coach calls upon The Common App. to implement plagiarism detection software, which includes AI-detection, to screen all applications for foul play and alert prospective colleges. A spot at an elite institution should never be given to a student who has taken the easy way out when there are plenty of hard working, honest high schoolers who submit their own work. 

You are permitted to use www.ivycoach.com (including the content of the Blog) for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not copy, download, print, or otherwise distribute the content on our site without the prior written consent of Ivy Coach, Inc.

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Check for unintentional plagiarism

Easily check your paper for missing citations and accidental plagiarism with the EasyBib plagiarism checker. The EasyBib plagiarism checker:

• Scans your paper against billions of sources.
• Identifies text that may be flagged for plagiarism.
• Provides you with a plagiarism score.

You can submit your paper at any hour of the day and quickly receive a plagiarism report.

What is the EasyBib plagiarism checker? 

Most basic plagiarism checkers review your work and calculate a percentage, meaning how much of your writing is indicative of original work. But, the EasyBib plagiarism checker goes way beyond a simple percentage. Any text that could be categorized as potential plagiarism is highlighted, allowing you time to review each warning and determine how to adjust it or how to cite it correctly.

You’ll even see the sources against which your writing is compared and the actual word for word breakdown. If you determine that a warning is unnecessary, you can waive the plagiarism check suggestion.

Plagiarism is unethical because it doesn’t credit those who created the original work; it violates intellectual property and serves to benefit the perpetrator. It is a severe enough academic offense, that many faculty members use their own plagiarism checking tool for their students’ work. With the EasyBib Plagiarism checker, you can stay one step ahead of your professors and catch citation mistakes and accidental plagiarism before you submit your work for grading.

Why use a plagiarism checker? 

Imagine – it’s finals week and the final research paper of the semester is due in two days. You, being quite familiar with this high-stakes situation, hit the books, and pull together a ten-page, last-minute masterpiece using articles and materials from dozens of different sources.

However, in those late, coffee-fueled hours, are you fully confident that you correctly cited all the different sources you used? Are you sure you didn’t accidentally forget any? Are you confident that your teacher’s plagiarism tool will give your paper a 0% plagiarism score?

That’s where the EasyBib plagiarism checker comes in to save the day. One quick check can help you address all the above questions and put your mind at ease.

What exactly is plagiarism? 

Plagiarism has a number of possible definitions; it involves more than just copying someone else’s work. Improper citing, patchworking, and paraphrasing could all lead to plagiarism in one of your college assignments. Below are some common examples of accidental plagiarism that commonly occur.

Quoting or paraphrasing without citations

Not including in-text citations is another common type of accidental plagiarism. Quoting is taking verbatim text from a source. Paraphrasing is when you’re using another source to take the same idea but put it in your own words. In both cases, it’s important to always cite where those ideas are coming from. The EasyBib plagiarism checker can help alert you to when you need to accurately cite the sources you used.

Patchwork plagiarism

When writing a paper, you’re often sifting through multiple sources and tabs from different search engines. It’s easy to accidentally string together pieces of sentences and phrases into your own paragraphs. You may change a few words here and there, but it’s similar to the original text. Even though it’s accidental, it is still considered plagiarism. It’s important to clearly state when you’re using someone else’s words and work.

Improper citations

Depending on the class, professor, subject, or teacher, there are multiple correct citation styles and preferences. Some examples of common style guides that are followed for citations include MLA, APA, and Chicago style. When citing resources, it’s important to cite them accurately. Incorrect citations could make it impossible for a reader to track down a source and it’s considered plagiarism. There are EasyBib citation tools to help you do this.

Don’t fall victim to plagiarism pitfalls. Most of the time, you don’t even mean to commit plagiarism; rather, you’ve read so many sources from different search engines that it gets difficult to determine an original thought or well-stated fact versus someone else’s work. Or worse, you assume a statement is common knowledge, when in fact, it should be attributed to another author.

When in doubt, cite your source!

Time for a quick plagiarism quiz! 

Which of the following requires a citation?

• A chart or graph from another source
• A paraphrase of an original source
• Several sources’ ideas summarized into your own paragraph
• A direct quote
• All of the above

If you guessed option E than you’d be correct. Correct punctuation and citation of another individual’s ideas, quotes, and graphics are a pillar of good academic writing.

What if you copy your own previous writing?

Resubmitting your own original work for another class’s assignment is a form of self-plagiarism, so don’t cut corners in your writing. Draft an original piece for each class or ask your professor if you can incorporate your previous research.

What features are available with the EasyBib plagiarism checker? 

Along with providing warnings and sources for possible plagiarism, the EasyBib  plagiarism checker works alongside the other EasyBib tools, including a grammar checker  and a spell checker . You’ll receive personalized feedback on your thesis and writing structure too!

The  plagiarism checker compares your writing sample with billions of available sources online so that it detects plagiarism at every level. You’ll be notified of which phrases are too similar to current research and literature, prompting a possible rewrite or additional citation. You’ll also get feedback on your paper’s inconsistencies, such as changes in text, formatting, or style. These small details could suggest possible plagiarism within your assignment.

And speaking of citations, there are also  EasyBib citation tools  available. They help you quickly build your bibliography and avoid accidental plagiarism. Make sure you know which citation format your professor prefers!

Great! How do I start? 

Simply copy and paste or upload your essay into the checker at the top of this page. You’ll receive the first five grammar suggestions for free! To try the plagiarism checker for free, start your EasyBib Plus three-day free trial.* If you love the product and decide to opt for premium services, you’ll have access to unlimited writing suggestions and personalized feedback.

The EasyBib plagiarism checker is conveniently available 24 hours a day and seven days a week. You can cancel anytime.  Check your paper for free today!.

*See Terms and Conditions

Visit www.easybib.com for more information on helpful EasyBib writing and citing tools.

For informational guides and on writing and citing, visit the EasyBib guides homepage .

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Buying College Essays Is Now Easier Than Ever. But Buyer Beware

Tovia Smith

Concern is growing about a burgeoning online market for essays that students can buy and turn in as their own work. And schools are trying new tools to catch it. Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

Concern is growing about a burgeoning online market for essays that students can buy and turn in as their own work. And schools are trying new tools to catch it.

As the recent college admissions scandal is shedding light on how parents are cheating and bribing their children's way into college, schools are also focusing on how some students may be cheating their way through college. Concern is growing about a burgeoning online market that makes it easier than ever for students to buy essays written by others to turn in as their own work. And schools are trying new tools to catch it.

It's not hard to understand the temptation for students. The pressure is enormous, the stakes are high and, for some, writing at a college level is a huge leap.

"We didn't really have a format to follow, so I was kind of lost on what to do," says one college freshman, who struggled recently with an English assignment. One night, when she was feeling particularly overwhelmed, she tweeted her frustration.

