Everyone’s heard of Copyscape, the super duper plagiarism detection tool. Sometimes it’s the bane of our lives (like when clients who pay 1 cent a word want you to check every article on Copyscape even though you KNOW that you never plagiarise). At other times, it’s a useful tool, such as when you’ve subbed out some work and want to make sure that nothing that has your name attached to it will turn out to be plagiarised.

Most of the time, I find it useful. I signed up for a premium account so I could check blocks of text rather than just URLs. (Five cents a time is a small charge to protect my good name.) The fact is, sometimes you have to use it, but what do you do if it isn’t working? This recently happened to me. I needed to check some work quickly and Copyscape was throwing up error messages. Thanks to the wonders of Google, I quickly found a few alternatives, which I’m putting here in case you can use them.

Article Checker

Article Checker was the most useful of the alternatives I found. You can paste in a block of text and check it against the sites indexed on Google and Yahoo. It’s lightning quick and appears to be accurate. I don’t know how long a text has to be before it flags. I was checking 400 word articles and it seemed ok. I’ve used this tool a couple of times and it’s never found any plagiarism but that doesn’t mean it won’t. Many other writers I know use this tool because it is free. A good feature is that you can upload files for checking, which could be good if you are doing rewrites.

Plagiarism Checker

The Plagiarism Checker was originally designed as a student project at the University of Maryland. Like the other tools, it works by pasting some text into a box and hitting enter. Then you get a list of results for phrases. Interestingly, this check said the article I checked with Article Checker was almost certainly plagiarised. It brought up a list of suspicious phrases and then you could click on a link for more information. That took me to a Google search page which found … drumroll, please … no plagiarism. So I wouldn’t rely on that tool.

DupeCop

DupeCop allows you to compare two pieces of text through its free online duplicate content checker, or to compare up to four versions of spun articles through its spun article checker. I haven’t tested these yet, but this looks like a good service. There are desktop versions of both checkers too.

Other Tools

If you just want to compare web pages, then try DuplicateContent, which has an online URL comparison engine. There are also a few other tools, which I haven’t tested, but am listing in case you want to. DocCop has both free and paid services, but you will need to register to use either service. DupeFree Pro is a piece of free software (I’m still waiting for my registration details to arrive). Finally I-thenticate is a web based product used in business and education. It’s not free. In fact, you have to register just to find out the price, which is why I didn’t.

If you don’t want to hear a rant, click away now. Two incidents happened recently that led me to write this post. The first is that one of the writers I work with was unjustly accused of plagiarism. On reflection, I think it may have been a scam (which I’ll have to add to my list some time).

The second was that in checking a piece of work from a trusted colleague, I came across a sentence that was identical to the original source. It may have been unintentional, but it was plagiarism. I hate plagiarism. Basically, it’s stealing other people’s work. When people steal the fruits of your hard work (your money and your stuff) you get upset. Shouldn’t you be even more upset when they steal the work itself? I know I am.

Research Or Copying: Who Decides?

If I give the benefit of the doubt, I can see how some people might find it hard to see the line between justifiable research and copying. I once heard a rule which went something like this: If you use one source it’s plagiarism; if you use several, it’s research. Behind that rule lies a good guide for keeping to the right side of the line. In academic terms, it’s known as triangulation – using multiple sources so that you can make sure that your information is reasonably accurate. It’s not foolproof, but mostly it works. If you use more than one source of research, then you get the information into your brain and can output it in your own words.

Quote Your Source

If you’ve ever written an essay, then you’ll know the two other rules for avoiding plagiarism. The first is: quote if you use something. That’s OK. Sometimes they say it better than you ever could – just give them the credit. If someone else has written a book, ebook or article or has published a podcast or broadcast and you want to use their words, put them in quotation marks and give the source. That’s known as attribution. In other words, you say where it came from. If you publish even a sentence without attributing it, then it’s plagiarism.

Keep It Short

That brings me to the second rule: Don’t quote too much. In copyright law, there’s something called fair use, which is the right to reproduce short excerpts of published works for review or commentary. The key word there is short. When you take several pages or whole blog posts without crediting the original source, that’s also plagiarism. Don’t do it.

Forgive me for ranting, but this issue makes my blood boil. When you’re writing a web content article, you may find lots of information that you want to use. You may even paste it into your document in the order that you want to use it. What you can’t do is use the exact words that were used in the original.

Anti Plagiarism Strategies

Usually, I can read something and summarise it without having to copy the original. However, on a long document I may copy useful bits to avoid having to find them again. When I do this, there are three things I do to make sure that I never plagiarize.

First, I always put a link to the original source at the end of the excerpt. That reminds me where it came from.

Second, I highlight the text that I have copied in bright yellow to remind myself to change it.

Third, I always type my articles from scratch. That ensures that I am following my thought processes and not copying someone else’s.

There is no excuse for stealing someone else’s work. All it takes to avoid plagiarism is a little bit of care and attention. Anyone got any other tips to share?

photo credit: peasap

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,plagiarism

My friend and colleague Sharon Hurley Hall told me that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or annoyed when she pointed me towards a blog she found that closely resembled something I recently wrote.

