The copy-paste trap: how to avoid plagiarism

What is plagiarism?

If you present ideas, thoughts, entire text passages or structures of other authors as your own without indicating the exact original source, you are committing intellectual theft and plagiarism. However, if you have correctly marked the thoughts of others as quotations, you are on the safe side and have worked correctly. Therefore there’s an obligation to cite in academic work, as the works of other authors are protected by copyright. Their use for scientific purposes is permitted, provided the source is named. Another requirement for scientific texts is the verifiability of statements. This is only possible for readers if the source is labeled in such a way that they can look up statements.

Where is plagiarism relevant?


Plagiarism can affect scientific works as well as artistic works or films. Various plagiarism scandals involving politicians have made headlines in the media. One of the best-known cases is that of former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who was subsequently stripped of his doctorate by the University of Bayreuth due to numerous plagiarisms in his dissertation. In the face of public pressure, Guttenberg finally resigned. Former Education Minister Annette Schavan also lost her doctorate due to proven plagiarism in her dissertation.

What types of plagiarism are there?

Copyright instead of copy paste
No copy-paste, please.

The following types of plagiarism can be distinguished

  • Full plagiarism: You pass off someone else’s complete work as your own without labeling it
  • Partial plagiarism: You copy entire passages of text from a source verbatim without naming the author of the source
  • Translation plagiarism: You translate a foreign-language text verbatim and do not mark it as a quotation
  • Structural plagiarism: You take over the complete structure of someone else’s academic work
  • Self-plagiarism: You use parts of text from one or more of your own publications, e.g. in your Master’s thesis you take parts from your Bachelor’s thesis or in your Bachelor’s thesis parts from a term paper without citing these passages as the source
  • Paraphrasing: If you do not copy a text passage word for word, but paraphrase it without citing the source, this counts as plagiarism

In addition, scientific misconduct also includes falsifying study data or inventing answers in a qualitative survey.

What happens in the event of plagiarism?

Committing plagiarism is by no means a trivial offense, but can be classified as a violation of the law and have serious consequences. Finally, you assure with your handwritten signature in the declaration of independence that you have written the thesis independently and have not used any sources and aids other than those specified. You should therefore think carefully about having your academic paper written by a ghostwriter, even if they tell you that they are only making a “suggestion” as to how your paper might look. With regard to the declaration of independence, this also counts as plagiarism.

How the respective university or college deals with plagiarism varies. In any case, the work is considered failed and you have to start all over again. In the worst case, fines or compulsory exmatriculation may also be imposed.

How do you avoid plagiarism?

Plagiarism is not always intentional. They can also occur by mistake. To prevent this from happening to you, it is best to have your work checked online for plagiarism after completion. But there are a few things you can consider when writing to be on the safe side:

  • You research several sources and do not quote from one and the same source for long passages
  • You use a personal writing style with individual formulations
  • You identify direct and indirect quotations and name the respective sources
  • When paraphrasing, you are careful to use your own words without distorting the content

So if you don’t use other people’s pens in your academic work, but mark all passages that are not your own with the relevant sources, nothing can happen to you and you will enjoy writing academic papers. As soon as you have written a paper, the reverse also applies to you: your work is your intellectual property.

On a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree course with GoVersity, you will learn everything about how to write academic papers correctly and how to protect yourself from plagiarism.

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