It is an unfortunate fact of academic writing that other people have almost certainly already commented on whatever topic you’re considering. Part of what you do when you research is discover those comments (and do not lose heart! They will often deepen your own thinking), and part of the way that you show you are a strong researcher is by referring to them or quoting them.
Let’s talk for a moment about plagiarism. Plagiarism is when you use other authors’ ideas, theories, or words without acknowledging that you have done so. If you don’t acknowledge that you’re using another author (“cite” them), that is plagiarism.
That explanation seems simple, but I know there are all sorts of knotty and stressful facets of possible plagiarism. So…How do you know you’re plagiarising? Ask yourself the following questions:
Have you knowingly taken a quotation or an idea, or a paragraph, or even a whole essay, from someone else without informing your reader that you have done so? This is the most obvious form of plagiarism: it is bad; it is illegal; it is punishable; do not do it. It’s also stupid, because you won’t learn anything.
Has a source you’ve read said something so well that it stuck in your head and you find you’ve accidentally repeated it in your essay? This is also a common form of plagiarism, but you can fix it by proofreading all your essays and taking care to add citations where you need them.
Has a source you’ve read had a great idea that you’ve adapted? Or, worse, did you have a great idea and then discover that some other guy had it, too, and published it? Idea plagiarism is the trickiest form; just remember that you have to cite ideas as well as words.
Have you written an essay for someone else? You have plagiarised. Has someone else written an essay for you, and you have handed it in? You have plagiarised. Like lending and tango, volunteered plagiarism takes two, and both are guilty (well, obviously nobody’s guilty in tango).
The most frequent concerns about plagiarism centre on Number 3. It’s true that every idea has been had before, but that doesn’t mean you have to read around until you find out who had your idea first. If your reading suggests that your idea is original, you’re fine. If someone you read has an idea that stimulates you to take that idea further, simply include a footnote acknowledging that your thought stems from this source.
The worst is when you discover that someone has had the very same thought as you – this is particularly bad when you discover it two days before the essay is due (as often seems to be the case). Don’t despair! Aren’t you cool, having independently come up with the same idea as a professional critic?
If you make this discovery at an early stage, try to think of a new idea that branches off from this old idea: in the business of scholarship, this is called, “moving the conversation forward.” If you make this discovery at a late stage, simply add a footnote that informs the reader that you discovered that Dr. X had the same idea. That’s all it takes.