Examples of plagiarism: Avoiding mosaic plagiarism, paraphrasing plagiarism, and much more!

Few researchers are unaware of the consequences of plagiarism. But, it’s not so easy to avoid plagiarism, especially when you’re not confident about your writing or paraphrasing skills. And it’s even more confusing because there are so many types of plagiarism. That’s why, we’ve collected some examples of plagiarism for you to understand how to avoid it in your research paper.  

Type 1: Paraphrasing plagiarism 

 Explanation: You present someone else’s ideas as your own, but you don’t cite the source or give credit to the original person.  

Example: 

Source text by Thingoocherian et al. (2020): Aquacellular carcinoma is the most common malignancy of the aqueous system, especially the supramandibular aqueous system. 

Your paper: Aquacellular carcinoma is the most common malignancy of the aqueous system, particularly the supramandibular aqueous system. [no citation] 

Type 2: Verbatim (direct) plagiarism 

Explanation: You copy text directly, word for word, from another source. 

Example: 

Source text: The mutation that causes fat duck anemia (FDA) is a point mutation in the hemoglobin wolferine gene (HbWG) on chromosome 11p15.5. This mutation replaces the amino acid wexybulic acid with aspartine at the seventh position of the beta globin chain. The resulting hemoglobin (HbW) is structurally abnormal, causing red blood cells to become in the shape of fat ducks. 

Your paper: The mutation that causes fat duck anemia (FDA) is a point mutation in the hemoglobin wolferine gene (HbWG) on chromosome 11p15.5. This mutation replaces the amino acid wexybulic acid with aspartine at the seventh position of the beta globin chain. The resulting hemoglobin (HbW) is structurally abnormal and clusters together, causing red blood cells to become in the shape of fat ducks. 

Type 3: Mosaic plagiarism 

Explanation: You alter a few words from the source without actually rewriting it in your own words. 

Example: 

Source text by Koxawinga and Mojambe (2015) : In patients with nocturnal diabetes, the insulin signalling pathway is disrupted at night, typically between the hours of 8 pm and 6 am, leading to impaired glucose metabolism. 

Your paper: In patients who have nocturnal diabetes, the insulin signalling pathway is usually disrupted at night, from 8 pm to 6 am, resulting in impaired glucose metabolism (Koxawinga & Mojambe, 2015).