Plagiarism in Academic writing: How to Identify and Avoid It

Plagiarism is well-known as a breach of publishing ethics which is despised in the academic circle. However, while in some cases the authors engage in deliberate plagiarism, more often than not authors end up being guilty of plagiarism unknowingly. This is because plagiarism, although a very commonly used term, is a vaguely defined concept.

Plagiarism technically means using someone else’s ideas/ intellectual property as one’s own without giving proper credit to the original creator. While the first part (as one’s own) is well understood as improper appropriation, it is often the second part (giving proper credit) where author’s unintentionally falter. 

Some of the most common forms of plagiarism are:

Patchwork: patchwork refers to direct lifting or verbatim representation of another’s work without using quotations or referencing. This is the most blatant form of plagiarism.

Plagiarised ideas: This is when you pass-off someone else’s ideas as your own, even if in your own words or articulation.

Loose paraphrasing: This is the most common form of unintentional plagiarism. Authors, while discussing literature reviews, often write the content of other authors without proper attribution, which technically makes it plagiarism.

Self-plagiarism: This is the most difficult to understand the form of plagiarism. This refers to recycling of one’s own work in multiple publications. While it is difficult to comprehend how one can ‘steal’ from oneself, reproduction of the same work in multiple journal publications or presenting the same content multiple times to bolster the number of one’s publications is a problem in academics that has led to this publishing ethics.

How to avoid unintentional plagiarism:

Proper referencing: while doing your background research, keep meticulous notes of which ideas/sections are from which article. While writing, maintain side notes for proper referencing later while finalizing the article.

Quotes and paraphrasing: authors often tangle themselves up in this issue! For citing what some other author has said, it is advisable to use quotations to drive home a critical or technical detail. While discussing a concept and how others have addressed it, it is better to paraphrase it in one’s own words.

While paraphrasing, one must be careful not to reproduce the same content by just replacing certain words here and there. A proper paraphrasing would be a complete re-articulation of the source material. Proper paraphrasing is rewriting other’s content from one’s own perspective.

In both cases, proper citation or reference is mandatory.

Follow citation rules: every journal has well-defined citation and referencing norms and one must follow them judiciously. Journals nowadays prefer in-text referencing, especially for paraphrasing and quotations and it is a good habit to develop one’s writing style with in-text referencing.

Rewrite your own words: while referring to your own previous works, we often tend to copy-paste paragraphs as one likes one’s own articulation best. However, in order to avoid self-plagiarism, rewrite the content every time for a new article in the context of the new article, and you will see your language will change.

How to write a Literature Review article for a Journal

 Literature review articles are a critical form of publication. While all research articles require a literature review section, some articles are purely dedicated stand-alone literature reviews only, published as review articles or survey articles by journals. There exists a certain journal dedicated to such articles.

Review articles are extremely popular with professionals, young students, and novice researchers benefiting immensely from such evaluations of the existing literature in their fields of expertise. Review articles also tend to be highly cited, making them appealing for both journals and authors.

Here are some key tips on how to write a good literature review article for journal publication.

Depth of knowledge: depth and breadth of knowledge is necessary to produce a truly insightful and useful literature review for publication in a journal. A review article is not just about reporting recent literature on the subject that you have come across, but really about giving a unique perspective that threads all these together. One has to read the articles, grasp their essence, and then write about it with authority and interpretive wisdom which is intellectually challenging. While most journals prefer to invite experienced experts to write literature reviews, some do accept unsolicited author submitted manuscripts for publication provided they are of high caliber.

Choice of topic: The topic must not too broad and not too narrow and choose one correctly for the type of review you would like to write. Pick a narrow topic if you intend to write a short crisp review, either about a certain procedure/methodology being explored in your field or certain types of experiments being conducted. For a wider and theoretical exploration of new ideas or burning issues in your field, choose a topic that is wide enough so that you will be able to find enough articles to discuss.

Define the scope of the article: It is very important to limit the scope of the article in order to ensure that you do not lose focus. The point of a good literature review is sharing your perspective while amalgamating various perspectives or viewpoints. It is critical not to be deviate in your discussion by shifting focus to what the others were trying to say. Remember, people will read your article for what you want to say.

