In a world relying more and more on the internet, it’s hard to know what’s truth. More and more people take what they read as truth without really knowing if it is. This is something especially hard for students. Students are required to write essays or reports, and also include credible sources. So how do we solve this problem? Well, it’s not really something that’ll be solved. But it can be something that can be prevented.

Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own. Something that’s become more common with the internet. And a lot of times it isn’t intentional. A lot of people will read it on the internet and copy it, or just paraphrase it. But even paraphrasing can still be plagiarism. This forces students and writers to be more original. But how do you be ‘original’ when you are needing to use information?

One way is to stop relying on the internet. Use it, but it doesn’t need to be your primary source. There’s always the danger of plagiarising, as well as the danger of what you’re reading on the internet isn’t true. A lot of sources, most notably wikipedia, aren’t always credible. Or in other words, legitimate information. A lot of people find a website and believe what it says, without looking into it’s credibility. Internet is a great source for research, but it’s also important to look into the website’s credibility.

Another way is to use other sources than the internet. Sources such as books, newspaper articles, or news from the TV. Even documentaries. These sources may take longer to read, or watch. But they can be a great addition to any research paper or writing. It should be remembered that before the internet people only used these sources.

So the last step to credibility is avoiding plagiarism. It’s important to remember when writing your own paper you are using your own idea, not the ideas presented in the sources you use. Also make sure to use the general idea or topic when implementing information found in a source. Also remember to cite your sources. This gives your paper credibility, as well as gives you the ability to add a quote from that source without plagiarising. There are also many websites that you can use to check if your paper has plagiarism. So that before you publish it or turn it in, you eliminate the chance of your paper having plagiarism.

I hope this article has been helpful. Remember to keep your paper original. And to make sure that your sources are credible. I have provided to links to help you with credibility when writing. The first is an example of correct MLA citation from Purdue University. And the second is a website that will check your paper for plagiarism.

Picture from google images.