plagiarism master thesis

We’ve updated the look and feel of ProWritingAid. Learn more about our new chapter.

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Critique Report
• Writing Reports
• Learn Blog Grammar Guide Community Events FAQ
• Grammar Guide

Thesis Checker: Free Online Editor

Start typing, paste, or use

Get more suggestions to enhance this text and all your future writing

Your suggestions will show once you've entered some text.

Great job! We didn't find any suggestions in your text.

Works in all your favorite writing apps

Access all ProWritingAid's features directly in your writing app of choice.

Why should you use an online thesis checker?

You’ve already done countless hours of research to write your thesis. You don’t want to spend countless hours correcting it, too.

You’ll sound professional

Wow your supervisors with how grammatically sound your writing is, how clear it is, and how well it flows.

You’ll save time

You’ll become a better writer.

Every time you run your thesis through ProWritingAid, you’ll see what your common mistakes are and how to fix them.

Professors and students love using ProWritingAid

Great tool for academic work. Easy to use and the reports and summary evaluation of your documents in several categories is very useful. So much more than spelling and grammar!

Debra Callender

If you’re an English teacher, you need to take a look at this tool—it reinforces what you’re teaching, highlights strengths and weaknesses, and makes it easier to personalize instruction.

Jennifer Gonzales

Only reason I managed to get an A in all my freshmen composition classes.

Chris Layton

Your first line of defense before submission

Save time on editing so you can focus on your research. ProWritingAid’s thesis checker helps you quickly and easily improve your grammar and style.

Academic writing made easier

Stop stressing over your first draft. Now you can improve any sentence in just a few clicks. Shorten sentences , correct informal language, expand your sentence variety, and add transitions.

Catch every easy-to-miss mistake

Typos and grammar errors can slip into anyone’s work. ProWritingAid’s AI-powered thesis checker can catch and fix even the trickiest issues so your ideas can shine.

In-depth analysis whenever you need it

Sure, that email might only need a cursory check. But a 100-page thesis needs more comprehensive reviews. Use our structure analysis , complex paragraph alerts , and transitions report to improve your work.

Write clearly, concisely, and accurately

Strike the right balance between clarity and academic rigor with analytical language goals and power verb suggestions . You can ensure your work is professional without sacrificing readability.

Get access to a library of expert resources

With ProWritingAid, you get more than just an app—you get the tools to become a better writer. Our in-app learning tool comes packed with helpful explanations for every suggestion.

Want more? Join our community or read our blog for advice from our resident experts on how to become a better writer.

ProWritingAid’s Thesis Checker FAQs

1. how do i use the online thesis checker.

Sign up for free, upload your thesis, and run any of ProWritingAid’s 25+ reports. You’ll see a number of suggestions that you can either accept or reject.

2. Does the essay checker work with British English and American English?

The thesis checker works with British English, American English, Australian English, and Canadian English. Just choose the one you’d like to use, and ProWritingAid will tailor its suggestions to match.

3. Is using a thesis checker cheating?

Not at all. The thesis checker won’t ever write the thesis for you. It will only point out possible edits and advise you on changes you need to make. You have full autonomy and can decide which changes to accept.

4. Is there a student discount?

Students who have an eligible student email address can get 20% off ProWritingAid Premium. Email [email protected] from your student email address to access your discount.

5. Can ProWritingAid check my thesis for free?

Absolutely. ProWritingAid offers a free membership to everyone, always, and you can edit up to 500 words at a time. If you need to edit more work, you can upgrade to Premium at any time.

6. Does ProWritingAid have a plagiarism checker?

Yes! ProWritingAid’s plagiarism checker will check your work against over a billion web-pages, published works, and academic papers, so you can be sure of its originality. Find out more about pricing for plagiarism checks here .

Submit your thesis with confidence

Drop us a line or let's stay in touch via :

Academic Editing and Proofreading

• Tips to Self-Edit Your Dissertation
• Guide to Essay Editing: Methods, Tips, & Examples
• Journal Article Proofreading: Process, Cost, & Checklist
• The A–Z of Dissertation Editing: Standard Rates & Involved Steps
• Research Paper Editing | Guide to a Perfect Research Paper
• Dissertation Proofreading | Definition & Standard Rates
• Thesis Proofreading | Definition, Importance & Standard Pricing
• Research Paper Proofreading | Definition, Significance & Standard Rates
• Essay Proofreading | Options, Cost & Checklist
• Top 10 Paper Editing Services of 2024 (Costs & Features)
• Top 10 Essay Checkers in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• Top 10 AI Proofreaders to Perfect Your Writing in 2024
• Top 10 English Correctors to Perfect Your Text in 2024
• Top 10 Essay Editing Services of 2024
• 10 Advanced AI Text Editors to Transform Writing in 2024

Academic Research

• Research Paper Outline: Templates & Examples
• How to Write a Research Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Write a Lab Report: Examples from Academic Editors
• Research Methodology Guide: Writing Tips, Types, & Examples
• The 10 Best Essential Resources for Academic Research
• 100+ Useful ChatGPT Prompts for Thesis Writing in 2024
• Best ChatGPT Prompts for Academic Writing (100+ Prompts!)
• Sampling Methods Guide: Types, Strategies, and Examples
• Independent vs. Dependent Variables | Meaning & Examples

Academic Writing & Publishing

• Difference Between Paper Editing and Peer Review
• What are the different types of peer review?
• How to deal with rejection from a journal?
• Editing and Proofreading Academic Papers: A Short Guide
• How to Carry Out Secondary Research
• The Results Section of a Dissertation
• Checklist: Is my Article Ready for Submitting to Journals?
• Types of Research Articles to Boost Your Research Profile
• 8 Types of Peer Review Processes You Should Know
• The Ethics of Academic Research
• How does LaTeX based proofreading work?
• How to Improve Your Scientific Writing: A Short Guide
• Chicago Title, Cover Page & Body | Paper Format Guidelines
• How to Write a Thesis Statement: Examples & Tips
• Chicago Style Citation: Quick Guide & Examples
• The A-Z Of Publishing Your Article in A Journal
• What is Journal Article Editing? 3 Reasons You Need It
• 5 Powerful Personal Statement Examples (Template Included)
• Complete Guide to MLA Format (9th Edition)
• How to Cite a Book in APA Style | Format & Examples
• How to Start a Research Paper | Step-by-step Guide
• APA Citations Made Easy with Our Concise Guide for 2024
• A Step-by-Step Guide to APA Formatting Style (7th Edition)
• Top 10 Online Dissertation Editing Services of 2024
• Academic Writing in 2024: 5 Key Dos & Don’ts + Examples
• What Are the Standard Book Sizes for Publishing Your Book?
• MLA Works Cited Page: Quick Tips & Examples
• 2024’s Top 10 Thesis Statement Generators (Free Included!)
• Top 10 Title Page Generators for Students in 2024
• What Is an Open Access Journal? 10 Myths Busted!
• Primary vs. Secondary Sources: Definition, Types & Examples
• How To Write a College Admissions Essay That Stands Out
• How to Write a Dissertation & Thesis Conclusion (+ Examples)
• APA Journal Citation: 7 Types, In-Text Rules, & Examples
• What Is Predatory Publishing and How to Avoid It!
• What Is Plagiarism? Meaning, Types & Examples
• How to Write a Strong Dissertation & Thesis Introduction
• How to Cite a Book in MLA Format (9th Edition)
• How to Cite a Website in MLA Format | 9th Edition Rules
• 10 Best AI Conclusion Generators (Features & Pricing)
• Top 10 Academic Editing Services of 2024 [with Pricing]
• Additional Resources

Plagiarism: How to avoid it in your thesis?

• Final Submission Checklist | Dissertation & Thesis
• 7 Useful MS Word Formatting Tips for Dissertation Writing
• How to Write a MEAL Paragraph: Writing Plan Explained in Detail
• Em Dash vs. En Dash vs. Hyphen: When to Use Which
• The 10 Best Citation Generators in 2024 | Free & Paid Plans!
• 2024’s Top 10 Self-Help Books for Better Living
• Citation and Referencing
• Citing References: APA, MLA, and Chicago
• How to Cite Sources in the MLA Format
• MLA Citation Examples: Cite Essays, Websites, Movies & More
• Citations and References: What Are They and Why They Matter
• APA Headings & Subheadings | Formatting Guidelines & Examples
• Formatting an APA Reference Page | Template & Examples
• Research Paper Format: APA, MLA, & Chicago Style
• How to Create an MLA Title Page | Format, Steps, & Examples
• How to Create an MLA Header | Format Guidelines & Examples
• MLA Annotated Bibliography | Guidelines and Examples
• APA Website Citation (7th Edition) Guide | Format & Examples
• APA Citation Examples: The Bible, TED Talk, PPT & More
• APA Header Format: 5 Steps & Running Head Examples
• APA Title Page Format Simplified | Examples + Free Template
• How to Write an Abstract in MLA Format: Tips & Examples
• 10 Best Free Plagiarism Checkers of 2024 [100% Free Tools]
• 5 Reasons to Cite Your Sources Properly | Avoid Plagiarism!
• Dissertation Writing Guide
• Writing a Dissertation Proposal
• The Acknowledgments Section of a Dissertation
• The Table of Contents Page of a Dissertation
• The Introduction Chapter of a Dissertation
• The Literature Review of a Dissertation
• The Only Dissertation Toolkit You’ll Ever Need!
• 5 Thesis Writing Tips for Master Procrastinators
• How to Write a Dissertation | 5 Tips from Academic Editors
• The 5 Things to Look for in a Dissertation Editing Service
• Top 10 Dissertation Editing & Proofreading Services
• Why is it important to add references to your thesis?
• Thesis Editing | Definition, Scope & Standard Rates
• Expert Formatting Tips on MS Word for Dissertations
• A 7-Step Guide on How to Choose a Dissertation Topic
• 350 Best Dissertation Topic Ideas for All Streams in 2024
• A Guide on How to Write an Abstract for a Research Paper
• Dissertation Defense: What to Expect and How to Prepare
• Creating a Dissertation Title Page (Examples & Templates)
• Essay Writing Guide
• Essential Research Tips for Essay Writing
• What Is a Mind Map? Free Mind Map Templates & Examples
• How to Write an Essay Outline: 5 Examples & Free Template
• How to Write an Essay Header: MLA and APA Essay Headers
• What Is an Essay? Structure, Parts, and Types
• How to Write an Essay in 8 Simple Steps (Examples Included)
• 8 Types of Essays | Quick Summary with Examples
• Expository Essays | Step-by-Step Manual with Examples
• Narrative Essay | Step-by-Step Guide with Examples
• How to Write an Argumentative Essay (Examples Included)
• Guide to a Perfect Descriptive Essay [Examples & Outline Included]
• How to Start an Essay: 4 Introduction Paragraph Examples
• How to Write a Conclusion for an Essay (Examples Included!)
• How to Write an Impactful Personal Statement (Examples Included)
• Literary Analysis Essay: 5 Steps to a Perfect Assignment
• Compare and Contrast Essay | Quick Guide with Examples
• Top 10 Essay Writing Tools in 2024 | Plan, Write, Get Feedback
• Top AI Essay Writers in 2024: 10 Must-Haves
• 100 Best College Essay Topics & How to Pick the Perfect One!
• College Essay Format: Tips, Examples, and Free Template
• Structure of an Essay: 5 Tips to Write an Outstanding Essay

Still have questions? Leave a comment

Add Comment

Checklist: Dissertation Proposal

Enter your email id to get the downloadable right in your inbox!

Examples: Edited Papers

Need editing and proofreading services.

Deadlines are a dreaded thing in academics, and so is plagiarism. If you’re short on time or were late to start your dissertation or thesis, you’d hope the submission day would never arrive. And days pass by as they should, they seem to pass faster than your dissertation is still in the works. You have no clue how it will turn out, or will it even be completed before the judgment day. Now you want to put a pedal to the metal and just get done with it. But you also want to impress your professor and get good grades. This is when most students put the copy to the paste. And once you include matter that’s not yours, and omit it, too bad. You have contributed to plagiarism.

Don’t even…

Every college course demands that students be creative and original in presenting their ideas for research submissions. Presenting someone else’s ideas or words as your own is an act of Plagiarism. It is considered an academic malpractice and can land you in serious trouble. University policies and plagiarism will decide the severity of the disciplinary action. If caught, offenders could be given a failing grade or the more severe penalty of being suspended from a program or college.

Direct Plagiarism is the most blatant form of plagiarism where one includes a word-for-word transcript of a section of someone else’s writing. No citation, no paraphrasing. Do not do this even in the most desperate times. Direct plagiarism will lead to direct termination!

Patchwriting is a crafty method of plagiarism mostly undertaken by students who are more cautious in how they plagiarise. Also known as Mosaic Plagiarism, its when you copy and paste text from multiple sources while adding bits of original sentences and rewording existing ones. Patchwriting is paraphrasing taken to a whole new level!

Even if more efforts go into patchwriting, with the intent of coming across as original, it’s an effort in vain. The latest plagiarism-check software like iThenticate  & Turnitin  has the capacity to sift through tons of documents, even those that are not available on the web database and call you out! Save the struggle on this one.

And then, there are the more fortunate ones who can afford to hire ghostwriters to complete their dissertations on demand. Buying a copy of work written for you by a professional writer is also plagiarism. It also stands true when it’s not a paid service and you get it done by one of your friends or family members. The slightest effort doesn’t go into doing this and no one appreciates that.

Careful! You could do it unawares

There is much confusion even among the experienced lot in academia as to what constitutes for Self-Plagiarism . Some students think that it’s okay to add excerpts from their previous essays and submissions without adding a citation. Or submit essays in graduation that they had already written in high school on a similar topic. PhD students pick up huge chunks out of their previous work and add it to their thesis. This happens because most would ask “how can I plagiarize myself?” and then ignorantly accept that that’s not possible.

It’s important to understand that even if it’s your own ideas and words that you have used in your work, it is still not original. You have produced results based on your previous knowledge. For that, you must provide a citation.

Please consult your University’s plagiarism policy and academic code of conduct. That will give you a better idea of where to draw the line when using your previously published study.  

Another type of ‘accidental’ plagiarism is Paraphrasing Plagiarism. It’s committed when you summarize ideas or text from another source and fail to cite the original author and give a proper reference. If the string of words resembling the original text run too long, it could also be taken for word-for-word plagiarism.

Tips to avoid plagiarism

Cite your sources

Provide citation wherever it is needed and no one can point fingers at you. This is the easiest way to avoid plagiarism. When in doubt, cite it.

Use quotation marks

When paraphrasing, use quotation marks and give a proper reference wherever needed. Clarify that it’s a borrowed piece and you acknowledge it.  

Hire professional proofreaders and academic editors

Instead of hiring ghostwriters to write your theses and dissertations from scratch, hire proofreaders and academic editors to finish them with neat altercations and structuring. You can partner with PaperTrue to create plagiarism-proof works for any academic requirements.

Ask for help

Talk to your supervising professor or thesis advisor and be honest with them about your work. Seek advice on how much-borrowed material could be added to your papers.  

Found this article helpful?

Leave a Comment: Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Your vs. You’re: When to Use Your and You’re

Your organization needs a technical editor: here’s why, your guide to the best ebook readers in 2024, writing for the web: 7 expert tips for web content writing.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get carefully curated resources about writing, editing, and publishing in the comfort of your inbox.

