"Accidental" or "Swenglish" copying

What is accidental copying?

If you work from a text it can be hard to "escape" from the original words, particularly if you are not so good at English. You read the text, perhaps written by a professional writer, and then try to put it into your own words while the original words are still fresh in your mind.

Sometimes this copying is accidental. Sometimes it is deliberate. If you copy someone else's words and do not credit them this is plagiarism - a serious offence!

A similar problem can happen if you are working from a Swedish text. It can be hard to think in Swedish as you read the text and then in English a few seconds later as you use the information you have just looked at.

How do you avoid these problems?

The problem in both cases is that the original text is too fresh in your mind. If you collect your information from these texts, then let some time go by, then write your own words, the problem will disappear!

• Read the original text and note down some key words so you remember the information.
  
• Add more information, more key words, either from other texts, other sources, or your own knowledge.
  
• Use the key words to write your own text.

Here is a short example using some information about Iceland, found on Internet:

Iceland, the second largest island in Europe … The landscape is mountainous in character, typified by rugged and uninhabited interior highlands with sharp and deep fjords on the north and east coast, and plains and sands on its south shore.

Keith's key words
2nd largest island - mountainous - no-one lives in the interior - deep fjords - stony plains and black sand in the south.
I add a little more information that I know… glaciers, volcanic, most people live in Reykjavik.

Then I can write…
Iceland is the second largest island in Europe. It is very mountainous and in the central part of Iceland there are glaciers and volcanoes. In the north and east you find deep fjords and in the south you find stony plains and black sand along the coast. Very few people live in the interior. (OR Nearly everyone lives around the coast.) A large percentage of the population live in and around the capital, Reykjavik, on the west coast.

Now the writing uses Keith Bryant's words and not someone else's!

If you want to read more you could download "What is Plagiarism" from Mantex.