The most serious issue in academic writing is plagiarism. It affects a student’s credibility, and worse case, you might be expelled from that institution.  This wastes not only your time but also money. But why do students plagiarize?

The desire to attain the highest marks, fear of failing the assignment if they attempt it on their own, and procrastination which leads to the lack of time needed to craft a quality paper, are reasons why students in all academic levels plagiarize.

In this post, we will look at mosaic plagiarism and other types of plagiarism and offer easy-to-follow tips on how to avoid them.

What is Mosaic Plagiarism?

This type of plagiarism goes by many names, such as incremental or patchwork plagiarism. It occurs when the student uses someone else’s phrases without giving due credit.

It gets the name patchwork because the writer uses synonyms to replace the original text but maintains the same structure and meaning. In some cases, the entire content is copied, which means the student has directly copied the original content. There are two forms of mosaic plagiarism:

• Copying from several sources.
• Copying from a single source.

Whether intentional or not, patchwork plagiarism is academic dishonesty and often leads to grave consequences. Mosaic plagiarism examples include borrowing phrases, changing the grammar and word choice without acknowledging the source.

How to Prevent Mosaic Plagiarism

The only way to avoid mosaic plagiarism is to acknowledge sources you have used to write your academic paper. This is done by putting direct quotes in quotation marks and formatting the text based on a specific citation style, be it APA or MLA.

Even if you include a verbatim passage, you must indicate it’s a direct quotation and carry out the appropriate citation of the source. Otherwise, it will be viewed as plagiarism. Proper paraphrasing and adding footnotes are other great ways to avoid mosaic plagiarism.

 

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What Are the Other Forms of Plagiarism?

A student needs to know all types of plagiarism and ways to avoid them because it often results in a grade reduction, suspension, or redoing the whole assignment. If it’s a long academic task such as a thesis or dissertation, any plagiarism detected may hinder you from graduating that academic year.

That is why if you are unable to write original work, let our expert writers give you content that is 100% unique. Besides, nowadays, instructors use modern plagiarism tools to ensure every paper is indeed free from any form of plagiarism. Here are the six common types of plagiarism:

Global Plagiarism

If a student copies the entire text without mentioning the original author, it’s considered global plagiarism. It’s also known as clone plagiarism because the writer copies word for word and claims the work as their own.

In terms of severity, this is one of the most severe forms of plagiarism and can lead to expulsion from that institution. It shows disregard to the original author, its deliberate and direct academic dishonesty. Examples of plagiarism that is considered global are:

• Source: The Corona Virus was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Medical experts believe it originated in bats and made the jump to humans in Wuhan markets.
• Plagiarism: The Corona Virus was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Medical experts believe it originated in bats and made the jump to humans in Wuhan markets.

Self-Plagiarism

This is another consequential plagiarism. It occurs when a student uses content from a previously submitted paper. Often, a student may encounter an assignment similar to what they answered in a previous academic year or another course.

To save time and effort, you might use previous text to answer the current assignment question or reword a few sections and submit the content. Even though the ideas are your own, you cannot get two grades for the same work in academia. This is classified as self-plagiarism. Check your department or consult with your professor on policies or rules on self-plagiarism.

Paraphrasing Plagiarism

Changing or altering a few words while retaining the same paragraph or sentence structure is classified as paraphrasing plagiarism. Often it’s hard for this heinous act not to be detected because the professor would have read the source texts and might even use it to set the assignment. But is paraphrasing plagiarism?

Paraphrasing that involves rewriting key points as if they are your original ideas or without properly citing the sources is still plagiarism. This type of plagiarism is serious because it’s intentional. After all, you are using someone else’s ideas.  Citing all sources used in your paper correctly and rephrasing the original text in your own words are some of the ways to avoid this type of plagiarism.

Accidental Plagiarism

It occurs when the student misquotes their sources or unintentionally paraphrases using similar words and sentence structure without proper source attribution. Accidental plagiarism also occurs when you unintentionally confuse one author’s views for another during the writing process.

Doing thorough proofreading of the paper allows you to check all the sources correctly. Ensure you have used the in-text citation consistently and correctly. Furthermore, when using another author’s words directly, put the copied text in quotation marks and add the page number.

Inaccurate Citation

It occurs when a student fails to give all the information in the source citation. This often occurs when a learner doesn’t follow the guidelines of a specific citation style and ends up citing the source inaccurately.

Use online citation generators to create correctly formatted citations according to the reference style suggested. Note what is not plagiarism is expressing ideas in your own words then giving due credit to the correct author.

Source-Based

It occurs when a writer gives a misleading citation that doesn’t exist or is incorrect. This plagiarism also occurs when a student uses secondary information but cites the primary source.

If you can’t find research material related to the topic you want, its best not to falsify information. Instead, look for a different topic or find credible scholarly sources from different places, be it books, newspapers, and journals.