SHORT THREAD!

Simple Writing Trick to Avoid Plagiarism when using Templates

This may be useful for anyone but the examples here are more relevant to scholarship applicants

In other words, how to avoid the copy & paste syndrome.

Kindly RT to help others.

The past week brought some concerns about plagiarism in scholarship documents. For example:
https://t.co/cNgBC3NYyq
Plagiarism is unacceptable at any level in academia and may lead to several undesirable outcomes, including revocation of admission offers or conferred degrees. So here is how you can prevent or rid yourself of the copy&paste syndrome
1. Don't use any template at all.
Just follow the darn instructions, or use helpful tips scattered all over the internet. Worry less about perfection.

I understand this may be hard for less experienced scholars. So if you must use a template, continue with the thread.
2. If possible, find more than one template.

This helps you identify the flow of ideas and the commonalities in the template. You can then develop your own unique document from this knowledge.

If you are still confused and must use a template, continue with the thread
3. Now you are hell-bent on using a template.

Cool.

Here is what you can do.

Assume that your chosen template provides answers to specific questions. 👇
4. Now that you have the answer (template), try to figure out and write out the questions. 👇
For example, check out this paragraph from a statement of purpose 👇
So what are the questions answered by this template? IMO, some key questions would include 👇
5. Now that you have the questions, WALK AWAY from the template for a while (for days if possible). This helps to clear your brain of sticky phrases or sentences in the template.

If you can't trust yourself not to copy the template, THRASH IT!
6. When your brain is back to default and ready to write, use the QUESTIONS you have developed (for each paragraph) from the template to draft your own unique document without revisiting the template.

In complete sentences, just answer the questions you have written down.
7. Keep editing till you are satisfied.

Importantly, use a second pair of eyes to help review your unique document.

In the end, you'd surely be proud.
If still in doubt, you may check out this article containing another example of this "question and answer" method. This used a sample paragraph from an email to a professor.
https://t.co/zW5Co6jd31
For scholarship opportunities, tips, and motivation, here are some priceless accounts to follow
@Oludeewon @olumuyiwaayo @matajson @Okpala_IU @AaronAkpuPhilip @drhammed @NoahAluko @particular6 @Iam_MrPackagin @arawu_samuel @oulawal @adejimiadeniji @oguntuyakitimi @SamdGreat01
@Ijesha_canadian @MICHAELSEGZY @Okafor_SC @zainab__tiamiyu @james_omoboye
The end.
Happy to learn other useful methods in dealing with this issue.

More from Writing

Things we don’t learn in this article: that the author wrote David Cameron’s speeches during the period when they were intentionally underfunding the NHS and other services, directly creating the problem the author is concerned about now.


We also don’t learn that the paper it’s written in stridently supported those measures and attacked junior doctors threatening strike action over NHS cuts and long working hours, accusing them of holding the country to ransom.

We aren’t reminded that NHS funding and the future of health provision was a central part of previous election campaigns, and that attempts to highlight these problems were swiftly stomped on or diverted and then ignored by most of the press, including the Times.

I’d underline here that “corruption” doesn’t just mean money in brown envelopes: it describes a situation where much of an organisation is personally motivated to ignore, downplay or divert from malfeasance for personal reasons - because highlighting them would be bad for careers

Foges was Cameron’s speechwriter at the height of austerity; Forsyth is married to the PM’s spokesman; Danny F is a Tory peer; Parris is a former MP; Gove used to write for them regularly, and that’s before we get to professional mates-with-ministers like Shipman or Montgomerie.
I can second this observation through personal experience. I was only able to start writing because "it's just dumb weeb fanfiction quests, who cares." 100,000 pages of dumb weeb fanfic later, and I actually got better... but only because I was trying my best with every page.


"It's dumb weeb fanfiction" gave me permission to be bad, to vomit things onto the page that I knew fell far short of what I wanted it to be. To just write and write instead of laboring over six paragraphs for weeks like I'd always done before.

But I still *wanted* to be good.

Writing is HARD. And unfortunately, most people don't appreciate just how hard writing (or communication in general) is, and that cultural attitude infects writers, too.

You must give yourself permission to be bad. And realize that all writing is practice.

IT. COUNTS.

And as the folks in my mentions are pointing


... it's an excellent way to find out what actually resonates with other people - putting work out there. Even your early bad stuff you'll cringe at later.

What resonates is NOT easy to tell, because we all, inherently cringe at ourselves, a lot.

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