Thorough background research: a literature review requires thorough background research. You have to extensively read on the subject, even if you are not covering or referencing every article that you read. While the seminal works deserve a focus, remember there are many others who might have contributed to the field as well. It is critical to develop a wider perspective and then focus and cite some key articles only in your manuscript.

Constructive criticism: A review, while being critical, should not be about nitpicking. You may differ with some authors, or highlight some lacuna that needs to be explored in the field. However, your manuscript must reflect areas of development and encouragement for your readers, and offer new grounds for academic activism on the topic. Only then will a journal consider it for publication.

How to Overcome Difficulties in Academic Writing

Academic writing is a skill essential for anyone looking to pursue higher academics. Academic writing is a specific type of writing that involves a lot of reading or material collection, doing in-depth research and critical analysis of scholarly literature, planning of the entire presentation, revising contents and structure, etc. Invariably it ends up involving rewriting, editing, proofreading, and formatting to make it more professional and efficient.

Academic writings can be in the form of essays, term paper, thesis, dissertation, research reports, etc. depending on the core academic activity on which the final manuscript is to be based. While each of these forms has its own peculiarities and specific requirements, there are certain commonalities that every budding academician needs to keep in mind. Making essays with seotoolscentre sentence rewriter can be way easier and faster.

The first key element for academic writing is self-organization. Academic writing is different from other forms of writing as it requires strict discipline not only in preparation for the content but also in how the content is presented. Any academic manuscript needs to be organized in a standard format: an introduction that includes the hypothesis or the premise which is essentially what the entire manuscript tries to address; the body of the content, which should include separate paragraphs discussing evidence that supports or negates the hypothesis; and a conclusion that ties everything together and conclusively connects it to the hypothesis. Self-organization starts with narrowing down the planned manuscript to chalk-out a basic outline even before the first words are drafted.

Research of secondary literature or ‘literature review’ is an essential part of any academic writing. Before one delves into one’s own hypothesis and arguments in favor or in opposition to it, it is customary to first review and present the viewpoints/evidence already presented by all others/peers in this field. Any such research needs to be reported with proper citation and accreditation as deemed fit. Plagiarism is a major problem in the field of academic writing and special care needs to be taken to ensure (a) no referencing is missed out for any secondary source of material and (b) the language of presentation is an authors’ own and not just a plain copy-paste of the original manuscript. One can always quote others but that needs to be done in a limited capacity and in proper formatting and protocols for quoting and citations.

Editing of the manuscript is an absolute must for any academic writing. Grammar, style, and punctuation are incredibly important if the article is to be understood and taken seriously. Language and vocabulary are important, and using jargon just to sound smart often results in the opposite effect if used inappropriately as it exposes overcompensating in their writing. Each body paragraph must start with a topic sentence that presents the main idea of the paragraph and express your point of view, and each paragraph much end with its own mini-conclusion of the discussions covered that logically leads to the next paragraph.

Academic writing is a habit developed by practice and is an integral part of the entire academic exercise.

Molecular memory in plants

Plants utilize a set of precise sensory systems to screen the significant factors, for improving the growth, improvement, metabolism, morphogenesis, and behavior in their environment. Plants acquire remarkable capabilities to utilize chemical occurrences to defend themselves against predators and notify the neighboring plants of the danger.

Do plants have a memory?

Plants do not have a brain or nervous system as humans do but acquire a “molecular” memory. Molecular memory is the elaborate mechanisms enabling plants to respond to environmental changes. The responses of the plant are regulated at a molecular level by alternations in gene expression. All memory functions have a molecular basis, like in signal reception and transduction, and in the storage of information.

In what way, the memory works?

Experiences on certain environmental events can be stored in the form of chemical molecules. The transformation in the chemical nature of a cell includes the change in protein content, the supplementation of the primary as well as secondary metabolic products, or the medication of enzyme activity in the plant cell. The plant immune memory shapes immunological memory similar to competent immunity as in mammals. All of these processes can be used to store experiences in organisms without a nervous system.

Role of epigenetic mechanism

Plants are unable to move freely, so try to get control of environmental stresses by timing their physiological processes. For this reason, epigenetics comes to play. The role of epigenetic regulation responses to environmental stimuli, particularly in response to stresses. Hence, plants have advanced epigenetic machinery that controls their flowering scheduling.

