Types of Plagiarism

Ever think about why many students and professionals get caught in plagiarism even without realising it? Mainly, the reason behind this act is that they are not aware of all types of plagiarism.

A student or professional who does not know plagiarism and types will unintentionally commit one. Therefore, to protect you from such disciplinary breaches, we explain the most common types of plagiarism and how to avoid them. So without delaying more, let’s start with the list.

Verbatim Plagiarism

Verbatim or direct plagiarism is the most common type of plagiarism in academics. It involves stealing another author’s piece of work and pasting it into your own without citing it. This leads students to face major penalties such as failing grades, destroying academic integrity, and, in most critical cases, being expelled from the institution.

Verbatim Plagiarism Example

An example of verbatim plagiarism includes copying a part of work from a book, website, journal, or article and pasting it directly to your work without using quotations or citations.

Self Plagiarism

Self plagiarism is also called the text recycling process in which a writer uses their previous work without citing it. Who wants to cite his/her own previous work? It looks silly but in an academic or professional setting, an author needs to cite his previous work if used in new research. The most commonly found self plagiarism consequences are damaged reputation, legal punishments, or losing academic integrity etc.

Self plagiarism Example

Let’s say in college you submitted a paper to an instructor and now for higher education, you are working on new research relevant to that college paper. Somehow, you believe that the older paper was also your own, so you take a part of it and use it in your new work without citing it.

Patchwork Plagiarism

What is patchwork plagiarism type? It is also known as Mosaic plagiarism, which means collecting data from multiple sources and using them in your work without proper citation. Many people think this is an ingenious way to steal someone’s academic property, but plagiarism monitoring tools can still easily catch it.

Patchwork Plagiarism Example

Let’s say you collected data from three different sources, such as a book, website, and journal, on the topic “ AI uses for the future.” You paraphrased the first and second sources and misquoted the third one. Above all, you didn’t cite all sources.

Global Plagiarism

The most serious types of plagiarism is global plagiarism. Here, an author uses another author’s entire work intentionally without citing it. This plagiarism type can be easily detected by global plagiarism checker. Plagiarism that falls under this category leads to the harshest penalties because it involves lying about who wrote the work.

Example of Global Plagiarism

For instance, a student was asked to write an essay and he found that entire essay online, which he submitted as their own work.

In a professional way, let’s say a superior asked an employee to make a strategy for the business. He/she picked an entire strategy from other sources and presented it as their own.

Paraphrasing Plagiarism

What is paraphrasing plagiarism? Well, this kind of plagiarism involves presenting someone else ideas in your own words. Even if you use a paraphrasing tool or recycle the text in your own words, it’s still plagiarism and can be detected by the instructor.

Paraphrasing Plagiarism Examples

Below is the paraphrased plagiarism example in which the author just paraphrased the text of the original source but didn’t cite it.

Original text: 63.8% of the world’s population uses social media. The average daily usage is 2 hours and 19 minutes (October 2024).

Paraphrased: Almost 63.8 percent of the population of the whole world uses social media. However, the daily usage estimated time is 2 hours, 19 minutes.

Accidental Plagiarism

What is accidental plagiarism called? Unintentional use of another person’s work without citation or improper citation is called accidental plagiarism. Multiple reasons could lead to this type of plagiarism such as forgetting to cite a source, misquoting the source, etc.

Accidental Plagiarism Example

Here are some exemplary states when an author accidentally falls under plagiarism.

• Forget to cite a source
• Adding inaccurate citations unintentionally
• Forget to put quotations around cited sources.

Collusion Plagiarism

Collusion plagiarism meaning the act of working on a project by two persons that is intended to be done individually. This type of plagiarism usually occurs in academics when two students work together on a single assignment secretly. There is no tool to catch such plagiarism, but an instructor could catch you up if you are so unlucky.

Collusion Plagiarism Example

Here are some examples of when collusion plagiarism occurs.

• Planning to do an assignment together.
• Sharing answer sheets in exams.
• Lending an assignment from other students.

Source Based Plagiarism

This trickiest types of plagiarism acts as presenting the ideas or work of another as one’s own, without giving correct credit. A Research from Devasena and Balaji, states that source-based plagiarism affects many students, researchers, and even seasoned academics. In most cases, an author falls to source based plagiarism because of a lack of understanding about correct citation and citing procedures or having pressure to generate original and new research.

Source Based Plagiarism Example

The author may have intentionally added incorrect sources for the stolen work or even made up their own sources to deceive the instructor. Another example is when an author picks data from two sources but cites only one. 

Different Types of Plagiarism and How to Avoid it

A survey of 24,000 students at 70 high schools found that 64 percent of students admitted to being involved in different types of plagiarism on a test. Avoiding it is a top concern for both students and professionals. To stay on the safe side, here are some smart tricks to prevent plagiarism and maintain originality.

How to Avoid Verbatim Plagiarism?

To avoid this common types of plagiarism, put quotations around the copied text and cite the real author using in-text citations.

How to Avoid Self Plagiarism?

To avoid self-plagiarism, treat your previous work as any other source and cite it properly in your new work. Additionally, keep a record of your previous work so that you don’t duplicate the content unintentionally. Also, make sure you have added enough new content to justify your new publication.

How to Avoid Patchwork Plagiarism?

As you know patchwork plagiarism occurs when you use ideas from multiple sources without citation. And honestly, it’s hard to track every source after writing. So, here’s the plan to avoid patchwork plagiarism.

• Run your document through a plagiarism checker to spot the copied parts.
• Identify the original sources and cite them properly.
• If there’s too much patchwork plagiarism, don’t panic! First, rephrase the content in your own words, then add citations.

How to Avoid Accidental Plagiarism?

Worried about unintentional plagiarism? Here’s the gateway to staying safe from accidental plagiarism while maintaining 100% originality of your work.

• Proofread your document, spot borrowed content, and cite it.
• Run the document on the plagiarism checker, find out plagiarized content, and cite or rephrase it according to your needs.
• Review all cited sections, and fix any misplaced citations or missing quotation marks.

How Does Paraphrasing Avoid Becoming Plagiarism?

Paraphrasing is a great way to stay safe from plagiarism. Swap words with synonyms and restructure sentences while keeping the original meaning intact. But here’s a catch: the Plagiarism checker may not flag your content, but your instructor may catch it.

That’s why you don’t just reword but truly understand and rewrite the content in your own unique style. That’s how you stay original and ace your work.

Key Takeaway: Speak With Confidence and Originality.

No matter what you write, different types of plagiarism could sneak in. Either it could be accidental, verbatim, self-plagiarism, or source-based plagiarism. That’s why it’s important to understand these types and learn how to avoid them. Most importantly, always run your text through a free plagiarism checker to keep your work original.