6 Common Mistakes That Lead to Accidental Plagiarism in Assignments

Do you know that most students are conscious about mosaic, direct, and global plagiarism, but overlook accidental or unintentional plagiarism, believing that this act will not impact their assignments? However, this common mistake returns academic projects with red marks: “Please revise it and cite sources accurately”.

According to Turnitin, the consequences of accidental plagiarism are the same as international or mosaic plagiarism. Therefore, students must cite every source accurately while following the guidelines of various citation styles, such as APA and Chicago. Ensuring citations this way in your writing can help you avoid revision issues.

In this article, we will highlight six common mistakes that lead to accidental plagiarism when writing a dissertation, assignment, or essay. Let’s know these mistakes and do our best to prevent them.

What Are the Top 6 Mistakes That Lead to Accidental Plagiarism in Assignments?

Submitting assignments without making mistakes and citing previous studies or quotes always remains challenging for students. Usually, they have no idea how to give credit to the original author by mentioning their name and publication year – this citation method may vary according to different citation styles. A student must understand how important it is to avoid plagiarism, whether mosaic or direct, to maintain academic integrity.

When students are assigned an academic task, they often receive a set of detailed guidelines and rules to follow. Following these requirements can be challenging, especially for those without prior experience. 

Meeting every expectation without external support is rarely feasible. So, how can students ensure their assignments meet academic standards? One effective solution is to seek guidance from assignment writing services. These platforms help students produce plagiarism-free work, minimise the chances of repeated revisions, and avoid academic penalties. 

Below are six mistakes that you need to avoid when working on your essay, dissertation, research paper, or assignment.

1. Poor Note-Taking Skills

Your note-taking skills must be top-notch when it comes to preventing unintentional plagiarism. Most students report that when they take notes perfectly, the chances of accidentally plagiarising work reduce to a minimum level. On the other hand, poor notes always increase the chances of inaccurate citations and bibliographies in your writing. To avoid this problem, you need to keep everything organised when gathering data from other sources.

Students usually follow the practice of collecting information in their diaries from multiple sources, such as online libraries and research journals. However, they don’t properly note the name of the author, mentioning that this idea or paragraph belongs to another writer. While using this data later in the writing process, they don’t remember the author’s name and include it in their assignments as is, leading to accidental plagiarism.

Do you believe your note-taking skills are not up to the mark? Here are a few tips for you to take notes efficiently while focusing on avoiding unintentional plagiarism:

• Develop a system for your notes. You can make certain rules for this process. For instance, you can use a different color when noting a quote for your assignments. It will help you in citing sources without any complexity.
• Note down all the information about an academic source when taking notes. You have to write the author’s name, the name of the journal where it was published, and the publication year. These rules may vary for noting down other sources, such as books and online newspapers.
• Verify all these sources again if you utilise them for your assignment, as it will reduce the risk of mistakes in your assignment. 

2. Paying Attention to Unnecessary Details

According to ResearchGate, 44% of research professionals believe that unintentional plagiarism is not a crime. However, students don’t have to consider such stats if they are going to submit assignments and research articles because this type of data will undermine academic integrity. If your instructor or educational institute finds unintentional plagiarism, the chances of academic penalties will increase. So, don’t consider such information and focus on following the guidelines of your institute or instructor.

Research journals and institutes have strict guidelines for plagiarism of any type. Failing to cite a source, whether intentionally or unintentionally, will always be considered an act of plagiarism. Don’t believe that accidental plagiarism comes with fewer penalties. It’s you who knows the plagiarism was unintentional. You will have no way to prove to your institute that this act was accidental.

These are tips that every student can capitalise on to prevent unintentional plagiarism:

• Always check for accidental plagiarism. You can do it manually or use accidental plagiarism checkers, such as Turnitin and Quetext. These tools will perfectly detect it and help you overcome issues later.
• Always seek guidance from your instructor or supervisor regarding different types of plagiarism. Make sure to follow them all and don’t consider irrelevant details, such as generic suggestions from your seniors or fellow students.

3. Improper Paraphrasing

Many students think that changing a few words in a paragraph will serve the purpose. They usually find synonyms for words and believe that it’s paraphrasing. However, this approach doesn’t serve the purpose. As per Scribbr, explaining someone else’s work or idea in your own words is known as paraphrasing. It doesn’t mean finding synonyms for some words and thinking that it’s perfect paraphrasing for an assignment or research article.

However, paraphrasing will remain plagiarism if you don’t cite the source. Citing sources in your article will make it more authentic and original. Don’t think that you will outshine the tools and your instructors, and they will not be able to find paraphrased content. Some tools are specifically designed for that purpose, and a supervisor with years of experience will easily know that this idea doesn’t belong to you.

4. Common Knowledge vs Specific Facts

Failing to understand the difference between common knowledge and specific facts leads to unintentional plagiarism. Students need to know how specific facts are different from common knowledge and what approach they will follow to cite them. 