Vernalization

Vernalizationassistancesthe plants regulate the correct time to bloom flowers. Researchers have established that some plants can recall the experiences they had of drought and dehydration, cold and heat, excess light, acidic soil, exposure to short-wave radiation, and simulation of insects eating their leaves. If they face with similar situations again, the plants adapt themselves accordingly. They may keep extra water, become more sensitive to light, or develop their acceptance to salt or cold. Sometimes, these memories are even handed over to the next generation by spreading information in form of chemicals or electric charges through the air or from their roots.

“Root-brain” hypothesis

The knowledge that plants display intricate and flexible behavior that involves intellectual procedures is not firsthand. Actually, scientist Charles Darwin had recognized the intellectual sensitivity of plants when he suggested the “root-brain” hypothesis that the tip of plant roots acts like the brain of some. The recent studies verify the earlier Darwinian insights and demonstrate that most of the behavior of plants are adaptive, thus confirming their existence.

Evidently, plants do not have a nervous system like animals; therefore, the ways of response to all the environmental changes are unlike from other animals. However, plants are confronted with similar types of tasks as per animals and have progressed methods to understand the situation in order to resolve it.

A professional guide to research paper writing

Research is not only about investigating, proving a theory, or discovering scientific novelties; it is also about sharing these findings and discoveries with fellow researchers and other interested parties. To achieve this, researchers must write and publish the implications of their research findings.

Writing a research paper requires a completely different skillset from writing an essay or drafting an email to your professor and friend. Hence, it is a good idea for every researcher to keep learning how to improve research writing. Moreover, even native English speakers struggle to write a standard research paper. Visit https://seomagnifier.com/online-paraphrasing-tool to obtain the best rewriting tool for writers.

From the researcher’s point of view, there are five standard steps that need to be considered for writing a quality research paper in order to achieve research funding, publication in a renowned journal, university credit or other professional goals. They are:

  1. Choosing a topic
  2. Understanding the topic and creating a list of relevant research topics
  3. Preparing an outline
  4. Preparing the first draft
  5. Proofreading and finalizing the draft
  1. Choosing a topic

Selecting a topic is the first step of writing the paper. Notably,a good and relevant topic must be selected with a narrow and interesting focus area, and yet wide enough to find sufficient data.

  1. Understanding the topic and creating a list of relevant research topics

To understand a topic, a list of keywords must be created. Keywords can be located in search engines (Google Scholar) or databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, Elsevier, etc.) and background information may be found in thesis libraries or eBooks. After creating the keywords list, relevant research and review papers can be searched in the article databases. The most relevant articles must be selected and sorted as the references, which will help in the writing process.

  1. Preparing an outline

Once the list of relevant articles is created, it is important to note down all the information or ideas that must have come to mind while going through the articles. Moreover, while conducting the research,tons of great ideas also must have appeared. Now it should be organized as an impressive presentation. This is a vital step for making a paper more focused and this will further help you revise the draft later.

Key points must be noted down to support the research statement. These key points can be used as subheadings for the body of the paper. Make sure you include only the relevant information that fit under your sub-headings and directly support your research implications.

  1. Preparing the first draft

The next step is to organize the information collected. A rough draft must be prepared where the ideas are written in an unfinished form. This step helps organize ideas and determines the final format of the paper. The draft must be revised as many times as possible to create a final product. The final document thus created is the first draft of the research paper. The next step requires citation of the sources (references). Citing the sources provides proper credit to the authors of the papers referred by you. As per the general guidelines of the most reputed journals, MLA and the APA styles are the most recommended citation formats.

  1. Proofreading and finalizing the draft

To prepare the final draft of the paper, the output, scientific knowledge, flow, and transitions must be checked. The paper can be revised by adding useful knowledge that might have been skipped or by rewriting and rearranging certain paragraphs for greater clarity. The ideas must be completely developed and all relevant references must be cited. After the revision of the paper, the next step is to edit the content to check and eliminate filler words and phrases and improve the overall word selection. The paper must also be proofread for errors in punctuation and grammar.

Finally, the paper should be sent to a friend or professor to go through and give their inputs.

Tips To Write An Article Review

According to ResearchGuide “An article review is a piece of writing where you summarize and assess another person’s article.”

