When I was in the 5th grade, my teacher assigned me a 1,000 word research paper about the state of Florida. I was a procrastinator, even then, so I put off the report until the very last weekend before the due date, and then copied most of those 1,000 words from the “F” edition of my Funk & Wagnell’s encyclopedia. I got an A, too! I’m going to blame that little incident on being a clueless, panicking 10 year old. But for people who don’t understand the concept of research and writing, here’s how it SHOULD work:

• You are assigned a topic to write about – be it a research paper or a blog post
• You do research – you find things offline and online to educate yourself about the topic
• You write your reaction and thoughts down, in your OWN words! You do not simply regurgitate facts over and over again, or pass off someone else’s ideas as your own
• You give credit where credit is due – should you feel that your paper needs to have quotes, you attribute those quotes to the author

Sounds easy, right? Why do so many people have trouble with the concept? Maybe it’s because it’s always easier to pass off someone else’s work as your own and take the credit. and with the internet ad your side, copying, cheating, and plagiarism is easy to do. There are even websites designed to sell “example” research papers to students. Example my butt – they’re selling research papers for people to pass off as their own work!

Thankfully, there are websites designed to stop cheaters. iPlagiarismCheck.com is a new site that allows you to submit a document for review. Once submitted, the document is checked against information found on the internet (a heck of a lot easier than typing random passages into Google), like blogs and PDF files, articles, and websites, as well as printed publications (books, articles, and journals). Recently, iPlagiarismCheck.com received the rights to add Harvard University’s academic documents database to their arsenal, meaning they’ve got access to a whole slew of documents to bust cheaters in their tracks.

This service isn’t just for teachers who wish to keep their students honest, either. Students can use the service to ensure that all sources in a paper are properly referenced, and that you haven’t inadvertently left a passage intact in your paper, without giving credit to the author. The service starts at just $5 per paper for the occasional writer. Students can sign up for an account which allows for 5 papers to be checked for just $20. Teachers will be interested in the account allowing for unlimited document checks for an entire year.

Given that MANY universities will expel students for plagiarism in any form, the $20 to check 5 papers is like buying peace of mind that you’ve done the right thing.

iPlagiarismCheck.com – Click here to visit us today! Isn’t your peace of mind worth it?

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