Here is an example that helps you segregate common knowledge from specific facts:

• Common Knowledge: You will not, every time, cite common knowledge in your assignment. “The sun rises in the east”. This is a perfect example of universal or common knowledge. Students will not cite such examples in their writing because everyone knows they are universal and don’t need citations.
• Specific Facts: Contrary to common knowledge, you will always cite specific facts. “The earth orbits the sun every 365 days”. “Exercise can play a major role in decreasing anxiety”. These are some examples of specific facts, and you will cite them every time you include them in your assignment.

5. Using Auto-Generated Citations

There is no harm in using citation generators when working on your essays or assignments. They usually speed up the process and help you complete your academic tasks without spending time creating citations and bibliographies manually. However, the real challenge begins when you check whether these citations are correct or not. No doubt, these tools focus on ensuring accuracy in citations and bibliographies, but the chances of minor mistakes can’t be mitigated.

Students and research professionals need to check citations manually. It will allow them to detect mistakes and check whether these bibliographies are following the guidelines of specific citation styles or not. Please remember that incorrectly cited sources in your assignments or essays can also lead to plagiarism. Therefore, pay close attention to them and ensure you check them manually every time.

6. Using AI Tools

AI tools are great assistants, from collecting information to writing academic paragraphs. However, they are not perfect writers. Most students fail to understand it and rely completely on them to generate essays or assignments. Many tools, such as ChatGPT, clearly state that their knowledge is limited to a specific year or month, meaning that they don’t have access to the latest information. Relying on these tools can open doors to mistakes in your assignment.

Let’s say your supervisor asks you to follow the guidelines of APA 7th style. However, when you generate references or bibliographies from a tool, it may create them according to the guidelines of the 6th edition. In addition to that, sometimes, tools also cite academic sources inaccurately. It indicates that you will make mistakes in the citation process, meaning you are plagiarising unintentionally.

What Is Accidental Plagiarism?

The definition of accidental plagiarism, according to Bowdoin College, is failing to cite sources in your assignments, essays, or research papers. Misquoting the ideas or thoughts of others without a clear intention will also be known as unintentional plagiarism. Sometimes, students paraphrase content and forget to cite it; this also falls under accidental plagiarism. 

Remember that unintentional plagiarism is as severe as mosaic or direct plagiarism. Proving to your supervisor or educational institute that you did it unintentionally will be challenging for you, as you cannot present solid evidence for your claim.

What Happens If You Accidentally Plagiarise?

The consequences of accidental plagiarism can be severe. For instance, your instructor or supervisor can reject the first draft of your assignment because you didn’t cite sources properly. It may also lead to academic penalties, such as negative impacts on your grades. Accidental plagiarism is a form of severe academic dishonesty; therefore, you should remain conscious throughout the writing process to avoid it.

How to Not Accidentally Plagiarise?

Following a careful approach is essential to prevent accidental plagiarism in your assignment. You will have to note down the information for every quote, thought, or paragraph you are going to mention in your writing. 

Make sure this citation and bibliographical information are correct and don’t contain any mistakes. Additionally, don’t rely on citation generators and AI tools entirely; as they can make mistakes occasionally, meaning you can face academic penalties.

Can Plagiarism Be Accidental?

Yes, plagiarism can be accidental or unintentional. When you start collecting data for your assignment or essay, you write down various quotes and thoughts of numerous writers. 

However, you may miss important information, such as their names and publication years. When curating your assignment, you forget to cite them as you don’t know they belong to someone else’s work. This way, you include such thoughts and paragraphs in your writing, and this is accidental plagiarism.

How to Check If You Accidentally Plagiarised?

There are several ways to check if you have accidentally plagiarised someone else’s work. For instance, you can do it manually with a careful approach by reading every paragraph of your assignment after completion. You will be able to find out what ideas or thoughts don’t belong to you. 

Additionally, you can utilise different tools to detect plagiarism, including Quetext, Turnitin, and Scribbr. A student can also get help from their supervisor before submitting the final draft of their assignment.

Last Words

Plagiarism, regardless of its type, is a form of severe dishonesty. Students and research professionals are not allowed to use others’ work without giving credit to them. Still, some students forget to cite research articles, books, or other sources in their assignments because they didn’t note down information about authors during the data collection process.

How can students tackle plagiarism issues if they are working on an essay or assignment for the first time? In such scenarios, assignment writing agencies can assist students, allowing them to complete their homework according to specific guidelines set by educational institutions. These agencies have experienced writers who know how to curate original ideas.  So, don’t let plagiarism be a continuous headache for you and get professional help to shine on your academic journey!

Author Bio

John Doe is a professional assignment writer with over eight years of experience. With a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Manchester, John helps students by bridging the gap between their academic journey and professional life. So far, he has written over 500 assignments for students of various disciplines, including social sciences, psychology, biomedical sciences, and law.