While they vary in quality and accessibility, at their core, they are built to scan your writing for any duplicate copy found anywhere else on the internet (or in some cases, in books or other students’ papers).Īdvances in machine learning mean that we can even detect when content is taken from multiple sources in a way that results in patchwork plagiarism - as opposed to its more direct counterpart. Besides Quetext, some other common checkers include Turnitin and Grammarly. Jokes aside, online plagiarism checkers are designed for writers of any kind to use as a tool to protect themselves, their writing, and their reputations. That’s right: it’s safe to pull out the proverbial calculator your math teacher used to say you’d never be able to carry around with you (but for English instead of math). The best way to fight the most common types of plagiarism is to use a plagiarism checker. Using Technology to Fight The Most Common Types of Plagiarism This is the best way to ensure you avoid plagiarism of all types - from well-intentioned paraphrasing to direct quotations that pass off others’ ideas and words as your own. If you plan to use other people’s work, make sure you use quotation marks and proper source citations to clarify that these words are not your own. It is always best to use your own words to describe your observations. And on the flip side, when the next person conducts research, you want them to cite your work correctly and give you credit for the effort. We are better as a society when we work together on research, which means knowing where ideas are coming from. Why Attribution MattersĪttribution is just a fancy word for giving credit where it’s due: in the hands of all of the people doing the research before you.īy citing your work and using standardized methods of attribution, you make it easier for readers to verify existing research or learn more on the topic. If you find yourself bending over backward to avoid crediting someone for their work, you cannot uphold the proper standards for academic honesty or professionalism in any meaningful way. If you take the meaning of the original and just change around a few words, that’s still unethical…and still considered plagiarism. Classic Examples of PlagiarismĪ common myth is that it’s only plagiarism if you take someone’s words and put them into your paper word for word.
If they see copy that’s not in line with a student’s typical caliber of writing, it really only takes a simple Google search to confirm if that copy is directly plagiarized (or perhaps the result of patchwork plagiarism or even poor paraphrasing). Teachers are well acquainted with their students’ writing and what level their students should be writing at in general. In many cases, teachers and other professionals won’t even need an online checker to spot such obvious plagiarism. Online plagiarism checkers will be fast to highlight any cases of direct plagiarism - there’s hardly any gray area here.
It’s also the easiest form of duplicate work to identify. In this case, you are knowingly reproducing someone else’s work without giving credit where credit is due. The definition of direct plagiarism is taking what someone said word for word and trying to pass it off as your own, without any type of attribution.Ĭan it be considered accidental plagiarism? While many types of plagiarism can genuinely be considered accidental, direct plagiarism cannot.
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Students, teachers, professional copywriters, and other creatives all have more resources than ever to avoid the most common types of plagiarism, including direct plagiarism. Recently, Olivia Rodrigo, a breakout pop singer, had to acknowledge the lead singer of Paramore as not just inspiration for her smash hit “Good For You,” but also had to grant songwriter credits for directly using melodies from Paramore’s “Misery Business.”Īs you can see, taking a creative idea and using it without any attribution is not only a problem, but it’s also an almost entirely avoidable problem.
Plagiarism creates a loss of respect and integrity in academic circles and monetary consequences in commercial circles and regular life. Indeed, the first case of plagiarism comes from the Roman Empire in 80 AD, but back then it did not carry the same severe consequences as today. The concept of direct plagiarism goes back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Direct Plagiarism: The Not-So-Secret Form of Cheating