Start Early

Make sure to give yourself enough time to do your speech or paper the right way. Take the time to find and read through sources, take good notes and, above all, to write your paper with correct paraphrases and quotations. Good research and writing take time. The major danger of procrastinating is that it increases the temptation to look for short-cuts involving use of questionable sources and cutting and pasting works or sections of works from other authors.