How to Copyright Your Book?

If you’ve thought about copyrighting your book, you’re on the right path.

© 2024 All rights reserved

• Terms of service
• Privacy policy
• Self Publishing Guide
• Pre-Publishing Steps
• Fiction Writing Tips
• Traditional Publishing
• Academic Writing and Publishing
• Partner with us
• Annual report
• Website content
• Marketing material
• Job Applicant
• Cover letter
• Resource Center
• Case studies

Collections

• Library Search - UCI Catalog
• Databases A-Z
• Digital Collections
• Journals@UCI
• Libraries Worldwide (WorldCat)
• Find Online Resources
• Special Collections & Archives
• More Collections...
• Call Numbers
• Floor Plans
• Locations and Directions
• Study Spaces
• Library Administration
• Staff Directory
• Subject Librarians
• Course Reserves
• Getting a Library Card
• Interlibrary Loan
• Paging & Pickup Services
• Suggest a Title
• Technology & Equipment
• Multimedia Resources Center
• Poster Printing
• One Button Studio
• Printing & Scanning
• 3D Printing
• Special Software

Instruction

• Instruction Services
• Request Instruction
• Online Tutorials
• Policy For Non-UCI Groups

Research Advice

• Ask a Librarian
• Databases to Get You Started
• Publish Open Access
• Research Guides
• Research Tools...
• Theses & Dissertations
• More Services...

Digital Scholarship

• Digital Scholarship Home
• Tools and Resources
• Workshops and Events
• Virtual Tour
• Visit the Libraries
• Comments and Suggestions
• Library Departments and Service Desks
• Report a Library Incident
• More Contacts...
• About UCI Libraries
• Facts & Figures
• Library Publications
• Organizational Chart
• Projects & Initiatives
• Social Impact
• Strategic Plan

News & Events

• Library Events
• Student Displays Program
• Chat with a Librarian
• Thesis and Dissertation Formatting
• Research Consultation
• Connect From Off-Campus
• Create Bibliographies
• Find an Article
• Find a Book
• Modify/Reset Library PIN
• More Help...
• Langson Library
• Science Library
• Grunigen Medical Library
• Law Library
• Accessibility
• Gateway Study Center
• ACCESSIBILITY

• FIND Books & Collections
• SERVICES Service Points & Tools
• ABOUT Visiting & Contacts
• HELP Ask a Librarian & Guides

UCI Theses & Dissertations

Format, Submit, Discover

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The UCI Libraries provides formatting and submission support for graduate theses and dissertations. Theses and dissertations may be submitted electronically (via ProQuest), or on paper. Electronic submission best serves the majority of our graduate students and is highly encouraged.

If you have questions about formatting or the submission process, read through the FAQs or email [email protected] . If you have questions or concerns that do not relate to the formatting of your manuscript, please contact Graduate Division . 

The filing deadline for a Summer 2024 degree is 5:00 pm on  Wednesday, September 11, 2024.

The formatting manual.

Please consult the  UCI Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Manual  when writing your manuscript. In addition to providing detailed information about proper formatting, the manual details the submission process and provides sample pages and templates.

Pre-Submission (Formatting) Critiques

Pre-submission critiques are available to all graduate students who would like the formatting of their manuscript looked at before final submission. You may request a pre-submission critique on a working draft of your thesis. 

Pre-Submission Critiques are no longer available for Winter Quarter 2023.

As you approach the filing deadline, the availability of formatting critiques changes as follows :

It may take up to 2 business days (M-F, excluding holidays) to receive a response to your question, critique, or ProQuest submission - especially during high-volume times in the quarter.  

Please plan accordingly; we respond to questions as they come in and cannot rush or expedite any reviews. 

Video Tutorials/Workshop Recordings

Thesis formatting overview (5 min video).

Topics covered: Pre-submission critiques, Overview of the Formatting Manual, Resources for further assistance

ProQuest submission process (7 min video)

Overview of what the thesis/dissertation submission process looks like in Proquest, addressing commonly asked questions about specific fields.

Workshop Recording  (May 2024 workshop)

1 hour workshop video

• Answered questions from Zoom chat transcripts
• Slide deck of Library presentation 
• Slide deck of Grad Division presentation

If you have any questions, please email  [email protected] .

• See all Countries
• United Kingdom
• Netherlands
• Switzerland
• Online Learning

How important really is it to run your thesis through a plagiarism checker?

Should you use a plagiarism checker.

Many students run their thesis through a plagiarism checker before printing and binding their thesis. The question as to whether or not this is necessary always comes up. One thing, however, is clear: Even if you don’t use a plagiarism checker , your university will check your Master’s thesis or dissertation for plagiarism as part of the evaluation process.

Even improperly quoting a source is considered plagiarism (e.g.: by forgetting to put the year). Careless errors like this can lead to serious consequences and even to getting a failing mark on your dissertation or final paper.

Running your document through a plagiarism checker verifies whether or not your text really is your intellectual property. Naturally, you’re allowed to use existing research when writing your research paper , dissertation or final paper; this is actually a requirement when writing a scientific paper. However, you have to appropriately identify every single passage you quote!

Errors are common, especially when it comes to quoting work. A plagiarism detector allows you to check if you correctly identified the literature you used. Therefore, if you are not completely certain whether you quoted a text correctly, you should seriously consider running your document through a plagiarism checker.

Plagiarism software: free or fee-based?

When you have decided on using a plagiarism checker, you will find two options online: a free software or a fee-based professional checker. Both options have their pros and cons, which is why we want to examine both ways for you

Free plagiarism checkers – Pros and Cons

When you look online for plagiarism checkers, you’ll notice that there are a lot of providers that offer a free plagiarism checker. You can’t blame anyone for being tempted by a free offer. However, it is important to be aware of the cons of a free plagiarism detector.

Of course, you’ll save money when you opt for a free plagiarism checker, but you also run the risk of your dissertation or final paper not being checked properly. Many of the free plagiarism softwares use poorly developed algorithms that only check every third or fourth sentence in your paper, so that you might still unknowingly end up with plagiarisms.

Many of the servers used by the free providers are outside of Europe and are therefore not subject to European or German data protection regulations. There is therefore a risk that your data will not be properly protected and can thus be shared. That is why there is the distinct possibility that your uploaded dissertation or Master’s thesis might be published without your permission; the worst case scenario is that this might happen before you’ve even submitted it.

There is another disadvantage related to the dubious data regulations with free plagiarism checkers: many of the free plagiarism checkers save your uploaded research paper to their databank and then share it. It is precisely for this reason that a free plagiarism checker could cause serious damage.

If your university or post-secondary institution uses the same plagiarism checker to verify your dissertation, Master’s thesis or research paper, your entire paper might be considered as plagiarism. Some plagiarism checkers save the uploaded final paper and then add it to their databank as a source text.

Advantages of a professional plagiarism checker

Of course it’s up to you whether you opt for a free or fee-based but professional plagiarism detector . If your final paper is shorter, i.e.: a term paper or a research project, then using a free plagiarism detector might be fine, as long as you’re not too concerned about the possible lack of data protection. However, if your final paper is a major one, such as a dissertation , a Master’s thesis or a research paper, you should definitely look into a professional plagiarism software, which will probably be fee-based. Remember that the money you spend having your academic paper checked is a good investment.

Checklist: How do I find a trustworthy provider for plagiarism checking?

There are three points to watch out for, all of them relatively easy to identify:

1. How professional is the organization? Look at their Terms and Conditions or their presence on other websites. If you have a funny feeling about a provider, take this as a warning sign!

2. What are their ratings? Check out independent rating platforms.

3. How long does it take them to run a plagiarism checker? If the plagiarism detector only takes two minutes, it could never check your whole document.

Here are some more important points when selecting the right plagiarism checker:

4. Data storage: After your dissertation, Master’s thesis or research paper have been checked, your paper should be removed from the provider’s server. Carefully read through their General Terms and Conditions!

5. Price: Compare the prices of different providers. Normally, the price is based on the word count. Expensive is not synonymous with quality!

6. Registration: Registration always takes time, time you don’t need to waste. Besides, this means the provider is collecting information from you that is not necessary.

BachelorPrint’s plagiarism checker

Benefits of using BachelorPrint’s plagiarism checker service:

• Full check in approx. 10 minutes.
• Plagiarism report with links to the source to help you make quick improvements
• Every sentence is checked
• Databank with billions of sources
• Top value for your money!

To help you find a save and thorough plagiarism software provider, we used our checklist and found a plagiarism service that we want to recommend to you.

If we take a look at the top plagiarism software providers, BachelorPrint’s service stands out. Their plagiarism checker service is user-friendly, dependable and thorough.

You don’t have to worry about your data, either – BachelorPrint deletes all data from its server within 24 hours after checking your thesis!

Furthermore, it only takes approx. 10 minutes for BachelorPrint to run its plagiarism checker when you’re having them check your research paper, dissertation or Master’s thesis.

No lengthy registration – good value for your money – countless satisfied happy post-secondary institutions and students!

BachelorPrint plagiarism checker – 3 steps to success

In just a few clicks, you can have your dissertation, research paper or final paper checked using BachelorPrint’s plagiarism checker.

Step 1: Uploading

First you need to upload your paper to BachelorPrint’s server. There is no need for lengthy reformatting of your research paper, dissertation or Master’s thesis – BachelorPrint’s plagiarism test tool accepts all common file formats!

Step 2: Checking

When the plagiarism software checks your final paper, it will be split up into several sections with the help of an algorithm. The plagiarism detector then compares them to the billions of sources from the databank. All identified plagiarisms are then gathered.

Step 3: Improving

When all this has been done, you will receive a plagiarism report that highlights all text suspected of plagiarism. You will receive this report quickly via e-mail, which you will have provided, after checking your document for plagiarism. BachelorPrint’s plagiarism software provides an online source for every plagiarism, so that all you need to do is click on the link and improve the text in question.

The plagiarism checker: Choose wisely!

Plagiarism can be avoided! It is for exactly this reason that this topic is not a favorite among students. Especially when this is due to carelessness, dealing with accusations of plagiarism is annoying. Quoting cited work properly is something that needs to be learned when writing a scientific paper!

So to play it safe, you should run a plagiarism checker . A quick Internet search indicates that there are numerous providers, many of whom offer a free plagiarism software service. However, if your academic paper is a research paper, a dissertation or a Master’s thesis – in other words, a major paper – then you should spend a bit of money and choose a professional provider to run this check for you. The best thing to do is to trust your instinct: do you feel good about the provider you chose? If yes, then nothing can go wrong.

Related topics

• Deciding to study abroad: The first steps
• International Study Visas

Search for courses now

The latest articles on studylink.com.

The latest articles from study abroad providers and StudyLink.com to hep you on your study abroad journey.

Distance and Independent Studies Center, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), Germany

Constructor University

London Film School

SOAS University of London

Berliner Hochschule für Technik (BHT)

Alba Graduate Business School

International study advice

Read our key advice article to help you make the best decision for your education and start your International study adventure.

In this article we look at how to approach choosing where in the world you would like to study.

Read StudyLink's suggestions on your first steps when deciding where to study abroad, with helpful tips to make your decision easier.

Find out more about English language tests, your options and what is required as an overseas student.

StudyLink.com take a detailed look into the costs of studying abroad and all the aspects that you should budget for when embarking on your studies.

We answer 10 common questions about applying for a student visa to help make your visa application quick and easy.

Find out more about international student visas for studying abroad, as well as how, where and when to apply for yours.

Find out more about funding and scholarships for international students, and what financial assistance might be available to you.

How to choose a course that fits you? Check our top tips on choosing which course is best for you to help you make an informed decision.

Sign up to StudyLink.com

Sign up to StudyLink.com, the home of quality study abroad advice.

Free Online Plagiarism Checker

Possible plagiarism detected!

If you submit this paper, your institution may take disciplinary measures against you. The content requires editing and modification of parts. We know how to make it unique.

This is weighted average of all matches in your text. For example, if half of your paper is 100% plagiarized, your score would be 50%

Well done, your text is unique!

Need an essay written but don't have the time?

With PapersOwl you’ll get it professionally researched, written and received right on time!

Make it unique with

Increase your SEO performance with

Text matches these sources

Verifying your text. It’ll take approximately 10 seconds

Get a 100% accurate report from an advanced AI-powered writing assistant. Our plagiarism checker works with all common file formats.

• Deep Search
• Check in real time
• Data Safety

How to avoid plagiarism?

Proper citation style.

Avoid plagiarism by always listing the source and formatting it correctly when you are note-taking. Take care of the proper formatting and citation style when using content from outside sources.

Write on your own

Avoid borrowing and overusing large pieces of the content from outside sources, especially from Wikipedia. Write your own thoughts and use sources only to support your opinion (remember to cite it though!).

Rewriting Service

PapersOwl expert can rewrite up to 75% of your content, edit and proofread your paper to make it plagiarism free and ready to use.

Editing Service

PapersOwl expert can edit up to 50% of your content, proofread and polish your paper to make it plagiarism free and ready to use.

Writing Service

PapersOwl expert can rewrite your paper from scratch according to instructions and guidelines and make it plagiarism free and ready to use.

Suits your similarity index. Consider using it!

Plagiarism Checker Review

Get speed and uniqueness when you use the free Papersowl plagiarism checker that accepts an unlimited word count compared to other platforms.

Online Plagiarism Checker For Students

Writing an academic paper can be challenging when you’re not sure if it’s original enough to pass a plagiarism check. Of course, students take information from various sites before writing their own text. Sometimes, it just so happens that certain parts are very similar to your resources, making your professor think that you’ve just copied work from somewhere. That’s why it’s crucial for any modern college or university student to ensure that their work has 100% original content to maintain academic integrity.

Luckily, a free plagiarism checker online can solve this issue quickly and easily. Many cheap essay writing services use a plagiarism checker for research paper. However, students sometimes forget that they should too. But with so many options that pop up when you ask Google to “check my paper for plagiarism”, how do you choose the right one for detection? We’ve got the solution in the form of PapersOwl’s free plagiarism checker tool! Our simple tool makes it convenient to check any writing task without having to spend a dime. It works quickly and highly accurately, ensuring that you get the top grade you deserve. So, if you want to check plagiarism online before turning your task in, head over to our website and get started!

Accurate Check for Plagiarism with Percentage

Many students wishing to produce original content aren’t quite sure how to get an exact percentage of plagiarised text in their work. This percentage is important since many universities have a certain limit of non-unique words you can have in your essay for it to be considered okay. If your plagiarism search doesn’t give you the exact percentage, you can’t be sure if your assignment will go through or not.

When using a free plagiarism tool, it’s essential to have this data provided to you. Only when you have it can you decide which parts to change and which ones to chuck out to achieve your desired results. Plagiarized content is a big issue in modern educational institutions, so getting reliable and trustworthy results is vital. This is the most essential requirement when you check plagiarism.