"It was like, 'Someone, please help me write my essay!' " she recalls. She ended her tweet with a crying emoji. Within a few minutes, she had a half-dozen offers of help.

"I can write it for you," they tweeted back. "Send us the prompt!"

The student, who asked that her name not be used for fear of repercussions at school, chose one that asked for $10 per page, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"For me, it was just that the work was piling up," she explains. "As soon as I finish some big assignment, I get assigned more things, more homework for math, more homework for English. Some papers have to be six or 10 pages long. ... And even though I do my best to manage, the deadlines come closer and closer, and it's just ... the pressure."

In the cat-and-mouse game of academic cheating, students these days know that if they plagiarize, they're likely to get caught by computer programs that automatically compare essays against a massive database of other writings. So now, buying an original essay can seem like a good workaround.

"Technically, I don't think it's cheating," the student says. "Because you're paying someone to write an essay, which they don't plagiarize, and they write everything on their own."

Her logic, of course, ignores the question of whether she's plagiarizing. When pressed, she begins to stammer.

"That's just a difficult question to answer," she says. "I don't know how to feel about that. It's kind of like a gray area. It's maybe on the edge, kind of?"

Besides she adds, she probably won't use all of it.

Other students justify essay buying as the only way to keep up. They figure that everyone is doing it one way or another — whether they're purchasing help online or getting it from family or friends.

"Oh yeah, collaboration at its finest," cracks Boston University freshman Grace Saathoff. While she says she would never do it herself, she's not really fazed by others doing it. She agrees with her friends that it has pretty much become socially acceptable.

"I have a friend who writes essays and sells them," says Danielle Delafuente, another Boston University freshman. "And my other friend buys them. He's just like, 'I can't handle it. I have five papers at once. I need her to do two of them, and I'll do the other three.' It's a time management thing."

The war on contract cheating

"It breaks my heart that this is where we're at," sighs Ashley Finley, senior adviser to the president for the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She says campuses are abuzz about how to curb the rise in what they call contract cheating. Obviously, students buying essays is not new, but Finley says that what used to be mostly limited to small-scale side hustles has mushroomed on the internet to become a global industry of so-called essay mills. Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but research suggests that up to 16 percent of students have paid someone to do their work and that the number is rising.

"Definitely, this is really getting more and more serious," Finley says. "It's part of the brave new world for sure."

The essay mills market aggressively online, with slickly produced videos inviting students to "Get instant help with your assignment" and imploring them: "Don't lag behind," "Join the majority" and "Don't worry, be happy."

"They're very crafty," says Tricia Bertram Gallant, director of the Academic Integrity Office at the University of California in San Diego and a board member of the International Center for Academic Integrity.

The companies are equally brazen offline — leafleting on campuses, posting flyers in toilet stalls and flying banners over Florida beaches during spring break. Companies have also been known to bait students with emails that look like they're from official college help centers. And they pay social media influencers to sing the praises of their services, and they post testimonials from people they say are happy customers.

"I hired a service to write my paper and I got a 90 on it!" gloats one. "Save your time, and have extra time to party!" advises another.

"It's very much a seduction," says Bertram Gallant. "So you can maybe see why students could get drawn into the contract cheating world."

YouTube has been cracking down on essay mills; it says it has pulled thousands of videos that violate its policies against promoting dishonest behavior.

But new videos constantly pop up, and their hard sell flies in the face of their small-print warnings that their essays should be used only as a guide, not a final product.

Several essay mills declined or didn't respond to requests to be interviewed by NPR. But one answered questions by email and offered up one of its writers to explain her role in the company, called EduBirdie.

"Yes, just like the little birdie that's there to help you in your education," explains April Short, a former grade school teacher from Australia who's now based in Philadelphia. She has been writing for a year and a half for the company, which bills itself as a "professional essay writing service for students who can't even."

Some students just want some "foundational research" to get started or a little "polish" to finish up, Short says. But the idea that many others may be taking a paper written completely by her and turning it in as their own doesn't keep her up at night.

"These kids are so time poor," she says, and they're "missing out on opportunities of travel and internships because they're studying and writing papers." Relieving students of some of that burden, she figures, allows them to become more "well-rounded."

"I don't necessarily think that being able to create an essay is going to be a defining factor in a very long career, so it's not something that bothers me," says Short. Indeed, she thinks students who hire writers are demonstrating resourcefulness and creativity. "I actually applaud students that look for options to get the job done and get it done well," she says.

"This just shows you the extent of our ability to rationalize all kinds of bad things we do," sighs Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. The rise in contract cheating is especially worrisome, he says, because when it comes to dishonest behavior, more begets more. As he puts it, it's not just about "a few bad apples."

Felicity Huffman And 12 Other Parents To Plead Guilty In College Cheating Scandal

"Instead, what we have is a lot ... of blemished apples, and we take our cues for our behavior from the social world around us," he says. "We know officially what is right and what's wrong. But really what's driving our behavior is what we see others around us doing" or, Ariely adds, what we perceive them to be doing. So even the proliferation of advertising for essays mills can have a pernicious effect, he says, by fueling the perception that "everyone's doing it."

A few nations have recently proposed or passed laws outlawing essay mills, and more than a dozen U.S. states have laws on the books against them. But prosecuting essay mills, which are often based overseas in Pakistan, Kenya and Ukraine, for example, is complicated. And most educators are loath to criminalize students' behavior.

"Yes, they're serious mistakes. They're egregious mistakes," says Cath Ellis, an associate dean and integrity officer at the University of New South Wales, where students were among the hundreds alleged to have bought essays in a massive scandal in Australia in 2014.

"But we're educational institutions," she adds. "We've got to give students the opportunity to learn from these mistakes. That's our responsibility. And that's better in our hands than in the hands of the police and the courts."

Staying one step ahead

In the war on contract cheating, some schools see new technology as their best weapon and their best shot to stay one step ahead of unscrupulous students. The company that makes the Turnitin plagiarism detection software has just upped its game with a new program called Authorship Investigate.

The software first inspects a document's metadata, like when it was created, by whom it was created and how many times it was reopened and re-edited. Turnitin's vice president for product management, Bill Loller, says sometimes it's as simple as looking at the document's name. Essay mills typically name their documents something like "Order Number 123," and students have been known to actually submit it that way. "You would be amazed at how frequently that happens," says Loller.

Using cutting-edge linguistic forensics, the software also evaluates the level of writing and its style.

"Think of it as a writing fingerprint," Loller says. The software looks at hundreds of telltale characteristics of an essay, like whether the author double spaces after a period or writes with Oxford commas or semicolons. It all gets instantly compared against a student's other work, and, Loller says, suspicions can be confirmed — or alleviated — in minutes.

"At the end of the day, you get to a really good determination on whether the student wrote what they submitted or not," he says, "and you get it really quickly."

