ISLAMABAD, Nov 24: Over-quoting material may fall in plagiarism. To avoid detection of data as plagiarised, one should rephrase, quote and summarise the data in one’s own words.

This was stated by the acting director of Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC), Dr Irshad Ahmed Arshad, at a workshop titled “Awareness of Modern Research Procedure, HEC Recognised Journals and Plagiarism Policy”, a press release issued on Sunday said.

The workshop was held by the QEC of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) in collaboration with the HEC.

Dr Irshad said ineffective note-taking methods such as forgetting to mention the source of data and copying data may put a researcher in the “Plagiarism trap.”

The participants of the workshop also discussed various journals recognised by the HEC, plagiarism, its reasons and the use of Turnitin software which detects plagiarised material.

During the workshop, research students were informed about the requirements and measures to ensure valued work. In three sessions, it discussed various journals, steps to avoid plagiarism and a demonstration of Turnitin.

Students were told that they could also initiate the publication process of their research work.

Participants raised various question while a few also pointed out flaws in the software and took guidance from experts in issues faced during research.

The departmental head of bioinformatics and biotechnology, Dr Jabbar Zaman Khattak and Assistant Director QEC Imranullah Marwat also addressed the participants on the occasion.— A Reporter