A review paper is a professional paper writing which gives an in-depth analysis and a well-structured presentation of arguments. It is an acute and constructive evaluation of literature in a particular field by summarizing it. Writing a scientific review will give you access to database searches to frame the research. Its goal is to summarize everything and present a clear understanding of the topic of your choice.

There are different types of article review:

  • Journal: It is a type of article review that evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of a publication.
  • Research: In this type of review, the research method is evaluated to analyze and critique the given information.
  • Science: A scientific article review includes anything in the world of science.

Following are 6 key points to keep in mind when writing a review article:

  1. It is not a list of conclusions for a paper

Do you have something new to say or add the paper? This is an important question one should ask them before starting to write a review. The reader of your review should be able to learn and take away something of value from it.  Make it a point to include comparison, critique and assessment of the studies you are reviewing.

  1. Submit a proposal before writing a manuscript

It is advised to reach out to editors of the journal of your choice before writing a review since they will be able to guide you to understand whether or not writing this review will be of anyone’s benefit. This will increase your chances of getting your paper published.

For the proposal, give clear reasons why the particular topic/subject is important. You may need to give stronger reasons why you need to write this review.

  1. Have a good structure/framework of your article

After figuring out the purpose of writing this paper, move your focus to have a clear outline that will make you aware of the path you want to follow with this article. This not only makes your article much clearer but it will also help work on the DO’S and the DONT’S of your article review.

  1. Avoid using heavy words

Jargons could be easier for a seasoned researcher to understand but for someone who is starting off it could be really difficult. You are writing it as a subject expert but the person reading it may not be as skilled and informed as you are. Hence, this is an important thing to keep in mind that you’ve to write the review to appeal to the wider range of readers. In case you most definitely have to use technical terms, do not forget to mention them in the glossary.

  1. Always follow the journal’s guidelines

You wouldn’t want your review article to be rejected because you ignored this crucial step would you? Chances are you already know what journal guidelines are. If you don’t, it is basically set of rules that vary from journal to journal that instruct you on how to edit, format and submit your paper in a certain way that the particular journal follows before it is published. This is done to save time for the publisher and the writer.

  1. Read and re-read your first draft

As mentioned in previous blogs before, give your piece of work a fresh set of eyes i.e., ones you believe you have completed it take a break, get on to other ventures and work you have and come back after a few days. This will make it easier for you to spot any mistakes that you might have skipped over the first. You make this process faster, you may hire an editor who will do the same for you on your behalf and fine-tune it even further.

Making a Firm Decision: “Traditional vs. Open Access Journals”

We all know that making good choices in terms of academics and scientific career is the key to success. Research writing and publications compliment the career of a scientist or an academician. Moreover, publications in reputed (high impact factor) and peer-reviewed journals produces global recognition to their contribution towards the scientific community.

Selecting an appropriate journal to publish your invaluable contribution is the major step in disseminating your research findings. The research ought to be published in the right journal for reaching the target audience with desired impact. However, many researchers struggle to make the right choice while selecting a journal as they get confused between Open access and Traditional Journals. The decision also becomes difficult while considering the journal’s performance (range and impact on audience), cost of publication (Submission charges and Article processing charges) and duration of publication process.

Traditional Journal vs. Open Access Journals: Based on the different factors

Traditional Journals

Traditional journals are those which generally do not levy any fee on authors or contributors for scientific publication. These journals are funded by subscriptions and advertisements and hence, the readers are charged for accessing or downloading any content in the journal.

The comparison between the traditional and open access journals suggests that the traditional journals possess higher reputation as they are not new to the experts in the field and association with reputed institutions and medical centres. However, higher reputation does not mean that it will reach broader audience. Because of high subscription charges for the readers, the content remains exclusive for specific mass and this is also the reason for not receiving desired number of citations after the introduction of Open Access journals.

The traditional journal charges per page for the printed versions which may vary based on the number of colour figures. However, for read only service the readers need to subscribe to the journal with subscription charges ranging from $100 per individual to $50,000 for institutions.

The traditional journal generally takes around 4-6 months for the quality checking and peer review process. The delay in the process is because of the number of articles received and their pending physical printings and distributions.