PapersOwl’s plagiarism detection tool gives you all the information you need to fix plagiarized content. Whether you’ve fallen victim to accidental plagiarism or have tried to make your life easier by copying some text from different sources, you’ll get an accurate percentage with our plagiarism checker online. If you’re wondering how to check paper for plagiarism, it’s nothing complicated at all! Simply visit our site, paste your whole essay into the relevant text box or upload the text file, click on Check For Plagiarism, and you’ll get accurate plagiarism results in a matter of seconds. You’ll see the problematic parts with plagiarism detected highlighted, with links to where similar content exists. Our service with plagiarism detector will also give you the option to check my essay for plagiarism and then to hire a professional paper writer to fix your task quickly if you're busy with other things!

The Fastest Plagiarism Checker Online

Gaining insight into duplicate content only works if you get your results quickly. There are so many free plagiarism software online that promise to do the job for you. However, a lot of them are clunky, slow, and inaccurate. How can you produce original work without similarity detection you can trust?

PapersOwl stands out in this regard because it will detect plagiarism in seconds. This is a plagiarism scanner that’s able to perform a Swift Check to give you a uniqueness check right there and then. It also conducts a Deep Search, going through millions of sources on the internet to check for plagiarism. A document of about 1500 words takes only about 10 seconds to get processed! You get a clear plagiarism score of how much text is plagiarized and how much is original. All the sources that your essay matches are listed based on how much similarity there is in your academic writing. And on top of that, you get a handy Make It Unique button that’ll take you to an order page where you can ask our expert writers to rewrite your work and make it 100% unique.

All of this is done almost instantly, allowing students to continue do assignments without missing a beat. Not every plagiarism detection software works this quickly, making ours the best one you’ll ever use.

Plagiarism Checker Helps Boost Your Grade

A lot of students make the mistake of considering their papers automatically free from plagiarism. After all, they’ve written it themselves, so how could it be problematic? What they don’t realize is that it’s very easy to borrow some information mistakenly. Turning such a paper in can cause multiple problems, as your professor might think you haven’t done the work at all.

That is why you should always use a plagiarism scanner to test for plagiarized content in your college papers. Our online plagiarism checker for students is designed for this exact purpose. A simple, free plagiarism check could help you check plagiarism, fix any mistakes you see, and submit high-quality text that no one will question.

Our plagiarism detector has a lot going for it. It makes plagiarism detection easier than ever before. Unlike copying and pasting each passage individually into Google, simply upload the whole file into our plagiarism checker free for students, and you don’t have to do anything else. All the matches are highlighted so you know what to change.

The plagiarism test will give you a uniqueness percentage too. This will help you figure out where you stand and how much time you need to adjust anything if required. So, using our copyright checker online free to check your writing is essential. This way, you’ll submit the task only when you’re sure it meets the level of uniqueness required by your school. As a result, your grades will drastically improve when you check for plagiarism.

Free Tools for Writing

PapersOwl is a well-known provider of all types of academic papers.

• Research paper
• Dissertation

and many more

• Stuck with a lot of homework assignments?
• Worried about making your work 100% plagiarism free?
• Looking for a writing help with affordable price?

How Does Plagiarism Checker Work?

• If you already have a completed text, all you need is just to copy-paste the whole thing in the special box of the chosen plagiarism tool or website, choose suitable settings (if any), then press “check for plagiarism”. It is quite simple and takes just a few moments.
• Once you have pressed “check for plagiarism”, the system will analyze your text and compare it with different sources to find similarities. As a rule, the duration depends on the text’s length. A standard free online plagiarism checker with percentage can give you the result within five minutes or less.
• When the system finishes the work you will be transmitted to the reporting page – it contains the comprehensive report on your work, a percentage of its uniqueness, and a list of sources on which similarities were detected. Often, such tools also highlight the overlaps that were found.

As you can see, it is simple. However, for the best and reliable result you have to be careful. There are tons of programs and online tools that can be used but keep in mind that many of them work differently and not all are good for you. To be confident in the truthfulness of the received result, you need to select the best plagiarism checker because only a professional and high-quality software can detect all similarities and give you a reasoned assessment.

Polish your paper and get rid of plagiarism!

We’ll change up to 75% of your paper, edit and proofread it.

• Reliable Editors
• Any Field of Study
• Fair Prices

Free Plagiarism Checker is rated 4.9 /5 based on 763 user reviews.

Want your voice to count in? Send us your review with all the details.

Advantages Of Plagiarism Checker By PapersOwl

Why choose us? Our service offers a professional online plagiarism checker with report that will provide you with a comprehensive report to make you confident in the 100% uniqueness of your paper. Our free plagiarism checker for students guarantees the best check and here are the key advantages of using our tool that prove this:

You don’t need to pay anything to check your paper for plagiarism because we know the value of original and unique works.

One of the main benefits of our antiplagiat checker online is that it works so fast that you will not even have enough time to make yourself a cup of coffee while it analyzes your text, and it is safe!

We use the latest and the best algorithms and software in order to provide you with an advanced check and help you receive the high-quality papers.

It is simple in use and won’t take much time!

Many students have already confirmed that our free tool is a great and convenient feature that helped them detect and fix errors that could lead to a failure. With us, you will no longer need to look for a different scanner!

Leaving already?

Get 10% off your first order!

* you'll see the discount on checkout page

OUR WRITERS

You can choose the writers after viewing information about them. Just select the writer whose experience is closest to your subject.

Completed orders: 879

Outsourcing and globalization

• Paper Type: Essay (Any Type)
• Subject: Business and Entrepreneurship

Completed orders: 844

Sex Trafficking: A Multi-Billion Dollar Business

• Subject: Criminology

Completed orders: 977

Understanding Plagiarism and its Dangers in Academics

• Subject: English

Completed orders: 918

Social media impact

Completed orders: 1120

Obesity in America

Plagiarism Checker FAQ

Can i check my essay for plagiarism free online, can i use papersowl plagiarism checker as a student for free, can i check my research paper for plagiarism for free, will the papersowl plagiarism report be the same as at my university, what are the consequences of plagiarism, why wait place an order right now.

Simply fill out the form, click the button, and have no worries!

• account_circle Login
• person_add Create Free Account
• email Contact
• language DE | EN
• trending_flat Start Plagiarism Check

The Best Plagiarism Checker for your Bachelor Thesis

Did you know that almost all universities and colleges prepare a plagiarism assessment of the bachelor- and master thesis? Stay away from bad surprises! Use our plagiarism checker to scan your thesis before you hand it in with the same software , that many Universities, Colleges and High Schools use as well!

No more bad surprises

With the professional plagiarism checker from plagaware.

• check_circle The professional software tool of numerous Uni's and Colleges
• check_circle No disclosure of your work or data
• check_circle Not stored in a database
• check_circle Online Check in under 10 minutes
• check_circle Starting at 12.90€ for 100 pages - including unlimited free checks of your revisions

Submit your work - with the good feeling of not having missed anything!

Online Plagiarism Checker

In just under 10 minutes you have the certainty, that you have really indicated all your sources!

Professional Software of your University

Numerous Uni's already check with PlagAware - avoid bad surprises after your submission!

Your University will not know

With PlagAware you can be sure that your work and your data will not be saved or passed on!

Interactive Evaluation

Not only do you receive the test report, but you can evaluate all your sources interactively!

Start the Check of your Bachelor Thesis in 3 easy steps

1. Upload your work - in all common formats

You can upload your work directly on the PlagAware homepage. We support all common file formats like Microsoft Office, Open Office, Adobe PDF or simple text files.

You do not have to prepare your paper specifically for the plagiarism checker. If you want, you can convert your file into a text file before uploading it, so that the file is smaller and uploading is faster.

Immediately after uploading, we read out the text content and delete the original file from our server. The pure text is deleted after the check has been carried out - automatically and in its entirety.

2. Choose your ScanCredit package and start the search engine

After the analysis of the file you will be shown which ScanCredits package is suitable for the check of your work. Unused ScanCredits are retained for future checks .

Your work is now being compared in the background with over 70 billion online sources in all languages . For maximum accuracy and security, each sentence is examined individually. This means that even rewritten and changed text passages can be reliably detected.

3. Check the identified sources and revise your work

After the plagiarism checker has completed its work, you will receive an e-mail from us with the result report in PDF format. In the report, all identified sources are marked in colour, one click will take you directly to the identified source.

But with PlagAware you do not only get a PDF test report! Rather, you can analyse your report interactively, e.g. compare your text and the source, mark detected sources as correctly cited or exclude them from the check completely.

You can even revise your work and have it reviewed again - as often as you like and at no extra cost . This is only available at PlagAware!

Instant online Plagiarism Check starting at €12.99 for 100 pages

Frequently asked questions about plagaware plagiarism checker.

Many universities and numerous schools routinely use the PlagAware plagiarism checker for the submitted bachelor thesis, master thesis or seminar paper. Many of these universities and schools are customers of PlagAware. You should therefore be very sure that you have correctly identified all the sources you have used in your work. Otherwise it can happen that this mistake is interpreted as an attempt of deception - with all the consequences, up to the denial of the respective degree. With the PlagAware Plagiarism Checker you can be sure that you won't have any unpleasant surprises , and therefore you can submit your work with the good feeling of having indicated all sources.

No. Your university will not find out about the check at PlagAware. In contrast to many other providers, the works are not fed into a paper pool, but are automated and completely deleted as soon as the evaluation of the plagiarism checker is completed. The reuslt report is displayed only to you alone; if desired, the check can also be carried out completely anonymously. We only need a valid e-mail address to which we can send the results of the check.

As a rule, you can upload your work without preparing it specifically for the Plagiarism Checker. Nevertheless, there are some tips which can make working with PlagAware easier:

• check_circle PlagAware ignores all pictures and graphics in the bachelor thesis. If you want, you can therefore upload a version without pictures, which makes the upload faster. The result of the check will not change.
• check_circle PlagAware supports all common file formats. Nevertheless it can sometimes happen that a special file is not readable. In this case you can save your work as a "text-only file (*.txt)" and upload this file. This also reduces the file size again.
• check_circle Perhaps your work contains tables or directories of which you are sure that no plagiarism can be present. In this case you can delete these parts before uploading them to save ScanCredits. However, you should not delete the bibliography, because often bibliographies are copied from other works and will be checked by your university. Furthermore, PlagAware uses the bibliography for checks to mark correctly indicated sources.
• question_answer Are my data and my work safe with PlagAware? Yes, because the protection of your work and your data has the highest priority here at PlagAware. Therefore, the Plagiarism Check is carried out according to the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All servers of PlagAware are located in data centres in Germany, so that your data never leaves the EU. All uploaded documents will be deleted from our servers completely, immediately after the text has been read out. As soon as the check has been completed and you have finished the evaluation, you can completely remove all data, texts and evaluations from our systems with just one click. An automated deletion after a freely selectable period of time is also possible. In contrast to other providers, your work is never stored in a database, which is used for plagiarism search by other users.
• question_answer What exactly do I receive when I order the plagiarism check? After the check of your paper has been completed, you will receive an e-mail from us with the report in Adobe PDF as well as detailed instructions on how to interpret and draw conclusions from it. With your password you can also login to the user area of PlagAware, where you can interactively evaluate your assessment. Here you can e.g. display sources side by side with your work or mark correctly quoted sources as such. Best of all, you can change your work as often as you like and review it as often as you like without having to buy ScanCredits again. Here you can find more details about Version check of your work .
• question_answer How long does the process for my Bachelor thesis take? The plagiarism check of your bachelor thesis is carried out completely online, automated and without manual interaction. Therefore, it usually takes less than 10 minutes until you receive the result report via e-mail. In individual cases, the assessment may take a few hours if your thesis is very complex, if there is a high demand or if many users want to conduct the assessment simultaneously. In general however, you can count on the rule of thumb: 1 minute per 10 pages of plagiarism check.
• question_answer For how long are my purchased ScanCredits usable? Your purchased ScanCredits are usable indefinitely and can be used for the plagiarism checker in the future. This also means that you can carry out scans of individual parts of your work - even while you are writing the paper. The costs for the checks are billed on a page basis . In contrast to many other providers you do not have to buy a new scan if your account still has enough ScanCredits.
• question_answer Which texts does the PlagAware plagiarism checker take into account? The scan covers all texts freely available on the Internet, currently more than 70 billion sources. Often sources are found that are usually hidden behind payment barriers, provided that free copies or summaries of these texts have been indexed by search engines such as Google or Bing. If you have cited paid journals or books in your work, even these articles are often listed correctly as sources of your work, though maybe at a different address. To make sure that all paid texts are listed completely and with the expected address, you can deposit these texts in your private library. This way you ensure that the Plagiarism Checker is also considering these paid texts.
• question_answer Who is using PlagAware? The PlagAware Duplicate Content Finder has been used for over 10 years by more than 40.000 active users from more than 300 schools, universities and companies. In this process PlagAware checks on average more than 1000 documents - day by day! PlagAware is therefore one of the most used systems for Plagiarism Checks of scientific works.

Many thanks for your great feedback!

Noah on 01/05/21

"With PlagAware I have indeed found a source I forgot to identify."

Ali on 11/12/22

"Everything went great! Thanks a lot for the explanations and the great support!"

Jasmin on 11/15/22

"Great service, thank you very much!"

Phil on 10/08/22

"Super sweet thing ;)"

Enjoy the certainty that no source has been overlooked!

The perfect finish for your work

You have invested months of your life in a perfect bachelor or master thesis? Then don't leave anything to chance , but trust the anti-plagiarism solution, which is also used by numerous universities, colleges and schools in Germany and worldwide!

PlagAware gives you the certainty that you have correctly identified every source of your work - even those you might not remember. Do not take the risk that a small carelessness could be understood as an attempt of deception !

For more than 10 years, PlagAware has ensured the academic integrity of scientific works . Also of yours?

PlagAware - Ensuring unique texts for more than 10 years!

Encrypted transmission of documents and secure payment options

Features of Plagiarism Detector

• Features and Specifications
• System Requirements

Security and Data Protection

• Data Protection Policy
• Document Handling and Access
• Data Protection Measures
• About PlagAware
• News and Announcements

PlagAware Shop

• Overview on Pricing and License Models
• Comparison of Features
• Purchase ScanCredits

Developers and Adminstrators

• Integration Guide
• Content-Protection-Banner
• PlagAware Programming Interface (API)
• Interpretation of Plagiarism Check (PDF)
• SEPA Direct Debit Mandate

Guides Plagiarism Scan

• Interpretation of Plagiarism Checker Results
• Plagiarism Checks for Schools and Teachers
• PlagAware License Management

Guides Content Protection

• Copyright of Websites
• Prevent Content Theft
• Best Practices and Templates

Tutorials and Further Information

• Video Tutorials
• Frequently Asked Questions
• How to start a Plagiarism Check
• How to reset a Plagiarism Check

Plagiarism Detector Online

✓ Result within 10 min.

✓ Your work will not be saved to a database

✓ Compared to billions of online sources

Printing discount

Go to plagiarism detector online

Detector takes only 10 min.

Compared with billions of sources

No saving to database

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 Plagiarism package S
• 2 Plagiarism package M
• 3 Plagiarism package L
• 4 Secure your printing discount
• 5 Simple process
• 6 Result in 10 minutes
• 7 Easy to understand
• 8 Your work is safe & won’t be saved

Plagiarism package S

What's included.

