This title is hinged on the age-long saying that ‘No Man is an Island’. Yes, in the course of our intellectual works or projects, we must make use of other people's intellectual content to support ours. For credibility, as a researcher, academic, speechwriter, author, editor, facilitator, and many more, you need to support or substantiate your claims, ideas, views, and thoughts, with facts from other notable authors or professionals in that field, especially when writing research projects, theses, scholarly communications like conference, workshop or seminar articles, or articles published in journals or books, among others. Many of us while using other people's intellectual works to support ours or in developing our intellectual content knowingly or unknowingly commit the act of plagiarism. Therefore, today's knowledge-sharing session is crucial, timely, and beneficial to researchers, students, faculty, professionals, and others.

1. KSS ON:
How to Avoid Plagiarism: Tips and Techniques
By
Usuka, Enweremadu Isaac (Ph.D., CLN, MNLA)
Library Services, Department

2. INTRODUCTION
Plagiarism is the practice of using, lifting, or misrepresenting
another person's ideas without giving them due credit. Plagiarism
happens when someone uses another person's written work—
published or unpublished—for academic, research, or professional
objectives without giving the original author the proper credit.
Plagiarism could be termed an act of stealing or kidnapping
someone’s idea or intellectual produce.

3. Types of
Plagiarism
Global Plagiarism
In this kind of plagiarism, the entire intellectual work of an
author or intellectual content creator is stolen and used by
another person as their own.
Verbatim or Direct Plagiarism
This type of plagiarism involves the theft and use of one's
own by another of the complete intellectual output of an
author or producer of intellectual property.
Plagiarism in Rephrasing or Paraphrasing
When does rephrasing or paraphrasing constitute plagiarism? This
happens when a concept is paraphrased without giving credit to the
author or source. To properly credit the original author, you must
correctly cite them when you paraphrase.

4. Types of
Plagiarism
Self-Plagiarism
Many authors intentionally commit this act without knowing that it
is plagiarism. Self-plagiarism could be global or paraphrased in
nature. This is when an author reproduces his work that has
been published in a new form as an original work.
Patchwork or Mosaic Plagiarism
This is a kind of plagiarism where someone copy and paste
parts of different works such as phrases, sentences, and
ideas together to make them look like it is an original work.
Hired Plagiarism
When someone hires a freelance writer to do their projects,
theses, assignments, term papers, etc., they publish or submit
them under their names as the original authors, committing a
common academic fraud known as hired plagiarism.

5. KS on Plagiarism: Anti-Scholarly and Intellectual Practice, Usuka, E. Isaac (Ph.D.), Library Services, ICAN
Dishonesty: Plagiarism, when done on
purpose, shows that the perpetrator is
dishonest about their work, which is an issue
in any situation.
Kills Originally Credence: Stealing words
and concepts from others prevents you from
exercising your originality and hinders your
ability to learn.
It's understandable why you wouldn't want
your content to be taken and misattributed,
especially if you work in publishing.
Hides the Inspiration’s Sources: The
reader must be able to identify the sources of
any concepts used in academic writing for
them to make sense to them.
Leads to Poor Writing: Regardless of the
caliber of the text(s) you are plagiarising, a
paper composed of a patchwork of many
uncited sources is typically considered to be
plagiarised (George, 2022).
Why is Plagiarism Taken Seriously

6. • Plagiarism offenders in Nigeria may be subject
to the following disciplinary sanctions following
a proper disciplinary investigation:
Being let go by their institution.
Face a temporary suspension from their
institutions.
The reduction in rank.
Dismissal or expulsion from the institution as
a student.
Zero points or failing the test.
Payment of fine as stipulated in the Copyright
Act 2022.
Consequences of
Plagiarism

7. Make sure to cite any work
you include in your writing,
whether it is a straight or direct
quote or a paraphrase.
Before starting your
assignment, project, or thesis,
perform a literature search,
download, and study a variety of
information sources to get a
better understanding of the
subject.
Before you even begin
writing, use the selective
quotation approach to pick out
the writers' pertinent ideas,
credit them, and prepare the
reference.
Make sure you begin
creating your material on your
initiative and with your
knowledge. Adoption and
adaptation could be alluring.
Tips and Techniques to Avoid Plagiarism

8. Make sure to do plagiarism checks at
each level of the writing process,
perhaps on individual paragraphs or
pages using plagiarism software or
applications. Some of them are Turn It In,
Grammarly, Quetext, Scribbr, Copyleaks
Plagiarism Checker, Dupli Checker,
Plagiarism Detector, Unicheck, etc
Make sure to find the source work
before citing it if you borrow
something from another piece of
writing.
Make sure to properly cite
them and include them in the
reference list.
Instead of hiring a writer to
do your writing for you,
collaborate with co-workers,
friends, and other experts to
create academic work. Working
together will reduce the tension
that may result from writing
alone.
Ways to Avoid Plagiarism

9. Steps to Using Pieces of Literature
Step 1
Conduct a Literature Search
Step 2
Carry out selective quotations of author(s) ideas, views, or findings
Step 3
Categorize the selected quotation according to their teams
Step 4
Synergize the selected quotation for coherence and logical flow
Step 5
Critique the ) ideas, views, or findings of the author(s) to suit your project work

10. KSS on Plagiarism: Anti-Scholarly and Intellectual Practice, Usuka, E. Isaac (Ph.D.), Library Services, ICAN
In-text: Usuka, Odili, and Ajibo (2022) or (Usuka, Odili, &
Ajibo, 2022).
Usuka, E. I., Odili, C., & Ajibo, C. A. (2022). Provision of digital
reference information resources for effective research of
postgraduate students in university libraries In South-South
Nigeria. Library and Information Science Digest, 15(4), 29-39.
Usuka, E. I., & Eneogwe, U. (2019). Digital libraries: Gateway to
global information. Port-Harcourt: Pearl Publishers International
Limited,.
.
How to Cite and Reference using APA 7th Edition
In-Text
Book
Reference
Journal
Reference

11. KSS on Plgiarism: Anti-Scholarly and Intellectual Practice, Usuka, E. Isaac (Ph.D.), Library Services, ICAN
References
George, T. (2022, July 26). Consequences of Mild, Moderate & Severe Plagiarism. Scribbr. Retrieved July 13, 2023, from
https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/consequences-of-plagiarism/