Research Authorship: Addressing Plagiarism and Referencing

This essay delves into the critical aspects of research authorship, focusing on the importance of avoiding plagiarism and the techniques of proper referencing. The essay defines plagiarism as the act of using someone else's work or ideas without proper attribution, highlighting the need to cite sources, use quotation marks, and paraphrase correctly. It emphasizes the significance of referencing to give credit to original sources, maintain academic integrity, and allow readers to locate the original material. The essay outlines that referencing is crucial in ensuring that the work does not fall into plagiarism. The essay also addresses the necessity of citing both retrievable information like books and journals, and irretrievable information such as personal experiences. The essay stresses that responsible authorship is essential to avoid ethical issues. Overall, the essay provides a comprehensive guide to maintaining academic integrity and upholding ethical standards in research and writing.

Running Head: RESEARCH AUTHORSHIP 1
Research Authorship
Student’s Name
University Affiliation
Date

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Research Authorship
Authorship refers to the state of being the resourceful brain behind writing of a document
or work of art. One of the most common malpractices that people engage in is plagiarism.
Plagiarism can be defined as the activity of acquiring another person’s work or ideas and using
them as if you are the original owner. In this explanation the key concept is failing to give credit
to the original owner. Additionally, the word plagiarism was derived from a Latin word
plagiarius which means a kidnapper and this is according to MLA Handbook. To address the
problem of plagiarism fully, one must be able to understand its causes and the possible ways to
avoid falling victims of plagiarized work. Plagiarism results through failure to cite an author’s
ideas or omitting the use of quotation marks during borrowing of exact words of the original
owner of works of literature. The possible steps that one can take to avoid plagiarism include; in
case there is need to make a quotation from another source, one should ensure that they use
quotation marks that would act as a differentiation between their own words and the borrowed
words.
The process of paraphrasing must always be accompanied with giving credit to the
source. Whenever one carries out summary that involve use of different sources, it is their
responsibility to ensure that the individual sources are cited. It is equally important to be aware
of the requirements of the given citation style being used. In the process of citation, information
falls into two categories, retrievable and irretrievable. Retrievable information such as those
acquired from books, journals or websites must be cited as well as included in the bibliography.
In the contrary, irretrievable information should be cited but not included in the bibliography.
The only exceptions to citations include; personal experiences, common phrases and sayings.
Another important aspect that must be taken care of during authorship is referencing.
This is equally important in achieving credibility of documented work. It also shows
professionalism and upholding of good standards encouraged among scholars. Referencing refers
to citation or documentation of sources of ideas, illustrations or quotes that has been used in a
piece of writing. It helps in giving credit to other people for the use of their ideas or opinions.
Referencing serves the following reasons; it helps to clarify that we have not changed another
person’s ideas in our work to be our own. It also helps to contrast different arguments.
Referencing enable one to realize that the sources which have been used in writing a piece of

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work have undergone investigation. Additionally, it serves to allow one to locate the original
source from where our work has come from. It is important to carry out referencing of the work
so as to ensure that our work does not fall into the trap of plagiarism. Responsible conducts
during authorship is very important as it enables one to evade ethical issues that most writers and
authors fall victim of.