Open Access

“Open Access” is the idea and practice that created a movement which enabled the journals to provide complete barrier-free and cost-free access to the readers. Providing free access means that the readers can read, download, copy (with prior acknowledgement), share and print the online information available in form of articles.

Based on the different factors for making the appropriate choice, open access is changing the landscape of the research industry and has returned scholarly publishing to its original purpose of “spreading knowledge without any barrier”.

Publishing in open access journals provides greater visibility as it reaches broader audience without any fee. However, as no publication is without any fee, the author is responsible to pay the Submission charges and Article processing charges. Generally, the fees range between $50-$5000 based on the impact and reputation of the journals.

Most of the researchers opt for open access as they may not be popular in their field as, open access circulates the articles to a wider audience using different platforms to reach different researchers in the field worldwide. That is why, most of the traditional journals have now adopted the “Open Access Policy” either completely (full open access) or partially (hybrid open access).

Scientific publication represents the reputation of the researcher and hence the faster you publish the greater is the competitive edge they receive over other competitors. Most importantly, the researcher who gets published first receives the credit for the idea and the manuscript. Open access journals significantly reduce the time of publication with rapid peer review process. However, some researchers doubt the quality of the process and also consider this process as fake.

Role of ManuscriptEdit in helping you to make the correct choice

You might have now understood the pros and cons of each type of journals, but you still might not be completely sure about your choice.

The selection of the journal (whether open access or traditional) should be based on one’s requirement and hence, ManuscriptEdit provides a “Journal Selection Report” service which is prepared by considering the quality, scope and novelty of the manuscript. However, the author can also share their recommendations on the basis of different criteria such as the impact factor, reputation, indexing and cost which needs to be covered. We understand the effort that has been put to produce a quality research paper and hence, we guide the authors to make the right selection for getting the article published in desired journal.

Is it necessary to publish papers to obtain your PhD?

Publishing paper would be cherry on pie to build an academic career. Publication is a prerequisite for obtaining your PhD. A well-known phrase “Publish or perish” justifies this statement. Although it sounds dulcet, you need to take utmost care at every single step. If you are wondering, how to achieve your goal, here are a couple of points to ease your muddle.

Research

The first step to achieve your goal should focus on deep research about various papers, journals, publishers. This will help you to pick up the appropriate decision. The lack of research may end up selecting an inappropriate journal which may throw you in the backward direction of your goal. Hence, it is advisable to do thorough research before jumping into a conclusion.

Quality over Quantity

It is said, “Quality takes time but reduces the quantity”. You should spend time developing significant research agendas rather than spending more time scrambling to publish whatever you can get. For example, 1 research paper with novel findings and own interpretation can scoot over 10 review papers. So, don’t rush up on writing more papers as there is no guarantee that writing 10 papers would award you with your degree.

Face your fear

As a beginner, it is obvious to be anxious about the result. However, keep in mind that, “Failure always leads to greater achievements”. Keep yourself calm and composed and don’t force yourself to implant negative thinks.  These negative thinking will divert you to take the decision of writing it with a co-author. I am not against this statement but this decision might affect you in a later state.

 Be ready

No one in this world is perfect so don’t let your ego come in between achieving your goal. You should be confident enough about your research paper. It is better if you could make it proofread by someone to pick up the flaws prior to submission. Several companies are there which provide such services thereby helping you completing the research error-free.

Manage your emotions  

It is quite necessary to manage the time from the beginning with great patience as you had to research all the details minutely within the stipulated time. You can also seek the help of your guide to review it and suggest you with certain actions.

Conclusion

Obtaining PhD through publication is not only an option available for doctoral candidates. In order to achieve your goal, you must work hard and present strong research with novel findings. The candidate who easily accepts the flaws and decodes it further in their work will go a long way.

Tips for writing a perfect abstract of a conference paper

Academic conferences play a significant role in graduate work. It is an event for researchers to present and discuss their work, crafting a bridge for exchange of information between researchers. But how does a researcher get invited to present their field of research at an academic conference? What makes their work beguiling as well as crisp enough to be chosen for the call? Well, the answer to all is to write and submit an abstract of the research paper. This post will revolve around the finest ways to write a perfect abstract that will help you make your work fit-to-be-seen and praised for.