I recently inspired someone else who started a business based on one of my ideas and it made me want to be wary in future of being so expressive and sharing of my thoughts with friends and colleagues.

I can think of many times where a blog or something I’ve read has inspired me to write a post but I honestly don’t think I’ve ever actually copycatted someone. I know Sharon has inspired me and I’ve inspired her through conversations or blogs and we’ve awarded credit to one another for it if it was really direct. Maybe the person who appears to have copied me doesn’t realize how closely their recent post resembled one of mine that I know for a fact that they have read. I sure hope not.

It isn’t blatant plagiarism in the sense that nothing appears to have been cropped and pasted from my blog to theirs but some of the wording and format and certainly the gist of the blog entries match very closely. Again, I know that the person read the blog entry in question because they actually commented on it.

I’ve seen and heard of content thieves and watched other writers get furious and get even by splashing someone’s name on their website and calling out the offender. I’m not about to do that here this time because I am giving the person the benefit of the doubt in case my post etched its way into their subconscious and they mistook memory for inspiration.

It’s possible.

I know I’ve read great books and been inspired and read great blog entries that sparked ideas as well but I don’t think I’ve ever blatantly copied anyone on purpose. Hopefully the offender comes across this post and realizes that they’ve made an innocent mistake and simply decides to be more careful in future.

Have a great day.

Dana

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Dana is a Canadian freelance writer who shares information about the writer’s life at http://danaprince.blogspot.com and health and fitness advice at http://healthniche.blogspot.com.

Here’s another find from Mom and More, a discussion of ethics and ghostwriting. Here are my responses to the questions:

1. Would you completely write a book, play, or other creative work and allow someone else to have the credit?

This is a tough one. As a ghostwriter, I might be asked to do this and I suppose it’s part of my job, so if I agreed to do it I would. However, if I could write a successful fiction piece I would be tempted to write it myself and take the credit.

2. Would you write a blog and allow someone else to claim it as their own?

Yes, I do that all the time. I ghost blog for several people and that’s part of what pays my bills. However, I have several blogs under my own name (or recognisable pseudonyms) so I don’t feel cheated. I think sometimes people need help with writing and that’s what they get from me.

3. Would you use a pen name or pseudonym?

Yes, I would, but I haven’t chosen one yet. I do have a couple of internet identities, though.

4. Would you write a nonfiction piece and allow someone (or something as in the case of a company) to have the credit?

That’s another ghostwriting one. It’s my job, so that’s what I do. If I could give the same dedication to my own writing, I would already have finished a couple of novels.

5. Would you write someone’s term paper for them?

Absolutely not! As a former lecturer this makes my blood boil and I won’t be a party to anything that smacks of plagiarism.

In my other life I taught journalism and media at university. Gracepub’s post on people passing off classics as their own work and a conversation with her reminded me one of my pet peeves.

Plagiarism is one of the banes of a teacher’s life. Stupid plagiarism especially. What do I mean by stupid plagiarism? The kind where you’d have to have your head in the clouds to miss it. The kind where there is nothing to suggest that the student in question has applied even a small bit of brain power to the essay question.

So here’s my advice to those students:

• If you don’t speak English very well and turn in a paper of PhD standard, I will suspect plagiarism.
• If you are living in the UK, but all your quotes refer to the US from an insider’s viewpoint, I will suspect plagiarism.
• If your writing style, spelling and grammar change from paragraph to paragraph, I will suspect plagiarism.
• If you copy something from one of the set books (which I’ve probably read 100 times) and try to pass it off as your own, I will find plagiarism.
• If you copy something from my lecture notes and pretend it’s your own, I will KNOW you have plagiarised, since I wrote the original content.

And here’s a heads-up: lecturers use Google too. If you can find something to copy by using a search engine, I can find it too. And even the essays that you have to pay for can be found in Google’s cache.

Plagiarism wastes my time. When I suspect it, I have to spend a long time searching for the sources, printing them out, marking them on the student’s essay and then jumping through the necessary university hoops to prove it. That involves meeting with the student, another colleague, the head of department and the school registrar. All of this gives me less time to spend on reading and research, and on marking essays from the hundreds of other students who have put some effort in and done some work.

I almost felt sorry for one student, though. We set up a meeting to discuss the ‘substantial unacknowledged sources’ in her work (in university-speak, it doesn’t become plagiarism till it’s been proven) and she was obviously in shock. It turned out she’d ‘borrowed’ some work from a friend at another university. And this friend had managed to plagiarise without being caught.

I know that in some cultures copying from the best is normal. I know that some students panic because they feel they don’t speak the language well enough to present their ideas clearly. My advice to those students is to talk to your teachers. We’re there to help.

I also know that some students approach university education cynically and will make the ride as easy as they can. But plagiarism is taking someone else’s content without permission and passing it off as your own. If you did that with my car or my money, it would be considered stealing. ‘Nuff said.