“Be certain to write it in your own words,” is a mantra this is certainly repeated by educators at all levels that are academic. For students, the thought of writing in one’s own words is repeated from the first paragraphs printed in grade school most of the way to a doctoral thesis.
In the chronilogical age of the world-wide-web, virtually any piece of knowledge or idea can be found, copied and presented in just a few minutes. If to be able to get the knowledge is exactly what is most critical, the step that is extra of what others have inked seems superfluous.
So, how come instructors and publications care if something is created in original words, even though the sources are properly cited? Whilst the Internet is a tool to locate “the right words”, there are lots of reasons why you should put ideas and thoughts in one’s voice that is own.
Here are six reasons you will need to use one’s own words when writing.
1. Create and Contribute New Meaning
When copying the words of some other person, nothing new is established and nothing is contributed into the larger discussion. The part that is one’s own words is the part that adds value to the conversation and builds upon the work of others rather than merely repeating it while custom writing it is critical to quote and reference the work of others. If everyone simply repeated what others have discovered and said before, nothing new would be created, discussed or invented. A modification of words and context will help others better comprehend it, add a perspective that is new make an association that has been previously missed.
Important thing: learning how to write in one’s own words helps form the abilities needed to thinking creatively and meaningfully.
“It is very important to create in your own words so that you contribute something not used to society. If everyone copied someone else’s writing, it would be impractical to advance as a society (we’d still be copying each other’s petroglyphs!), as well as how boring it would be! Once you write in your words, you say something in an innovative new way—perhaps this new way will help some other person understand a topic they didn’t previously understand.”
– Shelley Mitchell, Oklahoma State University | Read full story
2. Discover ways to Write
Irrespective of academic or career choices, written communication is virtually certainly an component that is essential. Email, social media marketing, blogging and social networks have increased the amount a lot of people write socially and professionally. The only way to improve one’s writing is to write often as with any skill. An email or a professional manuscript by merely copying and pasting the words of others, one cannot learn how to effectively string words together and express thoughts, feelings and opinions, whether the writing task is a class assignment.
3. Show Knowledge Of Material
While copying and pasting what others have written implies that the information was located, it doesn’t show that the data was read, understood or processed. Academic assignments are designed to show instructors that students understand topics and concepts, and are also successfully able to put it on into a paper of one’s own. When a student or writer properly researches an interest, takes appropriate time and energy to think through the materials and write a paper in original words, the writing will reflect the due diligence and understanding involved.
“We as teachers would you like to observe that a) you recognize the information and knowledge, and b) you realize it adequate to say it in a different way. In your own words, you do not understand the information enough to pass a test on the subject, so study the information until you do if you cannot say it. You really know your information if you can explain something a multitude of ways. Take it from a biology he more you can easily put something in your words that are own the more you realize your ‘stuff’, together with more prestige you will have among your peers.”
– Shelley Mitchell, Oklahoma State University
4. Learn a Subject and Retain Information
Writing is one of the most effective how to learn any subject. In reality, note taking has been found to be highly valuable in the classroom because writing helps people better understand and retain information. There is certainly a significant difference in comprehension between when people takes their very own notes as soon as people borrow someone else’s. That is partly considering that the notes are unfamiliar, but also because less from it was comprehended because less of the brain was engaged. Something similar takes place when writing a paper for a course. Reading a textbook or a slew of articles on a topic can help learn it, but currently talking about it engages a lot more of the brain and helps a lot more of the given information stick.
5. Demonstrate Integrity
Academic and integrity that is scholarly demonstrated in work that is original. Writing is an opportunity to express one’s voice that is own show the way the writer has linked to and processed the data, and explain why the reached conclusions are very important. Students are anticipated to accomplish an assignment individually, creatively and according to academic guidelines because, in doing so, students not just show due diligence, but figure out how to critically think about a topic and just how to communicate thoughts intelligently and effectively.
6. Avoid Consequences of Plagiarism
In the middle of the stress, a taut deadline, and deficiencies in preparedness, students often genuinely believe that plagiarizing and all sorts of its forms–copying and pasting information or changing a few words from an article–is the simplest way out. The effects of plagiarism can often be severe, such as for instance a student receiving an F for a course or being expelled from school. As students progress in their academic and professional careers, the effects of plagiarism similarly rise in their magnitude, including loss in career, legal and financial repercussions. Possibly the most compelling reason to write originally right now would be to shape the good habits and work ethic essential to be successful as time goes on.
“Writing in your own words saves you, as a student, lots of embarrassment and low grades. Whenever I encountered plagiarism, I experienced to tell the parents of a student that they were certainly getting a zero on an assignment because they didn’t turn in their own work. Those conversations were not fun in my situation, the parent, or even the learning student.”
– Shelley Mitchell, Oklahoma State University
Conclusions
Writing is likely to words can help you create something new, build valuable life skills, shows that you understand the material, helps you learn the subject and makes the time used on the assignment more valuable.
Since there is a time and a place to quote others and directly use their words, in the event that almost all your assignment originates from the language of others, despite having attribution, the majority of of this benefit of the task is lost.
As the capability to find information is extremely important, it is only a small part of what an assignment is mostly about. When instructors tell you firmly to write an assignment in your words, they aren’t just trying to make the task harder for you personally, they’re trying to make it more valuable.
Furthermore, when a student turns in an assignment compiled by another person, there’s absolutely no chance for the instructor to observe how well they grasp the material and grade their progress. That means it is impractical to assist the learning students learn and become better in the subject.