Coventry University in the U.K. has been testing out a beta version of the software, and Irene Glendinning, the school's academic manager for student experience, agrees that the software has the potential to give schools a leg up on cheating students. After the software is officially adopted, "we'll see a spike in the number of cases we find, and we'll have a very hard few years," she says. "But then the message will get through to students that we've got the tools now to find these things out." Then, Glendinning hopes, students might consider contract cheating to be as risky as plagiarizing.

In the meantime, schools are trying to spread the word that buying essays is risky in other ways as well.

Professor Ariely says that when he posed as a student and ordered papers from several companies, much of it was "gibberish" and about a third of it was actually plagiarized.

Even worse, when he complained to the company and demanded his money back, they resorted to blackmail. Still believing him to be a student, the company threatened to tell his school he was cheating. Others say companies have also attempted to shake down students for more money, threatening to rat them out if they didn't pay up.

The lesson, Ariely says, is "buyer beware."

But ultimately, experts say, many desperate students may not be deterred by the risks — whether from shady businesses or from new technology.

Bertram Gallant, of UC San Diego, says the right way to dissuade students from buying essays is to remind them why it's wrong.

"If we engage in a technological arms race with the students, we won't win," she says. "What are we going to do when Google glasses start to look like regular glasses and a student wears them into an exam? Are we going to tell them they can't wear their glasses because we're afraid they might be sending the exam out to someone else who is sending them back the answers?"

The solution, Bertram Gallant says, has to be about "creating a culture where integrity and ethics matter" and where education is valued more than grades. Only then will students believe that cheating on essays is only cheating themselves.

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Academic Essay Writing Made Simple: 4 types and tips

The pen is mightier than the sword, they say, and nowhere is this more evident than in academia. From the quick scribbles of eager students to the inquisitive thoughts of renowned scholars, academic essays depict the power of the written word. These well-crafted writings propel ideas forward and expand the existing boundaries of human intellect.

What is an Academic Essay

An academic essay is a nonfictional piece of writing that analyzes and evaluates an argument around a specific topic or research question. It serves as a medium to share the author’s views and is also used by institutions to assess the critical thinking, research skills, and writing abilities of a students and researchers.  

Importance of Academic Essays

4 main types of academic essays.

While academic essays may vary in length, style, and purpose, they generally fall into four main categories. Despite their differences, these essay types share a common goal: to convey information, insights, and perspectives effectively.

1. Expository Essay

2. Descriptive Essay

3. Narrative Essay

4. Argumentative Essay

Expository and persuasive essays mainly deal with facts to explain ideas clearly. Narrative and descriptive essays are informal and have a creative edge. Despite their differences, these essay types share a common goal ― to convey information, insights, and perspectives effectively.

Expository Essays: Illuminating ideas

An expository essay is a type of academic writing that explains, illustrates, or clarifies a particular subject or idea. Its primary purpose is to inform the reader by presenting a comprehensive and objective analysis of a topic.

By breaking down complex topics into digestible pieces and providing relevant examples and explanations, expository essays allow writers to share their knowledge.

What are the Key Features of an Expository Essay

Provides factual information without bias

Presents multiple viewpoints while maintaining objectivity

Uses direct and concise language to ensure clarity for the reader

Composed of a logical structure with an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion

When is an expository essay written.

1. For academic assignments to evaluate the understanding of research skills.

2. As instructional content to provide step-by-step guidance for tasks or problem-solving.

3. In journalism for objective reporting in news or investigative pieces.

4. As a form of communication in the professional field to convey factual information in business or healthcare.

How to Write an Expository Essay

Expository essays are typically structured in a logical and organized manner.

1. Topic Selection and Research

• Choose a topic that can be explored objectively
• Gather relevant facts and information from credible sources
• Develop a clear thesis statement

2. Outline and Structure

• Create an outline with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion
• Introduce the topic and state the thesis in the introduction
• Dedicate each body paragraph to a specific point supporting the thesis
• Use transitions to maintain a logical flow

3. Objective and Informative Writing

• Maintain an impartial and informative tone
• Avoid personal opinions or biases
• Support points with factual evidence, examples, and explanations

4. Conclusion

• Summarize the key points
• Reinforce the significance of the thesis

Descriptive Essays: Painting with words

Descriptive essays transport readers into vivid scenes, allowing them to experience the world through the writer ‘s lens. These essays use rich sensory details, metaphors, and figurative language to create a vivid and immersive experience . Its primary purpose is to engage readers’ senses and imagination.

It allows writers to demonstrate their ability to observe and describe subjects with precision and creativity.

What are the Key Features of Descriptive Essay

Employs figurative language and imagery to paint a vivid picture for the reader

Demonstrates creativity and expressiveness in narration

Includes close attention to detail, engaging the reader’s senses

Engages the reader’s imagination and emotions through immersive storytelling using analogies, metaphors, similes, etc.

When is a descriptive essay written.

1. Personal narratives or memoirs that describe significant events, people, or places.

2. Travel writing to capture the essence of a destination or experience.

3. Character sketches in fiction writing to introduce and describe characters.

4. Poetry or literary analyses to explore the use of descriptive language and imagery.

How to Write a Descriptive Essay

The descriptive essay lacks a defined structural requirement but typically includes: an introduction introducing the subject, a thorough description, and a concluding summary with insightful reflection.

1. Subject Selection and Observation

• Choose a subject (person, place, object, or experience) to describe
• Gather sensory details and observations

2. Engaging Introduction

• Set the scene and provide the context
• Use of descriptive language and figurative techniques

3. Descriptive Body Paragraphs

• Focus on specific aspects or details of the subject
• Engage the reader ’s senses with vivid imagery and descriptions
• Maintain a consistent tone and viewpoint

4. Impactful Conclusion

• Provide a final impression or insight
• Leave a lasting impact on the reader

Narrative Essays: Storytelling in Action

Narrative essays are personal accounts that tell a story, often drawing from the writer’s own experiences or observations. These essays rely on a well-structured plot, character development, and vivid descriptions to engage readers and convey a deeper meaning or lesson.

What are the Key features of Narrative Essays

Written from a first-person perspective and hence subjective

Based on real personal experiences

Uses an informal and expressive tone

Presents events and characters in sequential order

When is a narrative essay written.

It is commonly assigned in high school and college writing courses to assess a student’s ability to convey a meaningful message or lesson through a personal narrative. They are written in situations where a personal experience or story needs to be recounted, such as:

1. Reflective essays on significant life events or personal growth.

2. Autobiographical writing to share one’s life story or experiences.

3. Creative writing exercises to practice narrative techniques and character development.

4. College application essays to showcase personal qualities and experiences.

How to Write a Narrative Essay

Narrative essays typically follow a chronological structure, with an introduction that sets the scene, a body that develops the plot and characters, and a conclusion that provides a sense of resolution or lesson learned.