An abstract is a brief summary of the paper you want to present at the academic conference. The whole work is bundled and potted in an abstract and published as the conference proceedings. The very purpose of an abstract is to review the main points of your paper in such a way to convince conference organizers that your paper has got something important and valuable to add to the conference. Therefore it calls for a to-the-point and clear explanation of the main parts of your research. The general thumb rules to aim for are:

  • Heading should be concise and attention-grabbing. Headings between 30 to 40 characters receive the most citation.
  • Aim for 250-300 words in total, with 20 to 25 words per sentence.
  • Make sure your abstract includes:
  1. Purpose – The abstract need to illustrate the purpose of your work. This is the point which will determine the ticket of your paper in the conference session.
  2. Problem – You need to state the precise problem that you are trying to resolve.
  3. Methods – This includes the approach you took towards solving the problem. You can include how you organized this study and the research that you used.
  4. Results – As a result of completing your study, what did you learn or invent or create?
  5. Conclusions – It includes the larger implication of your anticipated aftermath from your findings.
  • Stick to the word limit and make sure your language and sentence structure are straight forward.
  • Try to summarize your abstract into one sentence. This, in turn, will help you reconstruct the soul of your paper ensuring that you are not including unnecessary information to your submission.
  • Include keyword in your abstract as search engines will use them to locate the paper.
  • End your abstract with implications or recommendations.
  • After you complete your abstract, look it over with a fresh mind. This will help you edit it to improve its effectiveness.

 

Your abstract is like a business card or ‘elevator pitch’. The main point is to catch the attention of conference organizers. You want to be remembered by the people to whom you offer it. Favorably, if possible.

AI and scientific literature work in sync

When scholars choose a topic to work on their research, they need more sources or materials to review literature and add more value to their findings. According to Canadian science publishing’s article from last year, 2.5 million research papers are published annually while another unidentified source suggests that new researches are published around the world; approximately 1 million each year! Which is equal to one every 30 seconds. With the overload of new papers in each field and more growing every year it is practically impossible for scholars to keep with the information that is put out in each paper. Christian Berger’s team from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, found a staggering number of papers on the subject; more than 10,000 in the same subject. Fortunately, the team had the support of an AI system, a writing investigation tool called Iris.ai.

Iris.ai is an AI, a tool developed for scholars to make writing research papers easier. It is a Berlin-based company that claims to save 90% of time with 85% precision of data matching, has more than 70 m open access papers. Iris.ai is programmed to learn about the topic provided and perform an elaborate frequency analysis over the text. Then it read the words for which it needs to find results and additional material that could be helpful for the paper. It uses a 500-word description of the researcher’s issue, or the link of their paper and the AI restores a guide to thousands of coordinating reports. As the website suggests, it is a scientific writing assistant.

According to Berger, it was “a quick and nevertheless precise overview of what should be relevant to a certain research question”. Iris.ai is one among many of the new AI-based tools offering targeted results of the knowledge landscape. One such tool is called Semantic Scholar, produced by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle, Washington, and Microsoft Academic.

Although every instrument is different from each other and gives different output, they all provide researchers with a different look at the scientific literature than conventional tools such as PubMed and Google Scholar. Semantic Scholar is a browser-based search tool that mimics the engines like Google and it is free. But it is more informative than Google Scholar in terms of specific results required by researchers. Doug Raymond, Semantic Scholar’s general manager, says that one million individuals utilize their service every month. It uses natural language processing or NLP to extract data while building connections to determine if the information is relevant and reputable or not.

Artificial intelligence is saving a lot of time and making it easier and quicker to automate some procedures. In the academic publishing industry, the Al-based innovations are being produced and implemented to help both authors and publishers for peer reviews, searching published content, detecting plagiarism, and identifying data fabrication. AI could be costly, but it can accelerate a researchers’ access to new fields. More and more such AI tools are being developed to cater to various requisites of writing a paper, such as filtering topics for relevance, keyword search, etc.

Experts who need more assistance for their specific concerns might consider free Al­ tool such as Microsoft Academic or Semantic Scholar. While AI is easing so many burdens and saving time for a researcher, let’s not forget that it is still machine intelligence and may require human intervention here and there to make a paper more presentable and precise.