Scholarly Writing and Plagiarism, Essay Example

Writing doesn’t have to be difficult to be good and the best judge of the quality of writing is the reader. Some readers equate complexity with good writing but as Greek orators knew, complexity is a tool often used by the writers to hide their shortcomings. Being able to express complex ideas in a simple language is a sign the writer truly understands his subject. Thus, ideas expressed in simplest and clearest manner have the greatest desirable impact on the readers(Source: O’Conner, 2003, P195-196).

Turnitin and Grammarly Report

I had great experiences with both Turnitin and Grammarly in this writing project. Even though both of them are valuable, I prefer Grammarly because of additional features such as spell checks, grammar check, and so on.Grammarly doesn’t only point out to mistakes but also make suggestions regarding correction.Tools like these help me improve my writing skills.

Turnitin showed a plagiarism rate of 19 % in the reference section. This came as a surprise because I had myself paraphrased the paragraph but then I realized such a result may also be due to the fact that many students have used the same reference. Thus, this result is acceptable in this case.

Other guidesthat can help us avoid plagiarism are American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2002, P15-16)and Walden University’s APA Style Guide(Walden University). Both guides are valuable in learning how to paraphrase properly and help avoid plagiarism. They provide illustrations with easy-to-understand examples.

Reference

American Psychological Association. (2002). Publication Manual (6th ed.). Washington, D.C.

Source: O’Conner, P. (2003). Woe is I: The grammarphobe’s guide to better English in plain English. New York: Riverhead Books.

Walden University. (n.d.). APA Style. Retrieved January 28, 2014, from http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/APA.htm