1. Experience Selection and Reflection

• Choose a significant personal experience or event
• Reflect on the impact and deeper meaning

2. Immersive Introduction

• Introduce characters and establish the tone and point of view

3. Plotline and Character Development

• Advance   the  plot and character development through body paragraphs
• Incorporate dialog , conflict, and resolution
• Maintain a logical and chronological flow

4. Insightful Conclusion

• Reflect on lessons learned or insights gained
• Leave the reader with a lasting impression

Argumentative Essays: Persuasion and Critical Thinking

Argumentative essays are the quintessential form of academic writing in which writers present a clear thesis and support it with well-researched evidence and logical reasoning. These essays require a deep understanding of the topic, critical analysis of multiple perspectives, and the ability to construct a compelling argument.

What are the Key Features of an Argumentative Essay?

Logical and well-structured arguments

Credible and relevant evidence from reputable sources

Consideration and refutation of counterarguments

Critical analysis and evaluation of the issue 

When is an argumentative essay written.

Argumentative essays are written to present a clear argument or stance on a particular issue or topic. In academic settings they are used to develop critical thinking, research, and persuasive writing skills. However, argumentative essays can also be written in various other contexts, such as:

1. Opinion pieces or editorials in newspapers, magazines, or online publications.

2. Policy proposals or position papers in government, nonprofit, or advocacy settings.

3. Persuasive speeches or debates in academic, professional, or competitive environments.

4. Marketing or advertising materials to promote a product, service, or idea.

How to write an Argumentative Essay

Argumentative essays begin with an introduction that states the thesis and provides context. The body paragraphs develop the argument with evidence, address counterarguments, and use logical reasoning. The conclusion restates the main argument and makes a final persuasive appeal.

• Choose a debatable and controversial issue
• Conduct thorough research and gather evidence and counterarguments

2. Thesis and Introduction

• Craft a clear and concise thesis statement
• Provide background information and establish importance

3. Structured Body Paragraphs

• Focus each paragraph on a specific aspect of the argument
• Support with logical reasoning, factual evidence, and refutation

4. Persuasive Techniques

• Adopt a formal and objective tone
• Use persuasive techniques (rhetorical questions, analogies, appeals)

5. Impactful Conclusion

• Summarize the main points
• Leave the reader with a strong final impression and call to action

To learn more about argumentative essay, check out this article .

5 Quick Tips for Researchers to Improve Academic Essay Writing Skills

Use clear and concise language to convey ideas effectively without unnecessary words

Use well-researched, credible sources to substantiate your arguments with data, expert opinions, and scholarly references

Ensure a coherent structure with effective transitions, clear topic sentences, and a logical flow to enhance readability 

To elevate your academic essay, consider submitting your draft to a community-based platform like Open Platform  for editorial review 

Review your work multiple times for clarity, coherence, and adherence to academic guidelines to ensure a polished final product

By mastering the art of academic essay writing, researchers and scholars can effectively communicate their ideas, contribute to the advancement of knowledge, and engage in meaningful scholarly discourse.

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code

How to Avoid Plagiarism

It's not enough to know why plagiarism is taken so seriously in the academic world or to know how to recognize it. You also need to know how to avoid it. The simplest cases of plagiarism to avoid are the intentional ones: If you copy a paper from a classmate, buy a paper from the Internet, copy whole passages from a book, article, or Web site without citing the author, you are plagiarizing. Here's the best advice you'll ever receive about avoiding intentional plagiarism: If you're tempted to borrow someone else's ideas or plagiarize in any way because you're pressed for time, nervous about how you're doing in a class, or confused about the assignment, don't do it . The problems you think you're solving by plagiarizing are really minor compared to the problems you will create for yourself by plagiarizing. In every case, the consequences of plagiarism are much more serious than the consequences of turning in a paper late or turning in a paper you're not satisfied to have written.

"...the consequences of plagiarism are much more serious than the consequences of turning in a paper late..."

The consequences of accidental plagiarism are equally daunting and should be avoided at all costs. Whether or not you intended to plagiarize, you will still be held responsible. As a member of an intellectual community you are expected to respect the ideas of others in the same way that you would respect any other property that didn't belong to you, and this is true whether you plagiarize on purpose or by accident. The best way to make sure you don't plagiarize due to confusion or carelessness is to 1) understand what you're doing when you write a paper and 2) follow a method that is systematic and careful as you do your research . In other words, if you have a clear sense of what question you're trying to answer and what knowledge you're building on, and if you keep careful, clear notes along the way, it's much easier to use sources effectively and responsibly and, most of all, to write a successful paper. If you have questions about plagiarism at any point in your research or writing process, ask. It's always better to ask questions than it is to wait for an instructor to respond to work that you have turned in for a grade. Once you have turned in your final work, you will be held responsible for misuse of sources.

With these principles in mind, here are some guidelines for conducting research responsibly:

Keep track of your sources; print electronic sources

While it's easy enough to keep a stack of books or journal articles on your desk where you can easily refer back to them, it's just as important to keep track of electronic sources. When you save a PDF of a journal article, make sure you put it into a folder on your computer where you'll be able to find it. When you consult a Web site, log the Web address in a separate document from the paper you're writing so that you'll be able to return to the Web site and cite it correctly. You should also print the relevant pages from any Web sites you use, making sure you note the complete URL and the date on which you printed the material. Because electronic sources aren't stable and Web pages can be deleted without notice, beware of directing your readers to sources that might have disappeared. Check when the Web site you're using was last updated and update the URLs as you work and once again right before you submit your essay. If an electronic source disappears before you submit your work, you will need to decide whether or not to keep the source in your paper. If you have printed the source and can turn it in with your paper, you should do so. If you have not printed the source, you should consult your instructor about whether or not to use that source in your paper.

The library has several helpful resources for managing your sources, including RefWorks .

Keep sources in correct context

Whenever you consult a source, you should make sure you understand the context, both of the ideas within a source and of the source itself. You should also be careful to consider the context in which a source was written. For example, a book of essays published by an organization with a political bias might not present an issue with adequate complexity for your project.

The question of context can be more complicated when you're working with Internet sources than with print sources because you may see one Web page as separate from an entire Web site and use or interpret that page without fully understanding or representing its context. For example, a definition of "communism" taken from a Web site with a particular political agenda might provide one interpretation of the meaning of the word—but if you neglect to mention the context for that definition you might use it as though it's unbiased when it isn't. Likewise, some Internet searches will take you to a URL that's just one Web page within a larger Web site; be sure to investigate and take notes on the context of the information you're citing.

Research can often turn out to be more time-consuming that you anticipate. Budget enough time to search for sources, to take notes, and to think about how to use the sources in your essay. Moments of carelessness are more common when you leave your essay until the last minute and are tired or stressed. Honest mistakes can lead to charges of plagiarism just as dishonesty can; be careful when note-taking and when incorporating ideas and language from electronic sources so you always know what language and ideas are yours and what belongs to a source.