Up to 8.000 words

Only 10 minutes processing time

No saving in database

All languages

Compared with billions of freely accessible sources

10 % print voucher

Plagiarism package M

Up to 60.000 words

Plagiarism package L

More than 60.000 words

Secure your printing discount

If you choose to check your paper for plagiarism at BachelorPrint, you will recieve a 10% voucher for our online shop! You can use the discount for printing, binding, and embossing your thesis or dissertation and get the perfect binding.

To the configuration

Your Benefits with the Plagiarism Detector Online

Simple process

Upload your Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis or dissertation to BachelorPrint in Word, PDF, OpenOffice, or any other common format. It is also possible to upload several documents at the same time with up to 50 MB and 350 pages (ca.750.000 words). The plagiarism checker automatically detects the word count of your document and selects the right plagiarism package for your thesis. The plagiarism checker will then take care of the rest.

Result in 10 minutes

After 10 minutes, the plagiarism detector online will have processed your entire paper and the final result will be sent to you via email. There is also the option to be notified through SMS as soon as the plagiarism detector online is done, allowing you to get the full plagiarism report within 10 minutes. Accuracy is ensured, as your work is compared to billions of freely accessible and legitimate online sources.

Easy to understand

At BachelorPrint, it’s important to us that the result of the plagiarism detector online is easy to understand. Thus, any suspicions of plagiarism will be marked and pointed out in traffic-light colors in the final plagiarism report. The report also includes a percentage calculation of the overall similarities to other sources that have been identified in your paper for a better overview.

Example PDF report

Your work is safe & won’t be saved

After the plagiarism detector online has processed your work, it will be fully deleted and can’t be recovered. You can be assured that it also won’t be saved in any database. This will additionally protect you from plagiarism in case your educational institution has its own plagiarism detector online, as your paper can’t be found as a comparable source.

Why Use a Plagiarism Test Tool?

Avoid Plagiarism

The main purpose of a plagiarism test tool is to prevent you from plagiarizing any other work. You can only be completely sure by running your work through a plagiarism test tool.

Academic Integrity

Keeping academic integrity and following academic standards is one of the most important aspects of your academic work, as they are highly impacted by any committed plagiarism.

Citing Correctly

Using a plagiarism test tool also assists in ensuring your used sources are cited correctly. Including proper citation and referencing is a vital cornerstone for avoiding plagiarism.

100% Real Reviews

Do you have any questions, how long does the plagiarism detector online take.

The plagiarism detector online, working on a bachelor’s or master’s thesis (60-80 pages), normally takes between 10 and 20 minutes. It depends on the number of words submitted. In the case of longer pieces of work (200-300 pages), the plagiarism detector can take up to an hour.

Does the plagiarism detector online work in other languages?

Yes! The plagiarism detector online works in all languages. Regardless of the language or if you’re writing a Master’s thesis or an essay, the plagiarism detector online will work for you.

Will the document I upload be saved to a database?

No! For data protection reasons, we don’t save any of our customers’ uploaded documents. We delete them from our server within 24 hours! Upload your document, and you’ll have your plagiarism report within the day. Start your plagiarism check now.

Do I have to register for the plagiarism detector online first?

No! You can just upload your document, choose your payment method, and then use the plagiarism detector online without a user account or registering. It’s quick and easy, plus, none of your data will be saved once the check is completed. Start your plagiarism check right away!

Which sources will be used by the plagiarism detector online?

All publicly accessible online sources will be used in plagiarism detector online. This includes publicly accessible websites, books, reports, journals, etc. Databases where payment is required are excluded. If you’re having trouble organizing and referencing your sources properly, head over to our blog. We have many articles about proper citation and referencing .

Will books also be referred to in the plagiarism test tool?

If the book is online in a publicly accessible database, then the plagiarism test tool will also find this source. However, if you have cited a hard copy of a book, and it also exists online, then this may be picked up by the plagiarism test tool. If you have cited the source, you have no need to worry- it’s simply an extra precaution. Take a look at our blog post for more information about citing books.

What’s the difference between the BachelorPrint plagiarism test tool and Turnitin?

The BachelorPrint plagiarism test tool doesn’t save any uploaded work for data protection reasons, unlike Turnitin. Accordingly, we don’t rely on the same database as Turnitin. However, our plagiarism detector searches billions of publicly available sources on the World Wide Web.

Information: If the work is scanned for plagiarism in advance with Turnitin, and the university also uses Turnitin, there is a considerable potential risk for the writer. As Turnitin saves the uploaded work, this will then be in their database. If the university scans the same work on it, it will then be classified as complete plagiarism. This has already occurred a few times. The student’s work failed in the first instance, and they had to prove that they had written the document saved by Turnitin.

I haven't received an email with the plagiarism test tool. What should I do?

The email might have gone into your spam folder. In really rare cases, our email with the plagiarism report from the plagiarism test tool might have been blocked by your email provider and hasn’t been received. Please contact us at [email protected] . We will email you the plagiarism report again.

Too few pages are shown in the plagiarism report. Why?

For an overview, only text passages that might contain plagiarism are shown in the plagiarism report. The other pages where no plagiarism is suspected will not be shown. So fewer pages in your plagiarism report is really a good sign- it means that you’ve cited your sources correctly. Take a look at our blog article for more information about referencing and citation styles.

Why is a section marked as suspected plagiarism even though I have cited the source?

It’s possible that a section of text is marked as suspected plagiarism even though it has already been correctly cited, for example from a book. This happens if the test tool finds a further online source. In this case, the suspected plagiarism can be ignored and serves as extra peace of mind.

Amazing experience having my dissertation bound with them would highly...

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to improve this website and your experience.

• External Media

Individual Privacy Preferences

Cookie Details Privacy Policy Imprint

Here you will find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to whole categories or display further information and select certain cookies.

Accept all Save

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website.

Content from video platforms and social media platforms is blocked by default. If External Media cookies are accepted, access to those contents no longer requires manual consent.

Privacy Policy Imprint

JavaScript is not activated in your browser. Please activate JavaScript to use the whole functionality of this website!

• About the student reps
• Current Student Reps
• Previous Student Reps
• Meeting Protocols
• Job Postings
• Scholarship
• Internship and job resources
• Studying at the Uni Potsdam
• Living in and around Potsdam
• Master and PhD
• Academic Code of Conduct & Plagiarism
• Student Spotlight
• German Sign Language
• Easy-to-read
• Master's Thesis
• Studying at the UP
• What to Study
• Application and Enrollment
• Advising and Services
• Dates and Deadlines
• Research at the UP
• Profiles, Programs and Projects
• Research Funding
• Open Science
• Research Data
• Cooperations and Partnerships
• Young Academics
• Explore the UP
• Organization
• Corporate Community Relations
• Campus International
• Förderinstrumente
• Working at the UP
• Counseling and Advisory Services
• Mail.UP (Webmailbox)
• University Library
• Evaluation Portal (PEP)
• Internship Portal
• ZIM – Center for IT and Media

Master's Thesis

What is the master's thesis.

The Master's thesis is the final part of the master program and has a total of 30 credit points. It consists of an individual research project that is carried out by the student under consultation with a supervisor(s). Usually, once a student has explored possible topics for master projects (e.g., by searching through the webpages of different research groups, many of which can be found under the Internship Opportunities page on this website), the student gets into contact with a researcher to decide whether it is possible and makes sense for the student to do their master project on a particular topic. The specifics of the master project are then agreed on in consultation with the supervisors.

A Master's thesis consists of the thesis itself (i.e., the written document) and an oral defense of the thesis (i.e., presentation and oral examination).

Formal Guidelines from the University of Potsdam

The University of Potsdam provides “General Provisions for Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programs” on a university webpage. Unfortunately, there is currently no English translation of this webpage and it is only available in German (status: May 2020).

However, in the German version of this webpage (see link below) you can find an English translation of the “Revised version of the General Regulations for Study and Examinations for Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees (not for teachers in training) at the University of Potsdam (BAMA-O)” (see link below). In this document, under “§ 30 Master’s Thesis” (p. 18), general specifications regarding the master thesis can be found.

only in German; English translation: “General Provisions for Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programs”

English translation; (not for teachers in training) at University of Potsdam 

Excerpts from the University’s Study Regulations

Here are some excerpts from the “Revised version of the General Regulations for Study and Examinations for Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees (not for teachers in training) at the University of Potsdam (BAMA-O)”.

Keep in mind these are just excerpts! For more information please refer to the official document from the University of Potsdam:

§ 30 (6): “The master’s thesis must be submitted in three physical copies and one digital copy . The thesis must have page numbers, a table of contents, and a list of the sources consulted and aids used . Passages of the thesis that are quoted or paraphrased from other works must be identified in the bibliography. The length of the thesis should not exceed 3 DIN A4 pages per credit point . At the conclusion of the thesis, the candidate must affirm that the candidate composed the thesis independently and did not use any sources or aids other than those listed .

Oral Defense

§ 30 (11): “The Examining Board calls for an oral defense to to defend the thesis after its submission. The oral defense only takes place if the thesis has received a final grade of “sufficient” (4.0) or better under subsection 8. The oral defense is graded by an Examination Committee. The Examination Committee is comprised of the examiners and one assessor . The oral defense includes a 20-minute oral presentation and a 30-minute oral examination . If the oral defense receives a grade of “insufficient” (5.0), it can be repeated one time. The evaluation of the oral defense constitutes up to 25 percent of the overall grade for the master’s thesis. The oral defense is open to the University community ; the student can also apply to open the oral defense to the public.”

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Dissertation

Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples

Published on September 9, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

It can be difficult to know where to start when writing your thesis or dissertation . One way to come up with some ideas or maybe even combat writer’s block is to check out previous work done by other students on a similar thesis or dissertation topic to yours.

This article collects a list of undergraduate, master’s, and PhD theses and dissertations that have won prizes for their high-quality research.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

Award-winning undergraduate theses, award-winning master’s theses, award-winning ph.d. dissertations, other interesting articles.

University : University of Pennsylvania Faculty : History Author : Suchait Kahlon Award : 2021 Hilary Conroy Prize for Best Honors Thesis in World History Title : “Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the “Noble Savage” on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807”

University : Columbia University Faculty : History Author : Julien Saint Reiman Award : 2018 Charles A. Beard Senior Thesis Prize Title : “A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man”: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947

University: University College London Faculty: Geography Author: Anna Knowles-Smith Award:  2017 Royal Geographical Society Undergraduate Dissertation Prize Title:  Refugees and theatre: an exploration of the basis of self-representation

University: University of Washington Faculty:  Computer Science & Engineering Author: Nick J. Martindell Award: 2014 Best Senior Thesis Award Title:  DCDN: Distributed content delivery for the modern web

Don't submit your assignments before you do this

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students. Free citation check included.

Try for free

University:  University of Edinburgh Faculty:  Informatics Author:  Christopher Sipola Award:  2018 Social Responsibility & Sustainability Dissertation Prize Title:  Summarizing electricity usage with a neural network

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Education Author:  Matthew Brillinger Award:  2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Humanities Prize Title:  Educational Park Planning in Berkeley, California, 1965-1968

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty: Social Sciences Author:  Heather Martin Award:  2015 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  An Analysis of Sexual Assault Support Services for Women who have a Developmental Disability

University : University of Ottawa Faculty : Physics Author : Guillaume Thekkadath Award : 2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Sciences Prize Title : Joint measurements of complementary properties of quantum systems

University:  London School of Economics Faculty: International Development Author: Lajos Kossuth Award:  2016 Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Title:  Shiny Happy People: A study of the effects income relative to a reference group exerts on life satisfaction

University : Stanford University Faculty : English Author : Nathan Wainstein Award : 2021 Alden Prize Title : “Unformed Art: Bad Writing in the Modernist Novel”

University : University of Massachusetts at Amherst Faculty : Molecular and Cellular Biology Author : Nils Pilotte Award : 2021 Byron Prize for Best Ph.D. Dissertation Title : “Improved Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Helminths”

University:  Utrecht University Faculty:  Linguistics Author:  Hans Rutger Bosker Award: 2014 AVT/Anéla Dissertation Prize Title:  The processing and evaluation of fluency in native and non-native speech

University: California Institute of Technology Faculty: Physics Author: Michael P. Mendenhall Award: 2015 Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics Title: Measurement of the neutron beta decay asymmetry using ultracold neutrons

University:  Stanford University Faculty: Management Science and Engineering Author:  Shayan O. Gharan Award:  Doctoral Dissertation Award 2013 Title:   New Rounding Techniques for the Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms

University: University of Minnesota Faculty: Chemical Engineering Author: Eric A. Vandre Award:  2014 Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics Title: Onset of Dynamics Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid Displacement

University: Erasmus University Rotterdam Faculty: Marketing Author: Ezgi Akpinar Award: McKinsey Marketing Dissertation Award 2014 Title: Consumer Information Sharing: Understanding Psychological Drivers of Social Transmission

University: University of Washington Faculty: Computer Science & Engineering Author: Keith N. Snavely Award:  2009 Doctoral Dissertation Award Title: Scene Reconstruction and Visualization from Internet Photo Collections

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Social Work Author:  Susannah Taylor Award: 2018 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  Effacing and Obscuring Autonomy: the Effects of Structural Violence on the Transition to Adulthood of Street Involved Youth

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

Research bias

• Survivorship bias
• Self-serving bias
• Availability heuristic
• Halo effect
• Hindsight bias
• Deep learning
• Generative AI
• Machine learning
• Reinforcement learning
• Supervised vs. unsupervised learning

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. (2023, July 18). Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/examples/

Is this article helpful?

Tegan George

Other students also liked, how to choose a dissertation topic | 8 steps to follow, checklist: writing a dissertation, thesis & dissertation database examples, what is your plagiarism score.

Master thesis plagiarism checker

Mike Deep • November 6, 2019

For most of us in the academic world, finishing our master thesis is the crowning achievement in the academic journey. After long years of studies, the second stage is complete, and when the master thesis is done for, you can relax and rest easy, your voyage through the creaks and crevices of various subjects is over. What’s next is up to you. It all seems calm and fun, right? Well to feel relaxed and not stressed along with being able to avoid bad grades and negative evaluation, you have to put in a lot of work beforehand. We are talking about your master thesis, a document that is going to define your master studies.

Plagramme  is a  free online master thesis plagiarism check er, which you should use to avoid copy, piracy, and plagiarism as well as get the best evaluation possible.

What plagiarism level is acceptable in a master thesis?

This depends on a lot of things. First of all, we need to determine what is considered plagiarism. If you write down some thoughts from a different source that happens to align with your own – that is not plagiarism. Plagiarism is usually defined as taking someone else’s ideas and not crediting the person. The term also applies to those who base an entire or large chunk of the study and thesis on someone else’s work without chipping in from yourself.

Acceptable levels of plagiarism depend on what  master thesis plagiarism check  has been initiated. If  professors  and  lecturers  give you a topic that is quite common, there could be a situation where some things would be let go. However, if an issue is unique and could be approached from a variety of angles,  students  are usually called out for plagiarism if their work lines up against someone else’s.

We offer you a free solution. While  Plagramme  has more to offer for the members who have  paid  for the premium membership and top up their accounts with sufficient funds, they can access a ton of extra features that are  advanced  and come in handy. In general, when  Plagramme  checks your master thesis for plagiarism, there is no reason why you should settle for anything more than 0% plagiarism. An online correction tool or tutoring service can help you fix the issues and improve your future writing.

image/svg+xml plag.ai

Other services

Popular blog posts

Our plagiarism checkers

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Springer Nature - PMC COVID-19 Collection

Publishing a Master’s Thesis: A Guide for Novice Authors

Robert g. resta.

