Basics of Academic Writing

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism means copy-pasting content online and then presenting it as your work. It’s the worst mistake you can make as a writer. It carries serious consequences that include a student getting expelled from college—disqualified from college due to academic dishonesty.

To avoid plagiarism, you need to read content online, understand it, and then write it in your own words. However, even when writing original content, you still need to cite the source (more on this later). Below is an example of how to go about answering questions without plagiarizing.

Example question: In 50 words, describe theory X of management.

Here is what a plagiarized paper would look like:

Douglas McGregor developed Theory X of management. It assumes that the typical worker has little ambition, avoids responsibility, and is individual-goal oriented.

At face value, the above answer is correct and answers the question. However, if it were to be presented to higher learning institutions, the student would score a zero and possibly face academic dishonesty discipline: either expelled, suspended or sued. That’s because the second sentence in its entirety is lifted from Wikipedia, and the source is not given or credits given to the source of the content: that is plagiarism.

Below is a better way to answer the question.

Theory X is one of the management theories developed by Douglas McGregor. According to Arslan (2012), theory X of management assumes that workers have no ambition to work and must be threatened and monitored if an organization is to meet its objectives.

Reference

Arslan, A. (2012). Theory X and Theory Y Type Leadership Behavior and its Impact on Organizational Performance: Small Business Owners in the Şishane Lighting and Chandelier District. SSRN Electronic Journal. Doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2181347

Notice that both answers are similar, but the source is fully acknowledged in the second answer. It’s standard to always acknowledge the source in academic writing. The second method uses paraphrasing and citing the source of the content. It gives credit to the owner of the content.

To make plagiarism-free writing more manageable for you, always have the following in mind:

In academic writing, you are presenting facts, and you should always acknowledge their source. Unless you are explicitly asked to give your opinion, never present your opinions as fact. You need to keep in mind the type of sources to use. For example, we noted that it’s plagiarized because it is copied directly from Wikipedia. You are probably wondering, can one add Wikipedia as the source to rectify the problem? Well, NO! Never cite Wikipedia as your source in academic writing. Douglas McGregor developed Theory X of management. It assumes that the typical worker has little ambition, avoids responsibility, and is individual-goal oriented (Wikipedia). THIS IS WRONG AND CAN GET A STUDENT’S ESSAY WILL BE REJECTED. Wikipedia fails as an academic resource because its content is not verified. Anyone can log into the website and add or edit content.