Don't cut and paste: File and label your sources

Never cut and paste information from an electronic source straight into your own essay, and never type verbatim sentences from a print source straight into your essay. Instead, open a separate document on your computer for each source so you can file research information carefully. When you type or cut and paste into that document, make sure to include the full citation information for the print source or the full URL and the date you copied the page(s). For Web sources, make sure to cite the page from which you're taking information, which may not necessarily be the home page of the site you're using. Use logical and precise names for the files you create, and add citation information and dates. This allows you to retrieve the files easily, deters you from accidentally deleting files, and helps you keep a log of the order in which your research was conducted. It's a good idea to add a note to each file that describes how you might use the information in that file. Remember: you're entering a conversation with your sources, and accurate file names and notes can help you understand and engage that conversation. And, of course, always remember to back up your files.

Keep your own writing and your sources separate

Work with either the printed copy of your source(s) or (in the case of online sources), the copy you pasted into a separate document—not the online version—as you draft your essay. This precaution not only decreases the risk of plagiarism but also enables you to annotate your sources in various ways that will help you understand and use them most effectively in your essay.

Keep your notes and your draft separate

Be careful to keep your research notes separate from your actual draft at all stages of your writing process. This will ensure that you don't cut language from a source and paste it into your paper without proper attribution. If you work from your notes, you're more likely to keep track of the boundaries between your own ideas and those in a source.

Paraphrase carefully in your notes; acknowledge your sources explicitly when paraphrasing

When you want to paraphrase material, it's a good idea first to paste the actual quotation into your notes (not directly into your draft) and then to paraphrase it (still in your notes). Putting the information in your own words will help you make sure that you've thought about what the source is saying and that you have a good reason for using it in your paper. Remember to use some form of notation in your notes to indicate what you've paraphrased and mention the author's name within the material you paraphrase. You should also include all citation information in your notes.

When you decide to use paraphrased material in your essay, make sure that you avoid gradually rewording the paraphrased material from draft to draft until you lose sight of the fact that it's still a paraphrase. Also, avoid excessive paraphrasing in which your essay simply strings together a series of paraphrases. When the ideas taken from your sources start to blend in deceptively with your own thinking, you will have a more difficult time maintaining the boundaries between your ideas and those drawn from sources. Finally, whenever you paraphrase, make sure you indicate, at each logical progression, that the ideas are taken from an authored source.

Avoid reading a classmate's paper for inspiration

If you're in a course that requires peer review or workshops of student drafts, you are going to read your classmates' work and discuss it. This is a productive way of exchanging ideas and getting feedback on your work. If you find, in the course of this work, that you wish to use someone else's idea at some point in your paper (you should never use someone else's idea as your thesis, but there may be times when a classmate's idea would work as a counterargument or other point in your paper), you must credit that person the same way you would credit any other source. On the other hand, if you find yourself reading someone else's paper because you're stuck on an assignment and don't know how to proceed, you may end up creating a problem for yourself because you might unconsciously copy that person's ideas. When you're stuck, make an appointment with your instructor or go to the Writing Center for advice on how to develop your own ideas.

Don't save your citations for later

Never paraphrase or quote from a source without immediately adding a citation. You should add citations in your notes, in your response papers, in your drafts, and in your revisions. Without them, it's too easy to lose track of where you got a quotation or an idea and to end up inadvertently taking credit for material that's not your own.

Quote your sources properly

Always use quotation marks for directly quoted material, even for short phrases and key terms.

Keep a source trail

As you write and revise your essay, make sure that you keep track of your sources in your notes and in each successive draft of your essay. You should begin this process early, even before you start writing your draft. Even after you've handed in your essay, keep all of your research notes and drafts. You ought to be able to reconstruct the path you took from your sources to your notes and from your notes to your drafts and revision. These careful records and clear boundaries between your writing and your sources will help you avoid plagiarism. And if you are called upon to explain your process to your instructor, you'll be able to retrace the path you took when thinking, researching, and writing, from the essay you submitted back through your drafts and to your sources.

What are Tone Words? List of 300+ Useful Words

Table of contents

• 1 What is a Tone?
• 2.1 Positive Tone Words
• 2.2 Negative Tone Words
• 2.3 Neutral Tone Words
• 3 How to Find the Right Tone for Your Work
• 4 Tone Words Examples in Various Texts

In writing, tone plays a significant role in conveying emotions, setting the atmosphere, and establishing a connection with readers. The tone of every piece of writing – whether an argumentative essay, a page-turning novel, or a moving poem – can be set by the author’s choice of words.

It would be best to balance the subtleties of language and freedom of thought to get the desired effect. Today, we share a definitive collection of tone words to help you and every writer achieve their goals in this area.

What is a Tone?

Tone, in writing, is the author’s emotional response with deep respect to either the subject matter or the readers. It helps to create a particular atmosphere and direct the reader’s feelings by revealing the author’s point of view.

The tone is the author’s voice (in this case, their attitude, not their personality), and how the words on the page are emotion-tinted to make the reader feel a specific way.

Word choice, tone list sentence structure, imagery, and figurative language are all examples of literary methods that can be used to communicate tone. It comprises more than just the words themselves.

Also, it includes the author’s general tone and approach. To provoke various feelings and responses from the reader, a talented writer might switch tones within the same piece of writing.

Recognizing and employing tone is fundamental to effective communication because it influences the writer’s attitude and how the recipient interprets the message. It can potentially affect a message’s readability, retention, and recall. When writers use the right tone, they may impress readers, hold their attention, and get their point over.

As they delve further into the nuances of tone and tone words in literature, authors gain access to many expressive vocabularies.

The Ultimate List of Tone Words

Now for our ultimate list of tone words in literature. This comprehensive compilation encompasses a range of words that can help authors like you effectively communicate their intended emotions and engage readers on a profound level. And we are talking about a deep level indeed!

Positive Tone Words

Positive tone words inspire happy thoughts and feelings in the reader. They spark positive emotions and are incredibly powerful. Powerful? How so? Positive tone words can make you think well of someone and have a favorable impression of them even without meeting. Here are some other good tone words, word examples, and their meanings:

• Joyful: Filled with happiness, delight, and great pleasure.
• Optimistic: Expecting positive outcomes, hopeful, and confident about the future.
• Enthusiastic: Displaying intense excitement, passion, and eagerness.
• Serene: Calm, peaceful, and tranquil.
• Endearing: Inspiring warmth or affection
• Grateful: Feeling or expressing appreciation and thankfulness.
• Empowered: Feeling confident, capable, and in control of one’s life or circumstances.
• Radiant: Emitting brightness, happiness, and positivity.
• Inspirational: Providing motivation, encouragement, and a sense of upliftment.
• Energetic: Full of vigor, liveliness, and vitality.
• Confident: Having self-assurance, belief in one’s abilities, and a positive outlook.
• Empathetic: showing empathy; feeling the emotions of others.