1 Swedish Cancer Institute, Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, WA USA

Patricia McCarthy Veach

2 Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN USA

Sarah Charles

3 Jefferson Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA USA

Kristen Vogel

4 Center for Medical Genetics, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL USA

Terri Blase

5 Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, IL USA

Christina G. S. Palmer

6 Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA USA

7 Department of Human Genetics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA USA

8 UCLA Semel Institute, 760 Westwood Plaza, Room 47-422, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA

Publication of original research, clinical experiences, and critical reviews of literature are vital to the growth of the genetic counseling field, delivery of genetic counseling services, and professional development of genetic counselors. Busy clinical schedules, lack of time and funding, and training that emphasizes clinical skills over research skills may make it difficult for new genetic counselors to turn their thesis projects into publications. This paper summarizes and elaborates upon a presentation aimed at de-mystifying the publishing process given at the 2008 National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference. Specific topics include familiarizing prospective authors, particularly genetic counseling students, with the basics of the publication process and related ethical considerations. Former students’ experiences with publishing master’s theses also are described in hopes of encouraging new genetic counselors to submit for publication papers based on their thesis projects.

Introduction

Scholarship is important for growth of a profession and for clinical care. For these reasons, the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC) endorses scholarly activities through Practice Based Competency IV.5 (American Board of Genetic Counseling 2009 ). Boyer ( 1990 ) describes four types of scholarship (Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Integration, Scholarship of Application, and Scholarship of Teaching), all of which are endorsed by ABGC and required of accredited genetic counseling training programs. The first three types of scholarship, which involve generating new knowledge or applying existing knowledge to an important problem, are the basis of the ABGC’s requirement that students in accredited programs engage in scholarship and complete a scholarly product. The ABGC defines a scholarly product to include: a master’s thesis, an independent research project, a literature review/case report, a formal needs assessment, design and implementation of an innovative patient, professional, or community educational program, and/or preparation of a grant proposal.

The purpose of this article is to encourage students to disseminate their scholarly work (except grant proposals) through a journal publication. This article was developed from an Educational Breakout Session (EBS) at the 2008 National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Annual Education Conference and draws upon the experiences of a past editor and current assistant editor of the Journal of Genetic Counseling ( JOGC ), a student mentor, and recent genetic counseling graduates who successfully turned their student thesis projects into peer-reviewed publications.

Engaging in scholarship is important for increasing genetic counselors’ self-knowledge, but dissemination of scholarship is essential for the growth of the genetic counseling field. McGaghie and Webster ( 2009 ) identify a wide range of types of scholarly products that promote broad dissemination of information, including peer-reviewed journal articles (e.g., original research, case reports, review articles), book chapters, books or monographs, edited books, essays, editorials, book reviews, letters, conference reports, educational materials, reports of teaching practices, curriculum description, videos, simulations, simulators, and web-based tutorials. As evidence of the importance of disseminating scholarship to the field of genetic counseling, dissemination of scholarly products is actively promoted by the NSGC, the major professional organization for the genetic counseling profession. A prominent example of NSGC’s commitment to dissemination is the JOGC , a professional journal devoted to disseminating peer-reviewed information relevant to the practice of genetic counseling. The success of this journal over nearly two decades is a strong indicator of the value genetic counselors place on publishing journal articles as an essential product of scholarship.

Individuals who have completed a master’s thesis or equivalent should consider publication. This “call to publish” student work is based on evidence that a large proportion of students engage in a scholarly activity with publication potential. A recent survey of 531 genetic counselors suggests that 75% of respondents fulfilled their scholarly activity requirement via a master’s thesis (Clark et al. 2006 ). Among this group, 21% classified their thesis as “hypothesis driven” and 20% classified it as a “descriptive study.” Although the research may be relatively small scale given the time and resource constraints of short training programs (≤2 years), it nonetheless offers a rich and varied source of information about the practice of genetic counseling that could be shared with the broader community through publication. Yet Clark et al. ( 2006 ) found that only 21.6% of respondents who completed a master’s thesis had submitted a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. It appears that many students do not submit their research for professional publication, perhaps due to a combination of time constraints, lack of mentoring and support, unfamiliarity with the publication process, lack of professional confidence, and fear of rejection (Clark et al. 2006 ; Cohen et al. 2008 ; Driscoll and Driscoll 2002 ; Keen 2006 ). Because this is one aspect of scholarship that has received limited attention, guidance regarding the details and vicissitudes of the publication process, and acknowledgement that master’s theses can be successfully published, are needed.

Of course, one might question why students should or would publish the results of their graduate work. The answer is complex, without a “one size fits all,” because scholarship can be intrinsically and/or extrinsically motivated. McGaghie and Webster ( 2009 ) describe intrinsic motives as including sharing knowledge, career advancement, status improvement, collegial approval, personal pleasure, and response to challenge; extrinsic motives include academic pressure, commitment to patient care, practice improvement, and promoting the use of new technologies. Although the reasons genetic counselors publish articles have not been empirically evaluated, Clark et al. ( 2006 ) (i) concluded that a substantial number of genetic counselors consider active involvement in research (a form of scholarship and precursor to publication) to be a core role, and (ii) found that respondents endorsed a range of intrinsic and extrinsic motives for their involvement in research. These reasons included interest in the subject, contributing to the field, personal development/satisfaction, diversifying job responsibilities, job requirements, lack of existing research on a particular topic, and career advancement. It is reasonable to infer that these reasons would extend to publication as well.

The work that culminates in a master’s thesis provides the basis for a professional journal article. However, writing a professional journal article differs from writing a master’s thesis. This article, therefore, provides practical ideas and considerations about the process for developing a master’s thesis into a peer-reviewed journal article and describes successful case examples. Research and publication occur in stages and include many important topics. Previous genetic counseling professional development articles have partially or comprehensively addressed the topics of developing and conducting a research project (Beeson 1997 ), writing a manuscript (Bowen 2003 ), and the peer-review process (Weil 2004 ). This paper expands on previous articles by describing the publication process and discussing publication ethics, with emphasis on aspects pertinent to publishing a master’s thesis. It is hoped that this article will encourage genetic counselors to publish their research.

The primary audience for this article is genetic counselors who are conducting a master’s thesis or equivalent or who completed a thesis in the last few years which remains unpublished. The secondary audience is other novice authors and affiliated faculty of genetic counseling training programs. Although the focus of this paper is on journal publications which are subject to a peer-review process (e.g., original research, clinical reports, and reviews), some of the basic information applies to a variety of publishing forms.

The Publication Process

Publish before it perishes.

Like produce and dairy products, data have a limited shelf life. Research results may be rendered marginal by new research, social changes, and shifts in research trends. For example, a study of patient reluctance to undergo genetic testing due to concerns about health insurance discrimination conducted in December 2007 would have been obsolete when the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (Pub.L. 110–233, 122 Stat. 881, enacted May 21, 2008) was enacted 5 months later. Or studies of whether patients think they might undergo testing if a gene for a particular condition were identified become less relevant once the gene is actually mapped and sequenced.

The hardest part about writing is actually writing. Making the time to sit down and compose a report of research findings is a very difficult first step. As noted in the three case examples, this is particularly true for a recent graduate whose time is occupied with searching for a new job, moving to a new city, and learning the details of a new job. However, the longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes, and the greater the risk that your data will grow stale. If you do not write it, the paper will likely not get written. The three case examples identify strong mentorship, ongoing communication with co-authors, constructive criticism, and commitment to publication by every author as key elements for successfully preparing a manuscript. The following sections describe basic processes for preparing a paper. See also Table  1 for helpful references about technical aspects of manuscript preparation.

Table 1

Selected Resources For Manuscript Preparation

Choosing a Journal

Research delivered to an inappropriate audience is ignored. Many journals publish genetic counseling research—as demonstrated by the three case examples—and therefore, choosing the right journal is critical (Thompson 2007 ). The first step is to decide who the audience should be. Is it important to reach genetic counselors? Medical geneticists? Or is the audience outside of the genetic counseling community? Some genetic counseling research is of interest to researchers in patient education, decision-making, or the social sciences. Clinicians such as surgeons, radiology technicians, psychologists, and family practice physicians might benefit from a greater understanding of genetic counseling and how it interfaces with their specialties.

The next step is to decide whether the journal is interested in the type of research conducted. For example, does the journal publish articles mostly on medical and clinical issues? Does it publish qualitative research? A description of the scope, aims, and types of research that are published is located in the “Instructions to Contributors” section on the web page of most journals. A look at the journal’s editorial board might also provide a good idea of a journal’s theoretical approaches, philosophical orientation, and research interests. Another strategy is to contact the journal’s editor or a member of the editorial board prior to submitting a manuscript to discuss the appropriateness of the manuscript for the journal. Many editors welcome such pre-submission contact since it reduces their workload of reading inappropriate manuscripts.

A journal’s “impact factor” may be important to some authors when considering where to publish a manuscript. The impact factor is a—perhaps imperfect—statistical measure of a journal’s importance. The impact factor was developed in the early 1960s by Eugene Garfield and Irving Sher and is technically defined as A/B, where A = the number of times articles published in that journal were cited and B = the number of citable articles published by the journal (letters and editorials are not usually citable articles) (Garfield 1994 ). An impact factor of one indicates that on average, articles published in the journal were cited once by other authors.

A journal’s impact factor can vary greatly from year to year, and its practical utility is widely debated (Andersen et al. 2006 ; Chew et al. 2006 ; Greenwood 2007 ; Ha et al. 2006 ; The PLoS Medicine Editors 2006 ). Genetic counselors often publish small studies and case reports. The journals that might publish such papers usually have impact factors of ten or less. Thus the impact factor may be a less important consideration for many genetic counselors when deciding where to publish.

A publisher’s copyright policy may also influence the choice of where to publish. The majority of publishers own the copyright (United States Copyright Office 2008 ) and authors do not have the right to copy, re-use, or distribute their own publications without buying reprints, which can be a significant source of income for publishers. Some journals, like the Public Library of Science (PLoS), are completely Open Access and make all articles fully available online. Other journals have Delayed Open Access, which makes articles publicly available after a specified period of time, often a year or two. Many journals, such as the JOGC , promote Hybrid Open Access in which authors, for a fee, can make their articles publicly available. Some journals will make select articles publicly available, usually those that attract media attention. For grant-funded research, consider the requirements of the funding source; some granting agencies require that the research results be made publicly available at some point.

Peer Review

Peer review is the process in which two or three experts evaluate a manuscript to determine whether it is worthy of publication. Peer review is the backbone of scholarly publishing; no research manuscript gets published until a team of reviewers and journal editors vets it. Ideally, reviewers are objective, constructively critical, open-minded, fair, and insightful. Some journals blind the reviewer to the author’s identity, in hopes that the authors’ reputations or professional relationships will not influence the review. Some journals will let authors suggest reviewers or request that certain people not review a manuscript. A journal’s peer review policies may be another important consideration in choosing where to submit a manuscript.

In practice, peer review is not always ideal (Benose et al. 2007 ; Curfman et al. 2008 ; Hames 2007 ; Wager et al. 2006 ). Nonetheless, no better or viable alternative has been proposed. Reviews may sometimes appear to be arbitrary, unfair, and poorly performed. Reading such reviews can be very difficult and frustrating, even for experienced authors. However, it is a reviewer’s job to be critical, and there may be elements of truth in even the most negative reviews. Some editors may be willing to send a manuscript to another reviewer if an original reviewer produces a harshly critical or poorly thought out critique. Some journals have a formal appeals process if a manuscript is rejected or an author feels a review is inaccurate, inappropriate, or biased. However, sometimes it is simply easier to submit the manuscript to a different journal. Case # 2 describes a successful example where submitting a manuscript to a different journal led to publication.

The manuscript rejection rate varies widely across journals, but about half of all manuscripts are rejected or require significant revisions (Armstrong et al. 2008 ; Hall and Wilcox 2007 ; Liesegang et al. 2007 ). About half of rejected manuscripts are published in other journals (Armstrong et al. 2008 ; Hall and Wilcox 2007 ; Liesegang et al. 2007 ). Even among articles that are accepted for publication, the vast majority will require significant revisions. All three case examples describe manuscripts that underwent significant revision. Thus, prospective authors should not be disheartened if a manuscript is rejected or needs extensive re-writing; this is the rule rather than the exception . Many editors are willing to work with authors who have questions about specific comments or how best to incorporate the reviewers’ suggestions. Busy journal editors would rather answer questions up front than have to laboriously edit a revised manuscript and send it back for further revisions.

Peer review, and the subsequent manuscript revisions, along with the number of manuscripts submitted to the journal, are probably the most critical bottlenecks in determining how long it takes before a manuscript appears in print. Typically, a year or more may pass from the time of submission to the publication date. The three case examples include their timeframes to highlight the need for perseverance and patience with the publication process.

The clearest way for authors to respond to editors’ and reviewers’ comments is to prepare a table that lists each comment and how the authors addressed them, item by item. Some reviewers’ comments may be inaccurate or simply unrealistic (e.g. “The authors should re-do the entire research study...”); these can be discussed in the table or in the cover letter that accompanies the table. Additional information about the peer-review process can be found in Weil ( 2004 ).

Acceptance!

Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, the publisher or the journal editor will send a copyright transfer statement that spells out ownership of the article. This statement must be signed and returned in short order before the manuscript will be published. The corresponding author will receive page proofs, usually electronically, which must be read by the author for accuracy and returned fairly quickly (usually 2–3 days). Many publishers are reluctant to make significant changes in the page proofs, and they may charge for substantial revisions. Thus, the version of the manuscript that is submitted to the journal before the page proofs are generated should be very close to what the author wishes to see in print. Usually at this time publishers will offer the author the option to purchase reprints to allow the author to share the publication with other researchers, co-authors, and colleagues. Some journals will provide a limited number of free reprints or a complimentary copy of the issue of the journal in which the paper appears. The steps in the publication process are summarized in Table  2 .

Table 2

Steps in the Publication Process

a ∼50% of manuscripts are rejected or require significant revision before being accepted for publication

Ethics of Publishing

“Scholarship (like life) is not always fair or precise.” (Thompson 1994 )

Manuscript preparation and submission for publication can be complicated by ethical issues. Many authors may not be aware of these ethical conundrums, let alone have a plan for addressing them. Ethics is not a stagnant concept. As research methodologies and research questions evolve, new ethical issues in publishing arise. This section contains a description of several issues broadly relevant to the publishing practice of genetic counselors, particularly as students or recent graduates. However, it is important for genetic counselors-as-authors to keep abreast of ethical issues relevant to their own work.

“Ethics” are principles that govern the behavior of individuals or groups (Merriam-Webster 1974 ). Ethical codes of conduct exist in order to preserve the integrity of a profession, ensure the public’s welfare, and protect scholars. Ethical issues particularly relevant to writing for publication, include: (1) authorship determination, (2) disclosure and conflicts of interest, (3) plagiarism, (4) subject confidentiality, (5) accuracy of information, and (6) publishing in multiple sources.

