Chapter 7 Summary

Chapter 7 discusses how to avoid plagiarism. It starts off with discussing what plagiarism is, what research ethics are, common knowledge, what is fair use and what should you ask for permission to use, avoiding plagiarism and lastly what you should do if you are accused of plagiarism. It first start out we should define what plagiarism is, plagiarism is using work of someone else's and not giving them credit for doing that said work. It is easy to accidentally take someones else's idea and give them no credit for it actually being their own. I know a story of where two classmates of mine were working on a paper together, but with them working on it together both if their papers sounded very similar causing the teacher to believe they copied. It can be done with not even meaning to done. So for the cases of unintentional plagiarism it could include quoting a passage but neglecting to use proper punctuation, using a paraphrase that doesn't really differ from the original phrase, you don't clearly distinguish your ideas separate from your sources and you don't list where your sources come from in your works cited page. When doing research you should follow these ethics to stay away from plagiarism, acknowledge the sources, accurately represent information and provide citations for your sources. Another thing to remember is that not every little thing must be documented. Because that would take forever and we all have a handy dandy thing called common knowledge where we know it wasn't your idea or thought. Lastly, you can avoid plagiarism easily by making a list of what you already know, have carefully written notes, distinguish between your ideas and your sources, cite sources and realize misconceptions about intentional plagiarism and unintentional plagiarism.
Plagiarism is important to be aware of while writing, but you shouldn't fear it. Just remember to give your sources credit where they deserve but also give yourself credit where you deserve.