Negative Tone Words

The use of negative tone words can considerably influence the perceptions produced by readers, regardless of whether they describe a location, a literary work, or a collective of individuals. Simply put, just as positive tone words spark positive emotions, negative ones spark negative ones.

Hence, when applying negative tone phrases, you must exercise caution and ensure your criticisms remain fair, constructive, and objective, and that is very important.

By attentively picking your words, you can provide a well-rounded perspective while keeping your message’s moral sense and integrity. Striking the correct balance between negative and positive judgments provides for a full understanding and encourages effective interactions.

• Miserable: Extremely unhappy, sorrowful, or distressed.
• Disgusting: Causing intense revulsion, repugnance, or strong aversion.
• Aggressive: Hostile, confrontational, or prone to initiating conflict.
• Chaotic: Marked by disorder, confusion, and lack of organization or control.
• Repulsive: Evoking strong feelings of dislike, aversion, or disgust.
• Arrogant: Displaying an exaggerated sense of superiority, self-importance, or entitlement.
• Hateful: Full of intense dislike, animosity, or prejudice towards someone or something.
• Depressing: Causing feelings of sadness, dejection, or hopelessness.
• Inferior: Of lower quality, value, or importance compared to others.

Neutral Tone Words

Neutral tone words help maintain a fair and unbiased approach, allowing readers to form their opinions without undue influence. Here are examples of neutral tone words along with their meanings:

• Ordinary: Usual, commonplace, or unremarkable.
• Standard: Conforming to established norms, expectations, or criteria.
• Common: Frequently occurring, widely experienced, or generally known.
• Typical: Representing a characteristic example or pattern.
• Balanced: Exhibiting equality, equilibrium, or impartiality.
• Objective: Unbiased, based on facts, and devoid of personal opinions or feelings.
• Rationale: Logical, reasoned, and based on sound judgment or reasoning.
• Neutral: Impartial, unbiased, or not taking sides.
• Moderate: Neither excessive nor extreme, characterized by a reasonable and measured approach.
• Unbiased: Fair, impartial, and free from prejudice or favoritism.
• Indifferent: Having no particular preference or bias, lacking interest or concern.
• Matter-of-fact: Devoid of emotional embellishment, straightforward, and focused on facts.

How to Find the Right Tone for Your Work

So far, we have established that finding the right, powerful tone words is the key to successfully delivering your message through writing. To figure out which examples of tone words used work best for your goal, ask these reflective questions:

• Why am I writing this?

It helps to know why you’re writing in the first place to set the right words of tone in your writing. What effect do you hope to have on the reader? Each goal requires specific words and unique words for the tone of the literature to be adequate.

• Who exactly am I writing for?

When deciding on a tone for your writing, it is essential to keep your readers in mind. Is it an official report, a casual blog post, or a rigorous research paper? The interest and understanding of your readers will increase if you modify your author’s tone to match their expectations and preferences.

• What do I hope the reader will take away from this experience?

The tone of your communication can be improved by first determining the key idea or message you wish to express. Whatever you’re trying to do through your writing – persuade, inform, or evoke an emotion – matching your tone to your intended result is crucial!

The tone of any formal writing must be clear, concise, confident, and courteous. Attempt refinement without straying into pretentiousness; balance formality and readability.

However, creative writing allows for greater latitude in tone. Still, focus on effectively using tone words, regardless of the genre. The tone you go for will be influenced by the genre you’re writing in, but ultimately, you want to get your point across, make the reader feel something, and pull them into the story.

Suppose writers take the time to evaluate these factors carefully. In that case, they can master using an appropriate tone to describe words that will connect with their target audience, improve readability, and have the desired effect. We hope you become one such writer.

Tone Words Examples in Various Texts

Again, tone words play a vital role in shaping the atmosphere and evoking emotions in different types of writing. The choice of tone words varies based on the formality of the writing and is further influenced by the genre, whether creative or formal.

Let’s explore some examples of tone words in various types of writing:

• Melancholic: Conveys a tone of sadness, longing, or introspection, often found in poems exploring themes of loss or nostalgia.
• Whimsical: Creates a playful and lighthearted tone, commonly used in poems that embrace imagination and fantasy.
• Serene: Establishes a calm and peaceful tone, often seen in verses that celebrate nature or meditate on inner peace.
• Euphoric: Creates a tone of extreme joy, vitality, or ecstasy, frequently found in poems expressing moments of joy or bliss.

Romantic Novel

• Passionate: Sets an intense and vibrant tone, typically associated with love, desire, and emotional depth.
• Sentimental: Evokes tender and nostalgic emotions, often found in romantic novels emphasizing deep emotional connections.
• Yearning: Conveys a tone of longing or desire, frequently employed in books that explore unrequited love or longing for a lost connection.
• Tender: Establishes a gentle and affectionate tone, often used to depict tender moments of intimacy or vulnerability.

Horror Fiction

• Eerie: Creates a tone of unease, suspense, and impending dread, frequently found in horror fiction to heighten tension.
• Sinister: Evokes a dark, malicious, or hateful tone, often depicting evil or foreboding circumstances.
• Terrifying: Establishes a tone of extreme fear, horror, or terror intended to invoke a visceral response from the reader.
• Macabre: Conveys a tone of fascination with the gruesome death or the supernatural, often seen in horror fiction that explores the darker aspects of human existence.

Informative News Article

• Objective: Establish a neutral and unbiased tone, presenting facts and information without personal opinions or emotions.
• Authoritative: Conveys a tone of expertise, credibility, and confidence, frequently employed in news articles to establish trustworthiness.
• Informative: Sets a tone of clarity, providing straightforward and concise information to educate the readers.
• Balanced: Establishes a fair and even-handed tone, presenting multiple perspectives and avoiding bias or favoritism.

What Is the Difference Between Tone and Voice?

Tone and voice are sometimes misunderstood or used interchangeably by writers. However, they couldn’t be more dissimilar. We’ve established that tone conveys the author’s or a character’s feelings about the subject.

Tone words in nonfiction writing reveal the author’s point of view. Tone words are helpful in fiction because they indicate a scene’s or conversation’s emotional state, whether the reader might expect tension, happiness, sadness, etc.

While the term “voice” describes the overall character of a piece of writing. One author’s scathing tone may be another’s instructive or friendliness.

What Is the Difference Between Tone and Mood?

The word for tone in literature is the mood or atmosphere that the author intends for the reader to experience while reading the text, while mood is the experience that the reader has while reading the story.

How the author feels about the setting or the character and how he wants the reader to feel determines the tone. On the contrary, the reader’s emotional response establishes the mood. Setting the mood at the opening of a story prepares the audience for what is to come.

How do you identify tone words?