Authorship Determination

Consider the following situation: A student conducted an excellent study for her master’s thesis project. At the beginning of the project, her supervisor promised her that she would have first authorship on any manuscripts based on the project. However, when the time came to write the paper, the student procrastinated. Finally, after the supervisor repeatedly “nagged” her, she submitted a draft to her, but it was very poorly written. The supervisor decided the only way to salvage the paper was to totally rewrite it herself. Now the supervisor thinks that she deserves to be the first author. Is this ethical? Does it matter if the project was the student’s master’s thesis rather than a project in which she was voluntarily involved? Are there guidelines that might be implemented in advance to handle this kind of situation?

This complex situation may be all too familiar for many supervisors and students. It raises issues about valuing contributions to the publication process, the power differential between supervisors and students, determining when renegotiation of authorship is warranted, and setting expectations and priorities up front. Whenever manuscripts are authored by more than one individual, order of authorship should be negotiated as early in the process as possible. Only individuals who have actually contributed to the work should be listed as authors. Their order should indicate “...the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status” (Shadish 1994 ) (p. 1096). In the sciences, the first and last authors typically are the individuals that made the greatest contributions to the project (Laflin et al. 2005 ). Many journals require a listing of each author’s contribution to the manuscript in order to make sure each person meets the journal’s requirements to be listed as an author.

Student authors pose a special situation. Doctoral students usually are the first authors of papers based on their dissertation research (Nguyen and Nguyen 2006 ). Authorship order is less clear for masters’ projects because masters’ students may lack sufficient knowledge and skills to conduct a project and prepare a manuscript of publishable quality without considerable input from their supervisor (Shadish 1994 ). Thompson ( 1994 ) recommends that when there is any question as to who made the primary contribution, the student should receive higher authorship. His recommendation helps to protect the person who has less power in the situation. Often students are involved in studies that are not based on their own master’s or doctoral research, but rather are connected to an existing research program, such as case examples 1 and 2. In those situations, some authors contend that their involvement should be creative and intellectual in order to warrant authorship; otherwise, student input can be credited in an acknowledgement section (Fine and Kurdek 1993 ; Holaday and Yost 1995 ; Thompson 1994 ).

Negotiating authorship is an important step that should begin in the initial stages of a project. This step usually involves assessing and agreeing upon each person’s tasks, contributions, and efforts. The amount of supervision required for an individual’s contributions is usually considered as well (Fine and Kurdek 1993 ). Sometimes renegotiation of authorship order is necessary due to unexpected changes and/or substantial revision of the manuscript. The key is to remember that authorship is negotiated. Questions to consider throughout this negotiation process include: Who had the original idea for the basis of the publication? Who designed and conducted the study that generated the data? Who will write most of the first draft of the paper? Is the study part of someone’s research lab? Students should maintain early and on-going communication with their co-authors about their investment of time and efforts and the outcomes of those efforts (Sandler and Russell 2005 ). However, scholarly contribution is more important than actual time and effort expended when determining authorship. For more information regarding authorship determination, it may be useful to review guidelines for discussing and clarifying authorship order (Gibelman and Gelman 1999 ) or developing individualized contracts for research collaboration (Stith et al. 1992 ). These guidelines also may be useful for initiating discussion of authorship as part of the curriculum in genetic counseling training programs.

Take another look at the authorship scenario. At the time of the original negotiation of authorship, it is likely that the supervisor (and other parties) believed the student warranted first authorship due to her creative contributions and time allotted to the study. In most authors’ minds, first authorship is equated with substantial contribution to writing the manuscript, usually the first draft, so it is important the student understand this is part of the responsibilities of being first author. Typically students have no experience writing a journal article, and so some procrastination is likely. In this scenario, the authorship dilemma may have been averted by having in place a plan to mentor the student, providing support, and delineating a specific process for writing the first draft of the manuscript.

Manuscripts invariably undergo substantial revision as co-authors and reviewers weigh in, so it is not unusual that the supervisor would revise the student’s first draft. This activity does not prima facie warrant a change in authorship order. However, by developing a specific plan to support the student’s writing, it may minimize the extent of the supervisor’s revisions. It is possible, though, that the student’s procrastination and poor writing should initiate a renegotiation of authorship order because the level and nature of her contributions to the work may be changing. The supervisor and student should discuss the reasons for changing authorship order; the supervisor should not unilaterally make this change without discussion. Keep in mind that the bar for changing authorship should be much higher if the paper is based on the student’s master’s thesis than if it is based on a project in which she was voluntarily involved. It is also important to inform students early in the process that most research is a collaborative effort, requiring time, energy, and sometimes funding, and therefore their collaborators have expectations that their contributions will be rewarded through publication. Developing an a priori policy for renegotiation may often reduce misunderstandings and minimize conflict.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Consider the following situation: A student conducted a study to evaluate a new program that her clinic is offering to its patients. She interviewed ten patients who participated in the program about their experience. Nine of these patients were in general agreement about the value of the program, while the 10th patient was quite negative about her experience. The student’s impression of this patient is that she is a generally negative person. The student believes that the patient came into the program expecting not to like it. Furthermore, the student is concerned her clinic will lose funding for this program if she reports this patient’s responses. The student decides to exclude her data from the paper. Is this decision ethical? Why or why not?

One ethical issue raised in this scenario involves determining when it is appropriate to exclude data points. Data collected from research can be messy, and it is not unusual for some data points to be excluded from analyses. However, there must be an explicit methodology for excluding data points or subjects, and this information usually is reported in the manuscript. Examples for exclusions include: missing data (e.g., a participant did not complete a majority of the items on a questionnaire); measurement error (e.g., the recorded measurement of a biological process or part of the anatomy is simply impossible); small sample sizes (e.g., an insufficient number of individuals from a minority group participated in the research resulting in numbers too small for meaningful analysis). In the scenario described above, the rationale provided for excluding the 10th patient’s experience is not sufficient to warrant exclusion. Instead, it appears that exclusion of this individual is based on a desire to promote the new program in the student’s clinic. In order to eliminate this form of conflict of interest, one could consider involving a clinic outsider in the analysis and interpretation of the data. By including a clinic outsider in the project, editor and reviewer concerns about the integrity of the data, analyses, and conclusions will be allayed.

Most journals provide another “safeguard,” by requiring a statement about possible conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest statement requires the author to acknowledge in writing the nature of any circumstances that might bias the process and/or outcome of their work. For example, any project and published report that might result in direct financial gains for an author(s) should be disclosed to a journal’s editor and to the readership. Examples of possible conflicts of interest include conducting a study of the effectiveness of a genetic test funded by the company that developed and is marketing the test, or a program evaluation study whose outcome would determine the continuation of the investigators/authors’ jobs.

Plagiarism is a familiar concept to most people. Everyone generally understands the importance of “giving credit where credit is due.” Yet, the National Science Foundation estimates that the prevalence of plagiarism may be as high as 50% (Roig 2001 ). Probably many of these incidents are unintentional and/or occur because the authors were unaware of some of the nuances regarding plagiarism. Although there is some variability within and across disciplines about the specific behaviors that constitute plagiarism, there is general agreement about two broad types (Roig 2001 ): cryptamnesia -an individual thinks their idea is original when it actually was presented by someone else previously; and inappropriate paraphrasing —an individual uses another person’s published text without properly citing that use, and/or using their statements with little or no modification. Specific examples of inappropriate paraphrasing include: (1) publishing another person’s work as one’s own; (2) copying part of another author’s paper and claiming it as one’s own; (3) copying text from another source without using quotations marks and without citing that source in the text; (4) paraphrasing text from another source without providing an in-text citation; (5) summarizing material from another source without clearly connecting the summary to that source; and (6) using copyrighted materials without author/publisher permission (East 2006 ; Lester and Lester Jr. 1992 ).

Additional types of plagiarism include ambiguous use of citations. For instance, an individual includes a citation in a paragraph but does not clearly indicate which content in the paragraph is from the cited work. Another type of plagiarism is self-plagiarism . Self-plagiarism occurs when an individual includes published work of their own for which they do not own the copyright (e.g., reprinting a table from one of their previously published papers); repeating verbatim text from a previously published article. Permission to reprint material from the publisher must be obtained.

Plagiarism is a serious ethical breach which can result in a legal penalty. Strategies for avoiding plagiarism include limiting the use of direct quotes; avoiding the use of secondary sources—it is always better to read and cite an original source when available; and restating ideas in one’s own words while providing in-text citation of the work that contains the original ideas (East 2006 ; Lambie et al. 2008 ; Lester and Lester Jr. 1992 ). When in doubt regarding the originality of one’s words, it is best to cite the source(s) on which they are based. In this regard, it may help to bear in mind that readers will assume all words in the paper are the author’s unless the source(s) are cited.

Subject Confidentiality

Published papers must be written in a way that no subjects can be recognized by others without their written consent (Gavey and Braun 1997 ). Given the unique nature of genetics, family members may also need to provide written consent (McCarthy Veach et al. 2001 ). When possible, identifying information should be removed or disguised (e.g., use of pseudonyms) and data based on multiple subjects should be reported in aggregate (group) form. Institutional review boards (IRBs) play a critical role in assuring protection of subject confidentiality. Many journals require authors to indicate either in the paper or a cover letter that they have obtained institutional review board approval to conduct their animal or human subjects study. In some cases, an ethics board may have been consulted regarding ethical dilemmas reported in a clinical paper and this should be acknowledged in the paper.

Accuracy of Information

Authors are responsible for rigorously checking the accuracy of their facts, data, and conclusions. However, despite one’s best efforts, substantial errors sometimes are not discovered until after a paper is published. In that case, the corresponding author should contact the journal immediately and ask that an erratum be published. On a related note, authors have a professional responsibility to make data sets reported in published papers available to other professionals. This practice allows for verification of the findings and conclusions, and it also makes possible research replications and extensions of the original study. The length of time for retaining research records depends on institutional policy and sponsor policy, so it is important to be aware of how these policies apply to the research generated by a master’s thesis. Often institutional review boards require researchers to state how long they will maintain a data set, and the researchers must adhere to that time frame.

Another accuracy issue concerns modifying and reporting the use of published material (e.g., an interview protocol, psychological instrument, curriculum) without clearly describing the precise nature of the modifications. Interpretation of findings and their comparison to other studies using the “same” instrumentation may be severely compromised when an author fails to report modifications. Further, professional courtesy suggests that permission be sought from the author before changing her or his material. Also, use of published material requires crediting the author(s) of that material by including relevant citations.

Publishing in Multiple Sources

In the sciences, a manuscript should not be under review by more than one journal at a time. It is, however, acceptable to submit material for presentation at a conference prior to its actual publication in a journal, as the authors in case examples 1 and 3 did. Some conferences publish proceedings , and some journals will not publish work that is already published in a Proceedings unless the two papers differ substantially. When in doubt, it is good practice to contact a journal’s editor to determine the journal’s policy. Journals typically only publish original work, but on occasion there may be interest in reprinting an article. Reprinting a previously published paper requires written permission from the owner of the publication copyright. As a matter of courtesy, one should also seek the corresponding author’s permission, even if the author does not own the copyright.

Examples of Success

The benefits of sharing knowledge within the medical community and with the public via publication have been delineated. The publication of original work contributes to the advancement of the genetic counseling field overall, and at the individual level, authorship establishes a level of professional credibility, enhancing opportunities for future employability, funding and job satisfaction. The opportunity to develop a genetic counseling master’s thesis into a manuscript should therefore not be overlooked. Below are the personal accounts of three recent graduates who successfully transformed their individual master’s theses into published manuscripts. These examples were not systematically ascertained, and as such, do not necessarily represent all experiences with trying to publish a master’s thesis. These stories provide “first-hand accounts” of the authors’ experiences and, while acknowledging the challenges, demonstrate commitment to publishing their own projects throughout their careers. Table  3 contains a list of helpful hints gleaned from these cases.

Table 3

Helpful Hints for First Time Authors

Case 1: Consider Writing Your Thesis and Journal Article Concurrently

As a result of personal determination, and above all, strong mentorship, I was able to turn my master’s thesis work into a manuscript published in Patient Education and Counseling , titled “Satisfaction with genetic counseling for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations among African American women” (Charles et al. 2006 ). My work was a small component of an existing research project being conducted within a university academically affiliated with my genetic counseling training program. The project was an evaluation of the overall effects of “Culturally Tailored vs. Standard Genetic Counseling Protocol” among African American women.

I started by reviewing previous publications this group of researchers had produced and using these as a guide for my first draft, followed by multiple revisions. Approximately 17 months elapsed between first submission and publication. We submitted the manuscript in its original form in May 2005. We received the reviewers’ comments later that summer, and submitted revisions five months later. The article was accepted in that same month, published online five months later and in print seven months after the online version appeared. Shortly after graduating from my program I submitted an abstract of the work to NSGC for presentation at the 2005 Annual Education Conference, and subsequently learned that it was selected for the NSGC Beth Fine Student Abstract award.

My experience may be unusual because I worked on the manuscript and thesis project concurrently. Composing separate but related documents while still juggling second year genetic counseling student responsibilities was certainly a challenge. Preparing a comprehensive thesis project is a very different task than manuscript composition, the latter of which is more focused and narrow in scope. Challenges posed by this concurrent approach included ensuring that text requirements and deadlines specific to each document were met, as well as incorporating and addressing the reviews of both the training program and peer-reviewers. The main benefits of this approach were that I was still in school and therefore geographically close to my mentors, which facilitated ongoing communication throughout the process, and that the manuscript was under review by a journal before I started my new job.

Factors contributing to the successful publication of this project include mentorship, accountability, and commitment to publication by every author. Supportive, constructively critical, and well published, my mentors had high standards and knew the process. Frankly, I did not want to disappoint them. I found setting deadlines and meeting them, along with the accountability of in-person meetings (as opposed to email), to be effective approaches. Finally, publishing the project was a stated goal of the authors at the initiation of the project. I will not claim that the process was easy, but the goal is certainly attainable and worthwhile.

Case 2: You Need Not Publish Every Thesis Finding—Pick The Most Interesting and Relevant

As is the case for many graduate students, the first time I attempted to publish was after I completed my thesis. My thesis concerned the development of a minority research recruitment database and was the result of my graduate research on underserved populations.

Following graduation, I started my first job as a genetic counselor in a new city. During the overwhelming process of adjusting to “my new life,” my thesis advisor asked me to submit a manuscript to the American Journal of Public Health in response to a call for abstracts on genetics topics. Unfortunately, the deadline was only one week away. I scrambled to cut down my lengthy thesis to a reasonable length and submitted it, knowing that it was not my best work given the time constraint. Needless to say, it was rejected.

I decided that before resubmitting the manuscript to a different journal, I would need to take a different approach to the paper, more or less starting over. While my research results were interesting, they were limited in their application. I decided to publish instead on the success of our research initiative, as other researchers could learn from our process. Since I was changing the focus of the manuscript, I had to do an additional literature search and produce much of the writing from scratch. Most of this work had to be completed in my free time. While it was difficult to stay motivated, working on my manuscript when first starting a job was manageable as my caseload was lightest in the beginning. After several weeks of hard work, I submitted the manuscript to Health Promotion Practice .

