Debrief

There are a lot of reasons that students might commit plagiarism; here are a few of the most common ones:

• A lack of knowledge about what constitutes an act of plagiarism
• Pressure to get the best grades possible
• Not feeling like they have enough time to do an assignment
• Not fully understanding what an assignment is asking

Here are some tips on how you can avoid plagiarism:

Ask questions! The people who work at Muhlenberg, whether faculty, staff, or even Writing Center tutors are here to help you. If you’re confused about how to cite something, just ask.

If you’re concerned about citations, check out Trexler Library’s Citation Guides (linked here) for more information on how you can accurately cite your sources according to different citation styles.

Plan ahead! Leave yourself plenty of time to complete your assignments. Writing a paper at the college level might take you a significant amount of time. Especially when you’re writing your first few papers at Muhlenberg, pay attention to how long it takes you to write X amount of pages. That way, you’ll be better prepared to plan things out in the future.

See if you can turn in your work late! While it’s not a great habit to lean on, most students will turn in a late assignment at some point or another throughout their college career. Most professors’ syllabuses have explicit policies for what happens when a student turns in work late, and some may allow you to ask for an extension. Read your syllabus and pay attention to these policies. It’s so much better to be late and lose a few points than to plagiarize and get a zero.

Plagiarism may seem like a scary thing, especially when we attach such big consequences to committing it. But it’s usually pretty easy to avoid, and most cases of plagiarism are unintentional. The most important thing to remember is to cite your own written work properly. So long as you’ve done that (and aren’t turning in an old essay) you’re almost certainly in the clear!