Identifying tone words in a piece of writing is essential for understanding the intended emotions and attitudes conveyed by the author. Here are some key approaches to identifying tone words:

• Contextual Clues: Pay attention to the overall context and the writer’s purpose. Examine the subject matter, the writer’s attitude, and the intended audience. These factors can provide valuable hints about the tone.
• Word Choice: Look for words that evoke emotions or convey a particular attitude. Tone words often carry emotional weight or reveal the author’s perspective. Words with strong connotations, such as “brutal,” “uplifting,” or “serene,” can indicate the tone.
• Go with your Gut: Sometimes, the best way to explain a tone is to say that you just “get it.” The text makes you feel a specific way, whether it’s urgent or melancholy. After reading it, you feel angry and get the impression that the author is also angry. Or sometimes, there is nothing specifically humorous about the writing, yet you find yourself laughing anyhow. As a result, go with your instinct when deciding how to interpret the author’s tone in passages like these.

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Your Best College Essay

Maybe you love to write, or maybe you don’t. Either way, there’s a chance that the thought of writing your college essay is making you sweat. No need for nerves! We’re here to give you the important details on how to make the process as anxiety-free as possible.

What's the College Essay?

When we say “The College Essay” (capitalization for emphasis – say it out loud with the capitals and you’ll know what we mean) we’re talking about the 550-650 word essay required by most colleges and universities. Prompts for this essay can be found on the college’s website, the Common Application, or the Coalition Application. We’re not talking about the many smaller supplemental essays you might need to write in order to apply to college. Not all institutions require the essay, but most colleges and universities that are at least semi-selective do.

How do I get started?

Look for the prompts on whatever application you’re using to apply to schools (almost all of the time – with a few notable exceptions – this is the Common Application). If one of them calls out to you, awesome! You can jump right in and start to brainstorm. If none of them are giving you the right vibes, don’t worry. They’re so broad that almost anything you write can fit into one of the prompts after you’re done. Working backwards like this is totally fine and can be really useful!

What if I have writer's block?

You aren’t alone. Staring at a blank Google Doc and thinking about how this is the one chance to tell an admissions officer your story can make you freeze. Thinking about some of these questions might help you find the right topic:

• What is something about you that people have pointed out as distinctive?
• If you had to pick three words to describe yourself, what would they be? What are things you’ve done that demonstrate these qualities?
• What’s something about you that has changed over your years in high school? How or why did it change?
• What’s something you like most about yourself?
• What’s something you love so much that you lose track of the rest of the world while you do it?

If you’re still stuck on a topic, ask your family members, friends, or other trusted adults: what’s something they always think about when they think about you? What’s something they think you should be proud of? They might help you find something about yourself that you wouldn’t have surfaced on your own.  

How do I grab my reader's attention?

It’s no secret that admissions officers are reading dozens – and sometimes hundreds – of essays every day. That can feel like a lot of pressure to stand out. But if you try to write the most unique essay in the world, it might end up seeming forced if it’s not genuinely you. So, what’s there to do? Our advice: start your essay with a story. Tell the reader about something you’ve done, complete with sensory details, and maybe even dialogue. Then, in the second paragraph, back up and tell us why this story is important and what it tells them about you and the theme of the essay.

THE WORD LIMIT IS SO LIMITING. HOW DO I TELL A COLLEGE MY WHOLE LIFE STORY IN 650 WORDS?

Don’t! Don’t try to tell an admissions officer about everything you’ve loved and done since you were a child. Instead, pick one or two things about yourself that you’re hoping to get across and stick to those. They’ll see the rest on the activities section of your application.

I'M STUCK ON THE CONCLUSION. HELP?

If you can’t think of another way to end the essay, talk about how the qualities you’ve discussed in your essays have prepared you for college. Try to wrap up with a sentence that refers back to the story you told in your first paragraph, if you took that route.

SHOULD I PROOFREAD MY ESSAY?

YES, proofread the essay, and have a trusted adult proofread it as well. Know that any suggestions they give you are coming from a good place, but make sure they aren’t writing your essay for you or putting it into their own voice. Admissions officers want to hear the voice of you, the applicant. Before you submit your essay anywhere, our number one advice is to read it out loud to yourself. When you read out loud you’ll catch small errors you may not have noticed before, and hear sentences that aren’t quite right.

ANY OTHER ADVICE?

Be yourself. If you’re not a naturally serious person, don’t force formality. If you’re the comedian in your friend group, go ahead and be funny. But ultimately, write as your authentic (and grammatically correct) self and trust the process.

And remember, thousands of other students your age are faced with this same essay writing task, right now. You can do it!

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‘While this hard bigotry of no expectations harms the students the administration professes to help, it does supply yet another instrument for the president to intimidate an already debased and frightened faculty,’ one professor said

A Claremont McKenna College professor was dragged through a yearlong investigation over racism allegations — and ultimately cleared — after he accused a black student of plagiarism, according to a recently published report.

Professor William Ascher, a distinguished scholar whose CV notes he has worked as a professor of government and economics at the conservative college for nearly 25 years and also previously served as dean of faculty, faced the probe after he reported the student to the school’s Academic Standards Committee.

The investigation, which launched in January 2023, was brought to light in a May 10 article in the Claremont Independen t student news outlet, which linked to a five-page account of the case penned by Ascher in December 2023 at the conclusion of the ordeal.

Ascher and Claremont McKenna College’s media relations division did not comment to The College Fix.

According to the Independent and Ascher’s account, the student’s essay — which was apparently far superior to previous ones — failed both a TurnItIn plagiarism detection test as well as a review by a visiting literature professor.

Faculty are required to report plagiarism suspicions by the college’s academic policy, the Independen t reported. After the incident was filed with the Academic Standards Committee, the student and three of his peers accused Ascher of racism for various alleged past racist and derogatory classroom comments.

Administrators at Claremont McKenna, which is known as employing conservative-leaning faculty, pulled the plagiarism accusation from consideration during the probe into Ascher. The administration then asked Ascher to compromise regarding the plagiarism accusation, but the veteran scholar wrote in his account that he refused. He had also reported a white student for plagiarism the same semester.

Campus leaders then hired a private law firm to conduct a months-long investigation into the “racism” allegations, of which Ascher was eventually cleared at the end of 2023.

“I was puzzled as to why so many students would come forward with contrived complaints, two of which are outright lies, and I learned from the investigator’s report that their formal complaints, coming a year after the alleged offenses, [came] after the student accused of plagiarism filed his complaint,” Ascher wrote.

“It seems likely that he violated the confidentiality requirement by soliciting more complaints. I cannot help concluding that this has been a concerted effort to prevent having the student charged with plagiarism, failing both courses, and facing a strong likelihood of being suspended (not only for the plagiarism, but also for lying about when papers were submitted).”

“Then I learned that the plagiarist has a high position of the 2023-24 senior class.”

