At a higher academic level, you can see a significant contribution of a dissertation. There are so many aspects to consider while working on a dissertation. It is all about honesty and responsibility that is only possible through trust. Also, it includes fairness to build the foundation of academics. When you work on a dissertation, you will surely hear about plagiarism repeatedly. The presence of plagiarism is acceptable up to some extent, but high plagiarism cause failure of your work. So, you have to be very careful about it. First of all, understand what plagiarism is and how it affects your work. In this way, you can better evaluate the ways to avoid it. As per its importance, this article aims to discuss about plagiarism in dissertation.
What is Plagiarism in Dissertation?
Plagiarism is an act that covers various malpractices. It can be in the form of data fabrication and its unethical use. Plagiarism is the use of someone’s data without giving him credit. It is an illegal activity that can cause a loss of your credibility as a writer. A dissertation is supposed to be very accurate and free from faults. Plagiarism in dissertation is not about one thing but includes different aspects. It can be in the form of complete, source-based, as well as direct plagiarism. Complete plagiarism is about ditto copy-paste of someone’s work.
The person whose work you have used with your name has the right to file a case against you. So, you have to be very careful about it. A literature review is all about collecting information relevant to your topic in a dissertation. In this, you have to see how much work has already been done on the same issue. Based on the similarity, you have to mention points supporting your claim. Another form of plagiarism is source-based, which works as a source of secondary data collection. Also, the direct plagiarism can be in different forms, as mentioned below:
- The first approach is regarding copying and pasting the content. It’s illegal as well as unethical.
- The second approach is that the writer copies content from some source and changes the sequence. The writer replaces some words and lines, but as per the rules and regulations of plagiarism, it’s also an unethical practice.
- Lastly, some writers remove quotation marks from the quotation and show it as their own content. This approach is also termed as direct plagiarism.
What Percentage of Plagiarism is Acceptable in the UK?
In the UK, plagiarism is a disciplinary offense that can cause inconvenience. You can be asked to pay a charge for the misconduct of plagiarism in dissertation. Writing a dissertation is not a task to do at the school or college level when you are not aware of the academic standards. A dissertation is only practiced at the higher educational level, where you need to behave like a responsible person. In the UK, if your professor finds you with plagiarised content, he has the authority to deal with it in different ways. A prevalent practice is to ask students for re-do. Keep it in your mind that he can ask for many other things. It includes suspension as well as expulsion. These are very extreme cases that you may have to face in the end. You can find that the UK has well-reputed universities at the international level. Such universities focus on academic standards very seriously. The approval of faulty content marks a question on the values of professors and institutes.
In the UK, the acceptable range of plagiarism is from 10 to 15%. If you are having this much plagiarism in dissertation, it is fine. You have to use some facts and figures as it is, that is why you get plagiarism. In order to deal with such aspects, the standards of the dissertation have flexibility in its rules and regulations. In universities of the UK, you can see many students use online tools to determine plagiarism in dissertation. If you are using it yourself, you can go for free tools available on the internet.
In the case of free tools, you have to face a word limit that can create a problem for you. Also, it requires a long-time effort to copy and paste small sections repeatedly. The best solution for this problem is to ask your department. In every institute, you can see the faculty has an official paid account for checking plagiarism in dissertation. The most frequently used account is of Turnitin. Using this tool, you can check all the plagiarism in dissertation. It not only shares the percentage but also highlights the plagiarized content. In this way, it becomes easy to make changes in your dissertation.
How Can I Avoid Plagiarism From My Dissertation?
In order to avoid all of the unpleasant circumstances of plagiarism in dissertation, you should follow some tips given by best dissertation help providers. These tips are mentioned below:
- Do not copy and paste anything in your dissertation, but go for paraphrasing. In the case of non-numeric data, it is easy to paraphrase your content. In contrast, students think that numeric data remains as it is. This concept is wrong as you can make a slight change in most of the numeric ranges to avoid plagiarism in dissertation. For example, you can write 50% as half of the total amount.
- It is compulsory to add in-text citations and references to your dissertation.
- Do not make changes to the famous quotes and do not remove their quotation marks.
- Do not wait for the completion of work but keep tracking plagiarism in dissertation. In this way, you can save piles of work from rewriting. Also, you will remain conscious of it.
Final Thoughts
The well-reputed universities of the UK do not want plagiarism in dissertation. Keep the allowable range of plagiarism in your mind and work accordingly. The above-mentioned points can help you understand different forms of plagiarism and how to avoid them in an effective way.