Plagiarism Is Not Research!

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Hello everyone, how are you doing on this beautiful day? Hope everything is going great for you? It is a great weekend and everything is moving fine.

As bloggers that we are, most of the time we find ourselves making posts on topics we know little to nothing about and for that, we take the next possible step, which is to conduct research.

And thanks to the internet, we have literally every piece of information on there, and easily accessible. With a bunch of strokes on your keypad, you can become a professional in any topic at all. Okay, that is just an exaggeration, but you will become learned about the topic enough for you to make a decent post on it.

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In today’s world, there is literally no information that is new under the sun. Whether in the form of typed words or videos, every kind of information can be easily accessible. What this means is that there is basically no topic that you want to write on that someone somewhere has not written on at one time or the other. It is not possible.

It could be in a blog, a website, a magazine, or even a newspaper. That topic has definitely been treated before.

And in effect, there are two sides to this; both positive and negative.

In terms of research, these materials would be good for you. You can peruse articles that cover the same topics you are planning on and from there come up with enough inspiration to make your own article. And because there are hundreds of such articles online, you would have an endless source of material to pick from. You would filter through them and decide which one works best for you.

On the other hand, these resource materials can be a handy source for plagiarizers. People who would not really want to do any creative work but would want to earn all the benefits of one who did. They will steal other people’s work, claim it as their own and earn credits under such a lie.

They are getting better and better at hiding their heinous acts, but there are also better systems that are in place to catch and flush them out.

I have also noticed many of us while conducting research for blog posts, make the mistake of copying directly from their resource material. Unfortunately, that is still stealing.

Research is not about copying and pasting, when you are making research about something, the purpose is to give you a better understanding of that particular subject. That is why ideally you should not have only one resource material, you go through about three or four so that when you are done you would have enough knowledge to make your own post.

With this newfound knowledge, you can comfortably write from your head and not have to resort to copying and pasting. And this way, you also get to give the message in your own voice and in your point of view. Which is what will make it unique.

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Note that despite the fact that there are hundreds of the same posts all over the internet, they are always different and unique. They might talk about the same thing, but you will notice the different points of view. And these are what will help you to understand everything all the better. By giving the message in your own voice.

But then, there are cases where you as a blogger would unavoidably have to do some copy and pasting. Like when giving definitions of terms, or quoting a famous person. In such a case, it would not be considered plagiarism if you also include the source of the definitions or quotes. Like if you were to define something, when you are done you must include the source to the site you got that definition from. This will inform your reader that the definition is not yours, and you copied it from somewhere. The same goes for quotes as well.

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But in the event that you cannot give a link, you can also mention it in the post. Take for instance defining the word “PLAGIARISM” with the help of a dictionary. At the bottom of the definition, you can include “based on the Oxford Learners Dictionary” or something else to that effect.

That way, your reader will know that it is not yours.

This is important because all these resource materials are also the creative works of other people, a considerable amount of time, energy, and research went into making them and it would be just cruel for you to make use of them without giving them due credit. After all, what would it cost you?

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This is why everything that is not yours must be sourced. Because an absence of a source literally translates as you being the owner. And once it is found that you are not the owner, there will be consequences. That cannot be avoided.

And these days, even things that used to be offline are now going online. With a simple search, we can find out if the post is truly yours or not.

So, my dear friends, as you make these posts, always be unique in everything. Hone your voice and do not be afraid to air it out. Hive is a progressive community, if you are making mistakes, you will be corrected. But if you are caught stealing, everything that comes to you will be yours to bear. Just endeavor to do your best, and you will see yourself getting better and better at it. And in time, making these posts will no longer seem like such a big deal to you.

Thank you very much for reading. How did you find it? Was it enlightening? If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me in the comments section.

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Till we meet in the next post.

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