About one month later, the editor contacted me and asked me to resubmit my manuscript with revisions. Three different reviewers provided feedback. Initially, it was overwhelming to read through their comments and frustrating, particularly when the reviewers contradicted each other. Despite my frustration, with my co-authors’ guidance I forged ahead and resubmitted, only to have the editor and reviewers ask for additional revisions. There were comments from the same three reviewers, however, far fewer in number. Still, I was beginning to think they would never accept the manuscript. I once again called upon my co-authors for guidance and was able to address the reviewers’ comments and resubmit the manuscript once again.

This time when I heard from the editor, the manuscript was finally accepted. What started out as a 120 page thesis ended up being published as an eight page paper (Vogel et al. 2007 ). It took approximately 8 months of writing and revising before the manuscript was finally accepted and an additional year before it came out in print. While the entire process was a true test of patience and determination, it was ultimately worth it. The experience gave me the foundation to carry on my research career and continue to publish successfully.

Case 3: Expectations and Mentorship are Crucial

I defended my thesis, received my Master’s degree, and was about to move back to the Midwest to start my new job as a genetic counselor, but my long “To-Do” list had one remaining item: Publish master’s thesis. I started the initial master’s thesis process with the expectation from one of my thesis advisors, and now a co-author, that research is not “put down and set aside” until published. I never questioned the process; if I was going to work with this advisor, I would be publishing. I was excited to undertake this challenge and impressed by my thesis advisor’s dedication, mentorship, and desire to see our hard work recognized. Nearly two years later, I could proudly say that this expectation, held by all of my thesis advisors and me, was accomplished. The manuscript, published in the JOGC , describes qualitative research regarding communication of genetic test results within a family (Blase et al. 2007 ).

In the beginning, I was unfamiliar with the publication process, but because of the support and guidance of my advisors, I began to learn the process, and so the frustrations and uncertainties were minimal. I also had a great working relationship with my co-authors that included communicating regularly and setting and meeting deadlines. After deciding the JOGC was the most appropriate venue for my research, I spent a good deal of time reducing and reformatting the 80 page thesis to a 20–25 page manuscript to meet the journal’s guidelines. Given the page constraints, this process necessitated determining which data to focus on and re-framing some information to appropriately fit the readers of my selected journal. Conversations with my advisors were instrumental in this phase.

There was nothing quick about publishing my master’s thesis. I graduated in June 2005, received an email shortly thereafter from one of my advisors about how to begin constructing a first draft of a manuscript, and began working on the manuscript in July 2005. I submitted the manuscript to JOGC in May 2006 and subsequently was informed by the editor that based on the reviews, revisions were required before the manuscript could be considered for publication. In September 2006, after two rounds of revisions, my manuscript was accepted, and by June 2007 it was published in the journal.

Although ultimately I was successful in publishing my master’s thesis, the process had its moments of frustration. I remember getting my first round of comments from the reviewers; I thought I was never going to get to the point of publication. My co-authors supported and encouraged me by explaining that revisions are truly part of the process. I was overwhelmed by the reviewers’ list of questions and changes after my initial submission, followed by additional reviews and revisions. Not only did I have to figure out how to keep the manuscript a priority in light of my new job, but I had to weed through and address the reviewers’ comments, and the suggestions of each co-author. The guidance of my thesis advisors, now co-authors, helped me navigate this process.

I have gained much through this experience. The process has opened doors for me including opportunities to work with other professionals with impressive publishing experiences, as well as speaking and poster presentation opportunities at national conferences. I also have greater confidence about the publishing process. What seemed like such a daunting and impossible task is now an attainable outcome. Although my master’s thesis was my most recent publication, the thought of taking on the publication process again is not nearly as intimidating as I once thought.

Publication of original research, clinical experience, and literature reviews are vital to the growth of the genetic counseling field and to the delivery of genetic counseling services. Publishing also promotes personal growth by counting toward maintenance of ABGC-certification as well as establishing the author as a credible and respected authority both within and outside the genetic counseling field. This professional recognition in turn can lead to employment opportunities, speaking engagements, research funding, and career advancement.

Submitting a manuscript for publication also can be an intellectually challenging, emotionally trying, and time-consuming task. But similar to life’s other difficult tasks, the rewards and satisfaction are commensurately great—to see your name in print, have your work cited by other authors, and know that you have contributed in a meaningful way to the practice and understanding of genetic counseling. Transforming a master’s thesis into a journal article is an obvious first step in developing and sustaining a commitment to publishing for our genetic counseling profession. Common themes in the three success experiences include the importance of mentorship and clear expectations for publishing, recognition of the length of the process and concomitant need for perseverance in the face of revisions, awareness of personal and professional benefits in terms of presentations at national meetings, awards, and motivation to continue publishing. Hopefully the information provided in this article will help to de-mystify the publishing process, promote consideration of ethical issues in publishing, and stimulate genetic counseling students and new graduates to embrace a “Publish for Success” philosophy.

Acknowledgments

This paper was developed from an Educational Breakout Session (EBS) sponsored by the Jane Engelberg Memorial Fellowship Advisory Group at the 2008 NSGC Annual Education Conference.

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

• American Board of Genetic Counseling. 2009. Competencies . https://doi.org/www.abgc.net/english/view.asp?x=1529&all=true . Accessed October 26, 2009.
• Andersen J, Belmont J, Cho CT. Journal impact factor in the era of expanding literature. Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection. 2006; 39 :436–443. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Armstrong AW, Idriss SZ, Kimball AB, Bernhard JD. Fate of manuscripts declined by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology . Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 2008; 58 :632–635. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2007.12.025. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Beeson D. Nuance, complexity, and context: qualitative methods in genetic counseling research. Journal of Genetic Counseling. 1997; 6 :21–43. doi: 10.1023/A:1025659701805. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Benose DJ, Bashari E, Chaves JM, Gaggar A, Kapoor N, LaFrance M, et al. The ups and downs of peer review. Advances in Physiology Education. 2007; 31 :145–152. doi: 10.1152/advan.00104.2006. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Blase T, Martinez A, Grody WW, Schimmenti L, Palmer CGS. Sharing GJB2/GJB6 genetic test information with family members. Journal of Genetic Counseling. 2007; 16 :313–324. doi: 10.1007/s10897-006-9066-z. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bowen NK. How to write a research article for the Journal of Genetic Counseling. Journal of Genetic Counseling. 2003; 12 :5–21. doi: 10.1023/A:1021491016830. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Boyer EL. Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; 1990. [ Google Scholar ]
• Charles S, Kessler L, Stopfer JE, Domchek S, Halbert CH. Satisfaction with genetic counseling for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations among African American women. Patient Education and Counseling. 2006; 63 :196–204. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2005.10.007. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chew M, Villanueva EV, Van Der Weyden MB. Life and times of the impact factor: retrospective analysis of trends for seven medical journals (1994–2005) and their editors’ views. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 2006; 100 :142–150. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Clark HM, Gamm J, Huether CA, Buncher CR, Blough Pfau RI, Steinberg Warren N. Genetic counselors and research: current practices and future directions. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C (Seminars in Medical Genetics) 2006; 142C :276–283. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.c.30106. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cohen BL, Friedman E, Zier K. Publications by students doing a year of full-time research: what are realistic expectations? The American Journal of Medicine. 2008; 121 :545–548. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.03.006. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Curfman GD, Morrissey S, Annas GJ, Drazen JM. Peer review in the balance. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008; 358 :2276–2277. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe0803516. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Driscoll J, Driscoll A. Writing an article for publication: an open invitation. Journal of Orthopaedic Nursing. 2002; 6 :144–152. doi: 10.1016/S1361-3111(02)00053-5. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• East J. The problem of plagiarism in academic culture. International Journal for Educational Integrity. 2006; 2 :16–28. doi: 10.21913/IJEI.v2i2.88. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fine MA, Kurdek LA. Reflections on determining authorship credit and authorship order on faculty-student collaborations. American Psychologist. 1993; 48 :1141–1147. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.48.11.1141. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Garfield, E. (1994). The Thomson Scientific Impact Factor Thomson Reuters (formerly the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)) . https://doi.org/www.thomsonreuters.com/business_units/scientific/free/essays/impactfactor/ . Accessed 1/24/2009.
• Gavey N, Braun V. Ethics and the publication of clinical case material. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 1997; 28 :399–404. doi: 10.1037/0735-7028.28.4.399. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gibelman M, Gelman SR. Who’s the author? Ethical issues in publishing. Journal of Social Work Education. 1999; 35 :203–213. doi: 10.1080/10437797.1999.10778960. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Greenwood DC. Reliability of journal impact factor rankings. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 2007; 7 :48–53. doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-7-48. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ha TC, Tan SB, Soo KC. The journal impact factor: too much of an impact? Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore. 2006; 35 :911–916. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hall SA, Wilcox AJ. The fate of epidemiologic manuscripts: a study of papers submitted to Epidemiology . Epidemiology. 2007; 18 :262–265. doi: 10.1097/01.ede.0000254668.63378.32. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hames I. Peer review and manuscript management in scientific journals—Guidelines for good practice. Malden: Blackwell Publishing; 2007. [ Google Scholar ]
• Holaday M, Yost TE. Authorship credit and ethical guidelines. Counseling and Values. 1995; 40 :24–31. doi: 10.1002/j.2161-007X.1995.tb00384.x. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Keen A. Writing for publication: pressures, barriers, and support strategies. Nurse Education Today. 2006; 27 :382–388. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2006.05.019. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Laflin MT, Glover ED, McDermott RJ. Publication ethics: an examination of authorship practices. American Journal of Health Behavior. 2005; 29 :579–587. doi: 10.5993/AJHB.29.6.12. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lambie GW, Sias SM, Davis KM, Lawson G, Akos P. A scholarly writing resource for counselor educators and their students. Journal of Counseling & Development. 2008; 86 :18–25. doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6678.2008.tb00621.x. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lester JD, Lester JD., Jr . The research paper handbook. Glenview: Goodyear Books; 1992. [ Google Scholar ]
• Liesegang TJ, Shaikh M, Crook JE. The outcome of manuscripts submitted to the American Journal of Ophthalmology between 2002 and 2003. American Journal of Ophthalmology. 2007; 143 :551–560. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2006.12.004. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McCarthy Veach P, Bartels DM, LeRoy BS. Ethical and professional challenges posed by patients with genetic concerns: A report of focus group discussions with genetic counselors, physicians, and nurses. Journal of Genetic Counseling. 2001; 10 :97–120. doi: 10.1023/A:1009487513618. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McGaghie WC, Webster A. Scholarship, publication, and career advancement in health professions education: AMEE Guide No. 43. Medical Teacher. 2009; 31 :574–590. doi: 10.1080/01421590903050366. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Merriam-Webster . The Merriam-Webster dictionary. New York: Pocket Books; 1974. [ Google Scholar ]
• Nguyen T, Nguyen TD. Authorship ethics: issues and suggested guidelines for the helping professions. Counseling and Values. 2006; 50 :208–216. doi: 10.1002/j.2161-007X.2006.tb00057.x. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Roig M. Plagiarism and paraphrasing criteria of college and university professors. Ethics & Behavior. 2001; 11 :307–323. doi: 10.1207/S15327019EB1103_8. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Sandler JC, Russell BL. Faculty-student collaborations: ethics and satisfaction with authorship credit. Ethics & Behavior. 2005; 15 :65–80. doi: 10.1207/s15327019eb1501_5. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shadish W. APA ethics and student authorship on master’s theses. American Psychologist. 1994; 49 :1096. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.49.12.1096. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Stith SM, Barasch Jester S, Linn JL. Student-faculty collaborative research. Family Relations. 1992; 41 :470–474. doi: 10.2307/585594. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• The PLoS Medicine Editors. (2006). The impact factor game. PLoS Medicine , 3, e291 doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030291. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ]
• Thompson B. The big picture(s) in deciding authorship order. American Psychologist. 1994; 49 :1095–1096. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.49.12.1095. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thompson PJ. How to choose the right journal for your manuscript. Chest. 2007; 132 :1073–1076. doi: 10.1378/chest.07-1340. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• United States Copyright Office. (2008). Copyright basics . https://doi.org/www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf . Accessed 1/14/2009.
• Vogel K, Murthy VS, Dudley B, Grubs RE, Gettig E, Ford A, et al. The use of family health histories to address health disparities in an African-American community. Health Promotion Practice. 2007; 8 :350–357. doi: 10.1177/1524839906293395. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wager E, Parkin EC, Tamber PS. Are reviewers suggested by authors as good as those chosen by editors? Results of a rater-blinded, retrospective study. BMC Medicine. 2006; 30 :13. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-4-13. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Weil J. Peer review: an essential step in the publishing process. Journal of Genetic Counseling. 2004; 13 :183–187. doi: 10.1023/B:JOGC.0000028252.93942.40. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

Get the Reddit app

This subreddit is for discussing academic life, and for asking questions directed towards people involved in academia, (both science and humanities).

Did I cheat in my masters thesis?

Some years ago I finished my degree, did I unintentionally plagiarize?

Here is the story, I've been working for the past years with my degree in a field, which went great until I decided to take a break. However during my break period, I started wondering if what I did was cheating, and now I feel awful, because I am sure what I did was academic misconduct, and if found out my degree will be revoked. Which I am not interested in.

We were encouraged to read other peoples master thesis, and I in fact decided to do that, I read the master thesis of several previous students within the same field as me and used 3-4 of these in terms of figuring out how I could construct my own thesis. One of them was VERY good, it was not only within the same field but also a very relatable topic and this is where it starts to get messy.

Our method and theory sections are looking very alike. I use the same research method as theirs, and likewise the same theory, I even recall taking a reference from their thesis, as it was a really good one, and was basically all I needed to reference through my thesis. As we have the same educational background with the same lectures, a lot of the references they used were from the classes, and therefore some of those I would naturally have used with or without the inspiration of that thesis. However my theory section is structured just like theirs, I have naturally added something to mine, as it was not entirely a relatable topic, and naturally, I added some theories that they did not use, and I did not use all the same theories as they did, but it was darn close. So generally my thesis is structured like theirs, and if they compare the two of those, they would, without doubt, see the similarities.

The major problem you ask? I never cited them, and this is where it gets tricky for me, whether or not I did the right thing.

Yes, I looked at the sources they used, and yes I read the thesis they wrote, but after doing so, I always went back to the original source that they used and read what that said, and then I wrote my own. I did not try to copy-paste theirs, and therefore i only cited the original source that they used. As it was empirical studies both of them, the way we conducted it was similar, and I was inspired by them in terms of what was relevant to take into consideration, but I only cited the original source. Was this wrong? Should I have cited the others?

TL;DR - I took the method/theory of how others conducted their master thesis and replicated it towards my own master's thesis, and only cited the original source and not the thesis which I found it in. Why is my text a mess? Because it is like my current state of mind, I feel like a nobody, a cheating pig, a girl/guy why cheated his way into his degree. No plagiarism checker such as Turinit found anything wrong with it, but I am so afraid that someone will figure out and report me, even though my thesis is not public.

Somebody lynch me for being a shitty person.

By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy .

Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app

You’ve set up two-factor authentication for this account.

Enter a 6-digit backup code

Create your username and password.

Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what you’ll go by here. Choose wisely—because once you get a name, you can’t change it.