A Claremont McKenna professor — not Ascher — who asked to remain anonymous told The College Fix the investigation into Ascher was unprecedented, and that the student at the center of the plagiarism investigation held a very high position in the student government, which is why administrators likely sought to protect him.

“I know of no other case where any member of the administration intervened to stop a plagiarism investigation, much less a non-academic member of the staff,” the professor told The Fix.

The professor added the administration’s decision to hire an outside law firm to conduct an investigation into Ascher is not authorized by the faculty handbook.

“By allowing a student to use Title IX to retaliate for or protect against charges of plagiarism, President [Hiram] Chodosh has destroyed the value of the degrees it grants to its non-white students. While this hard bigotry of no expectations harms the students the administration professes to help, it does supply yet another instrument for the president to intimidate an already debased and frightened faculty,” the professor told The Fix via email.

Ryan Ansloan with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told the Independent the case will also have a chilling effect on scholars, citing the length of the investigation and the fact that campus leaders abandoned normal procedures.

MORE: Angry mob shuts down Blue Lives Matter speech at Claremont McKenna College

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What Is a Capstone Project vs. Thesis

As students near the end of their academic journey, they encounter a crucial project called the capstone – a culmination of all they've learned. But what exactly is a capstone project? 

This article aims to demystify capstone projects, explaining what they are, why they matter, and what you can expect when you embark on this final academic endeavor.

Capstone Project Meaning

A capstone project is a comprehensive, culminating academic endeavor undertaken by students typically in their final year of study. 

It synthesizes their learning experiences, requiring students to apply the knowledge, skills, and competencies gained throughout their academic journey. A capstone project aims to address a real-world problem or explore a topic of interest in depth. 

As interdisciplinary papers, capstone projects encourage critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. They allow students to showcase their mastery of their field of study and demonstrate their readiness for future academic or professional pursuits.

Now that we’ve defined what is a capstone project, let’s discuss its importance in the academic landscape. In case you have short-form compositions to handle, simply say, ‘ do my essay for me ,’ and our writers will take care of your workload.

Why Is a Capstone Project Important

A capstone project is crucial because it allows students to combine everything they've learned in school and apply it to real-life situations or big problems. 

It's like the ultimate test of what they know and can do. By working on these projects, students get hands-on experience, learn to think critically and figure out how to solve tough problems. 

Plus, it's a chance to show off their skills and prove they're ready for whatever comes next, whether that's starting a career or going on to more schooling.

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What Is the Purpose of a Capstone Project

Here are three key purposes of a capstone project:

Integration of Knowledge and Skills

Capstones often require students to draw upon the knowledge and skills they have acquired throughout their academic program. The importance of capstone project lies in helping students synthesize what they have learned and apply it to a real-world problem or project. 

This integration helps students demonstrate their proficiency and readiness for graduation or entry into their chosen profession.

Culmination of Learning

Capstone projects culminate a student's academic journey, allowing them to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios. 

tackling a significant project or problem, students demonstrate their understanding of concepts and their ability to translate them into practical solutions, reinforcing their learning journey.

Professional Development

Capstone projects allow students to develop skills relevant to their future careers. These projects can also be tangible examples of their capabilities to potential employers or graduate programs.

Whether it's conducting research, presenting findings, or collaborating with peers, students gain valuable experience that enhances their professional readiness. 

Types of Capstone Projects

Capstones vary widely depending on the academic discipline, institution, and specific program requirements. Here are some common types:

What Is the Difference Between a Thesis and a Capstone Project

Here's a breakdown of the key differences between a thesis and a capstone project:

How to Write a Capstone Project

Let's dive into the specifics with actionable and meaningful steps for writing a capstone project:

1. Select a Pertinent Topic

Identify a topic that aligns with your academic interests, program requirements, and real-world relevance. Consider issues or challenges within your field that merit further exploration or solution. 

Conduct thorough research to ensure the topic is both feasible and significant. Here are some brilliant capstone ideas for your inspiration.

2. Define Clear Objectives

Clearly articulate the objectives of your capstone project. What specific outcomes do you aim to achieve? 

Whether it's solving a problem, answering a research question, or developing a product, ensure your objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

3. Conduct Comprehensive Research

Dive deep into existing literature, theories, and empirical evidence related to your chosen topic. Identify gaps, controversies, or areas for further investigation. 

Synthesize relevant findings and insights to inform the development of your project and provide a solid foundation for your analysis or implementation.

4. Develop a Structured Plan

What is a capstone project in college without a rigid structure? Outline a comprehensive plan for your capstone project, including key milestones, tasks, and deadlines. 

Break down the project into manageable phases, such as literature review, data collection, analysis, and presentation. Establish clear criteria for success and regularly monitor progress to stay on track.

5. Implement Methodological Rigor

If your project involves research, ensure methodological rigor by selecting appropriate research methods, tools, and techniques. 

Develop a detailed research design or project plan that addresses key methodological considerations, such as sampling, data collection, analysis, and validity. Adhere to ethical guidelines and best practices throughout the research process.

6. Analyze and Interpret Findings

Analyze your data or findings using appropriate analytical techniques and tools. Interpret the results in relation to your research questions or objectives, highlighting key patterns, trends, or insights. 

Critically evaluate the significance and implications of your findings within the broader context of your field or industry.

7. Communicate Effectively

Present your capstone project clearly, concisely, and compellingly. Whether it's a written report, presentation, or multimedia deliverable, tailor your communication style to your target audience. Clearly articulate your research questions, methodology, findings, and conclusions. 

Use visuals, examples, and real-world applications to enhance understanding and engagement. Be prepared to defend your project and answer questions from peers, faculty, or stakeholders.

In wrapping up, what is a capstone project? It’s like the grand finale of your academic journey, where all the knowledge and skills you've acquired come together in one big project. 

It's not just about passing a test or getting a grade – it's about proving you've got what it takes to make a real difference in the world. So, if you ever need capstone project help , our writers will gladly lend you a hand in no time.

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What Is a Capstone Project in College?

How to do a capstone project, how long does a capstone project take to complete.

Annie Lambert

specializes in creating authoritative content on marketing, business, and finance, with a versatile ability to handle any essay type and dissertations. With a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a passion for social issues, her writing not only educates but also inspires action. On EssayPro blog, Annie delivers detailed guides and thought-provoking discussions on pressing economic and social topics. When not writing, she’s a guest speaker at various business seminars.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

• T. (2023, June 16). What Is a Capstone Project? National University. https://www.nu.edu/blog/what-is-a-capstone-project/
• Lukins, S. (2024, May 12). What is a capstone project? And why is it important? Top Universities. https://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/careers-advice-articles/what-capstone-project-why-it-important
• Capstone Project vs. Thesis: What’s the Difference? (2021, December 9). UAGC. https://www.uagc.edu/blog/capstone-project-vs-thesis-whats-difference

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