Reset your password

Enter your email address or username and we’ll send you a link to reset your password

Check your inbox

An email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account

Choose a Reddit account to continue

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Accused of plagiarism in my master thesis, which I submitted two years ago. What now? [closed]

I submitted my master thesis two years ago and I got a passing grade. Now I got a call from the university stating that my supervisor has found plagiarism in some pages of the thesis. They told me that they will send me a letter and I have to give my statement, and then the case will be submitted to the committee and they will decide what to do.

My question is: what are the criteria for grading a master thesis? If the supervisor already passed me two years ago, did he not check for plagiarism then?

I don't know what to do.

• publications

• 46 @Zabia It may not be possible to know what parts you are going to be accused of plagiarizing, but if it's your own work you should know that you plagiarized. Did you? –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 16:26
• 23 I'm compelled to point out that the comment interaction so far resembles any of the thirty or so plagiarism cases that I deal with each term. –  Daniel R. Collins Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 17:15
• 12 "If the supervisor already passed me two years ago, did he not check for plagiarism then?" -- If you drive past a police car, and the cop does not pull you over, then that does not mean that you cannot later be arrested for driving without a license. –  Wolfgang Bangerth Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 20:40
• 65 @Dr.Snoopy That's a red herring. The main point is that the OP doesn't outright say "But I didn't plagiarize!" He is beating around the bush and bringing up points like "they didn't check 2 years ago, why are they checking now?" Anyone familiar with this kind of stuff already knows what happened. –  Nelson Commented Mar 23, 2023 at 1:42
• 12 @Polygorial That is only true if you interpret the question as "what process will the university follow?" , but the question just asks "What now?" and says "I don't know what to do" , so it's reasonable to interpret the question as asking for advice on what the OP should do in this situation. In that case it absolutely matters whether they are guilty or innocent. –  kaya3 Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 1:24

6 Answers 6

What happens next depends on the policies of your institution. However, it's likely within their power to revoke a degree for substantial academic misconduct; they may also have options for lesser penalties. No one but the committee evaluating your case can make a determination of what your consequences will be.

If you didn't plagiarize, you will have to make a strong case in your favor.

If you did plagiarize, then that's your fault. Just because you got past your advisor the first time without being detected doesn't absolve you of misconduct. You can argue that you made a mistake, or didn't understand what you did was plagiarism, or that the plagiarism was a minor part of your whole work, but it's up to the committee to decide if they believe you and if it matters.

It's important to know that plagiarism means taking the words/ideas of others without credit. Plagiarism is not a "similarity score" or similar automated document comparison algorithm. If words/phrases in your thesis overlap with another document because they are standard phrases in your field or coincidental matches, that isn't plagiarism unless you actually took the phrases without credit (citations, quotations). Similarly, if you took another document and edited the sentence structures or replaced words with synonyms but did not credit the original document, or simply failed to acknowledge the source of ideas in your thesis, it's possible to plagiarize without any text overlap.

• 6 While it’s true in principle that coincidental overlaps do not constitute plagiarism, the practical truth is that plagiarism is what the investigating board decide it is . It is by no means unheard of for people to have their degrees revoked based on coincidental similarities, sometimes with works the person wasn’t even familiar with when writing. In such cases, that person did plagiarise, because that’s the ruling the university arrived at – regardless of whether they actually plagiarised anything. –  Janus Bahs Jacquet Commented Mar 23, 2023 at 14:13
• 8 @JanusBahsJacquet Sure, errors occur, of different levels of seriousness. I've seen a couple plagiarism cases here at Academia.SE where the ineptitude of the accusation led me to believe that the degree itself should have no actual value (e.g., instructors who believe that plagiarism==similarity index). I believe it's far more common that cases of quite obvious plagiarism are ignored in order to not create a "fight". The value of a degree relies substantially on trust in the institution that issues it, and that trust includes the institution competently investigating plagiarism. –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Mar 23, 2023 at 14:25
• I asked the supervisor and he told me that there are some pages which I didnt put the sources and when I saw he was correct but these pages are not directly relates to my thesis. I took these things as to ubderstand the Reader the background but didnt claim as my own work or not it is relates to my thesis work. So now my question is that what should I write as he asked me to give my statement and then he will decide what to do. –  Zabia Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 12:32
• 5 @Zabia I'm having trouble understanding your comments. I don't see how pages in your thesis can be not directly related to your thesis: all of your background introductory/discussion content is as much part of your thesis as your results. If you've provided tables and images from someone else without a citation that seems quite bad to me. –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 13:12
• 10 @Zabia There are no magic words to "get out of it" - why is it so hard to recognize that your misconduct has consequences? Likely the best you can do is to admit that you did something wrong and ask for the opportunity to correct it. –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 14:07

what is the criteria for grading the Master Thesis?

You'll have to refer to the rules of your university. There are no universal criteria.

If the supervisor already passed me two years ago, did he not check for plagiarism then?

Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't really matter. The author of a thesis would be liable for plagiarism in it, no matter how or when it was discovered.

I would recommend finding someone to advise you who is familiar with the disciplinary process at this particular institution. Something like an Ombuds or Student Affairs office might be able to connect you with someone. Or if there is another faculty member or administrator there whom you trust.

• 2 I think this is the most constructive advice. The OP has to find out what the detailed rules are they are accused of breaking (and the institution should provide that to them if asked). They also need to wait for the details of the accusation - they'd can't defend against a vague claim and it's a bit farcical sending someone a notice they're accused of something without any detail, but such is bureaucracy everywhere. –  StephenG - Help Ukraine Commented Mar 23, 2023 at 14:05

I have been involved in a similar situation. A student plagiarized portions of their thesis in ways that should have been obvious to the major professor, but this professor likely didn't carefully read the thesis and the committee passed the student. I'm not really sure how this happened because the thesis was a bit of a mess and had numerous other problems unrelated to the plagiarism, but somehow they passed the student. A couple years later the plagiarism was noticed and an institutional ethics committee from the university requested a meeting with the student. They required that the thesis be revised to remove the plagiarism and the student was given a two-month deadline to submit a revised thesis. This was difficult for the student since they had moved on to another job, but they did complete the revision and, later, a second revision requested by the committee. Finally, the committee accepted the second revision and the student kept their degree.

As others have said, this procedure will likely vary among institutions, but this is one example of what can happen.

This can be scary. You need legal advice from an attorney who has dealt with such cases, preferably at the same university.

You need at least two items from your university. You need to review their definitions and standards for plagiarism. You also need to review their procedures for reviewing cases of alleged plagiarism. Both of these should be obtainable from a Dean's office or other administrator.

Don't try to second guess the specific claims. Wait until you get them and review them yourself and then with your attorney.

• 4 You have entered a policy driven process. This means your faculty must follow the policies and procedures of the university exactly. If they deviate from those then you have a cause of legal action. Do not rush into anything without advice of your attorney. –  David Smith Commented Mar 23, 2023 at 22:42
• 1/2 This may or may not be a good idea based on location and culture. I am a research fellow in Germany. I have been part of the review board numerous times. We do not accuse students of plagiarism lightly because A) we want our students to succeed (statistics) and B) sheds a bad light the normal evaluation procedure (reputation). –  Hermann Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 17:59
• 2/2 Sometimes a student works sloppy, makes mistakes, does not cite properly. During the review process, student is questioned. It them may become obvious that i.e. a paragraph should have been quoted instead of cited. The accusations may be dropped. However if the student involves an attorney or even threatens to take the case to court, we strongly believe in malicious intent rather than negligience. –  Hermann Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 18:02
• My response is for American universities. No one has to threaten to take a case to court, universities are accustomed to this happening. Universities that do not follow their own procedures are likely to either lose the case or simply be ordered to go back and do so. –  David Smith Commented Mar 26, 2023 at 18:10

I have my own views on plagiarism and they are not universally shared.

I believe that true plagiarism needs to be an intentional act. I read something and decide that I want to present it as my own original thoughts. That is pretty hard to prove. But it must be avoided if scientific principles are to be followed. Among other things, it breaks the chain of context provided by the original, which can lead to errors later. That is independent, however, of whether sanctions are warranted.

This follows a general rule that ethical transgressions require intent.

One reason that it can be hard to prove is that it is about ideas , not words. It is possible to plagiarize using exactly none of the original words. The intention can be invisible. So, in particular, paraphrasing an original doesn't make plagiarism go away.

But there are also two kinds of "apparent" plagiarism. They are problematic, but don't involve the same sort of intention. And they may be sanctionable or not.

The first is not knowing the rules at all and so not knowing that you have broken them, even if you do something so bold as to copy-paste actually expression (which can also fall afoul of copyrights, but that is a different issue). In reality, if this is the case, someone has failed in teaching you the rules. It is a "we don't know what we don't know" sort of situation. Some people just grok the rules, but others assume that everyone groks them and so this sort of unintentional, obvious, "apparent" plagiarism can be easy to charge and hard to avoid.

And note that copying words can easily make this sort of apparent plagiarism look like a blatant, intentional, act, when, indeed it was, but the "intention" wasn't actually to break an unknown rule, just to copy words blindly.

This sort of thing is what plagiarism checkers look for - copied words, never mind the ideas.

As an aside, I've had student not know some things that seem blindingly obvious to others and that should have been taught. In this case the student's misunderstanding was also reinforced by other factors. But at base, it was bad teaching that led him to error. He hated me for a while for correcting his issues, thinking I was lying to him. And it took me a while to understand that the underlying problem wasn't his.

The other sort of "apparent" plagiarism is just sloppy research practice. "Yes, I know the rules and intend to follow them, but messed up in my writing (focused on other things) and missed the necessary citation. Oh, expletive, I messed up." Sloppy research is, in my view a somewhat (not a lot) lesser offense than deliberate plagiarism. It leads to other issues as well as this one, of course.

I don't know, of course, what you did, or what is being charged. Whether it is deemed serious enough to cancel your degree or not is up to the committee. I expect, however, that at a minimum you might be asked to re-write the thesis taking better care to avoid sloppiness and to follow the rules.

When some publication appears to contain plagiarized material, even if that was unintentional, it needs to be corrected. Sometimes removal is required, sometimes editing might suffice. But, even with "benign" cases, it is important that the public record itself be corrected. But, as I said earlier, it is vital that the "chain of context" be maintained in scholarly writing and even unintentional and "apparent" plagiarism requires correction.

However, and this is why I write this post, I think it is incumbent on any research advisor or supervisor to assure that their students understand the rules. It is simple enough to promulgate them, but students don't coming into a degree program knowing everything that others think they should know. Make a specific point of teaching the rules of the game before you start to play.

There is also another possibility that doesn't involve plagiarism of any kind, but might be misinterpreted as such. That is, the author had no knowledge of the earlier work at all, and reproduced it independently and innocently. That is pretty incredibly unlikely in case the words match, of course. It is also possible that it is a case of sloppy scholarship. "Ah, I shoulda, coulda found that if I'd looked harder."

Independent simultaneous work is pretty common, since the state of the art in a field advances on a front that is known to many. So many might be asking the same questions simultaneously.

Some commenters have suggested that I make a recommendation about what you should do in this situation. It is hard to be definite, since we don't know what is actually being charged or whether it meets the definition of true plagiarism or not.

Once you know more you have some options.

If you did (intentionally) plagiarize you can beg forgiveness, and (hopefully) honestly promise to do better. But the judgement may be harsh if the evidence is strong.

If you (honestly) didn't know the rules you can state that, though whether it would be accepted or not is up to the committee of judges. In that case, they may share blame, but are unlikely (sadly) to acknowledge that.

If you were sloppy in your research or writing, then you can admit to that and it may (or not) gain you a bit. Sloppy research isn't terribly rare, sadly.

In any case, you need to correct the thesis, though that may be moot if the committee rejects any appeal.

You may just have to accept the consequences. Sorry. But you have little control here.

• 1 Comments have been moved to chat ; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments . Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer , on Academia Meta , or in Academia Chat . Comments continuing discussion may be removed. –  Massimo Ortolano Commented Mar 23, 2023 at 13:30

Assuming that you did not plagiarize, it's best to not engage with this process at university and instead start a legal process against the university. Years after students have left university, they cannot be expected to take part in any proceedings at university. The university should be required to have a far greater burden of proof to take away your degree than a mere suspicion that you committed plagiarism and you not willing to take part in their proceedings.

While this should be a slam dunk legal case, it's best to consult with a lawyer. The lawyer can write a letter to the university making the threat of legal action against the university should they go ahead with their proceedings and take away your degree.

• 3 I am not a lawyer, but I am not sure there is grounds to start a legal proceeding until they have revoked your degree. At which point, this whole thing will be much more difficult. Second, you recommend that you shouldn't "be expected to take part in any proceedings at university [sic]" but instead spending time in legal proceedings . This sounds much more complex than just engaging with the academic proceedings (for free!). –  Azor Ahai -him- Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 22:19
• 1 This is very dangerous advice. There is a good chance the university has greater proof and the case may not be as clearcut as one thinks. A university absolutely can expect cooperation in an academic process involving your academic degree and the cut off times are very long (at least ten years in my neck of the woods). If you go the legal route as suggested you have burned all bridges without even knowing where they lead to. –  MisterMiyagi Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 6:56
• 1 It is also an advice based on next-to-no information: OP did not tell us the name of country (or the State, if it is in the US). Assuming, for concreteness, that the university is located in the US, the laws and court decisions on revocation of advanced degrees vary greatly state-to-state. Calling such a legal case a "slam-dunk" is irresponsible. Lastly, large universities tend to have deep pockets and numerous lawyers to handle legal cases. Even if the case is "slam-dunk" as you say, in the end the plaintiff (who might be a PhD student) might loose the case simply due lack of funds. –  Moishe Kohan Commented Mar 26, 2023 at 14:42

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged publications phd thesis university .

• Featured on Meta
• Site maintenance - Tuesday, July 23rd 2024, 8 PM - Midnight EST (3 AM - 7 AM...
• Announcing a change to the data-dump process
• Upcoming initiatives on Stack Overflow and across the Stack Exchange network...

Hot Network Questions

• What does the word "Eine" mean in Latin?
• Spell slots of a Sorlock multiclass
• As a British citizen, I get stopped for 40 minutes wait due to wrong record of refusal to entry
• Is there any way for a character to identify another character's class?
• Where is git-prompt.sh located in Ubuntu 24.04?
• Beginner's question: proper way to handle hyphenation of words of short length?
• Particles and fields
• Is "avoid extra null pointer risk" a reason to avoid "introduce parameter objects"?
• Sobolev spaces are smooth? Their dual is strictly convex?
• Which word can be used to describe either the beat or the subdivision?
• How deep should I check references of a papers I am going to cite?
• Superposition principle and Small signal analysis
• Tried making a "poor man's" active/MOSFET rectifier. It doesn't work, and I didn't expect it to, but I don't understand why
• How do you simplify the cosine of this special angle?
• Vertical alignment of equations in column environment
• Why can't thin clouds form rainbows?
• Can trusted timestamping be faked by altering some bytes within the document?
• How can a liability limitation in a contract between two parties prevent a damaged 3rd-party from taking action?
• "聞けたら聞いてる" what does it mean? Is it some grammar?
• Assign condition to variable
• Fantasy book series with each book being about a different colored dragon?
• Looking for title about time traveler finding empty cities and dying human civilization
• Is there anyway a layperson can discern what is true news vs fake news?
• How do people print text on GUI on Win3.1/95/98/... before Win2000?