In earlier articles we offered tips to avoid trouble with online plagiarism software. These included: planning ahead, capturing references, quoting confidently, both accurately and with complete quotation marks, and citing everything disputable. Herewith, more ways to avoid any appearance of inappropriate use of another’s ideas, and to steer clear of being flagged by online plagiarism software.
 
Re-state, word by word to keep clear of online plagiarism software!

• Even if bereft of original ideas, re-read the relevant source material. You must own these texts to understand them fully. This is a great way to avoid the need for copying and running afoul of online plagiarism software.
• Restate, in writing, each important word. You know what the important words are; not little words like “the”. These are what online plagiarism software seeks.
• Find a synonymous wording for each idea in the passage, to steer clear of online plagiarism software.
• Restructure the passage so you don’t trigger online plagiarism software.

This exercise reveals the author’s meaning. This is an important learning process in and of itself. The most basic online plagiarism software still has difficulty in picking up thorough re-wordings. However, online plagiarism software is constantly evolving in analytical strength.
 
Respond to a text phrase-by-phrase to avoid triggering online plagiarism software!

1. Take apart a passage. Type each sentence, or phrase (in quotation marks) into your text. Then type your response to it. It may well be that you have no bleeping idea what the author means. Per the inimitable, late, humorist Douglas Adams, “Don’t Panic”. This is ok. There is a scholarly way to express disagreement and complete bafflement (and not get dinged by online plagiarism software)!
2. Locate analyses or critiques of complex texts. Almost every prestigious reading has them. Cite these too, to avoid online plagiarism software generating nasty-grams, unless restricted to specified readings. In that case, use such secondary analyses as guideposts.

Here are polite descriptions of a passage thick as pea soup, but less palatable:

• You believe, or infer that the author means….
• This passage suggests …..
• is convoluted,
• or tortuous.
• The author is opaque
• Offer several interpretations, and nominate the likeliest.
• Further study of this author is needed.
• You yourself need more study of this topic (but be careful, or this WILL be your topic next semester!).

Be consistent!
 
Sometimes one author really nails the topic. This happens with the great minds of history. (Imagine trying to re-state “Give me liberty, or give me death”!)
 
In this case, re-word, and attribute the other author’s material (see above), but also make your whole text consistent. Stylistic inconsistency is a red flag indicating plagiarism. This could prompt the application of online plagiarism software, especially in freshman writing classes, according to Susan Barr Toman, (author of When Love Was Clean Socks, formerly adjunct professor at Chestnut Hill College).
 
A silly example:
 
There has arisen a paradigm shift around the problematical issue of animal cruelty, which means that, we are less willing now to hurt bunnies. This makes the reader wonder. Perhaps they may decide to run your paper through online plagiarism software even if that is not their usual practice.
 
Read aloud to others!

Read the rest of this entry »

Online plagiarism software has made fugitives and potential criminals of us all. Even well-meaning scholars now write in terror of online plagiarism software. We talked in an earlier article about ways to avert even the appearance of plagiarism: planning ahead, capturing all sources, and quoting. Let’s examine additional clever ways to avoid ever being tripped up by online plagiarism software.
 
When you quote, quote correctly!
 

1. Cut and paste any quote to ensure you have it exactly. If in PDF file format, paste a block of the image into your text. (Now don’t start hyperventilating about online plagiarism software nabbing you, yet!)
2. Next, re-type the quote either above or below the pasted text. This ensures your accurate reproduction of the quote.
   • Mis-quotes look suspicious, and could motivate your instructor to use online plagiarism software, even if not contemplated initially.
   • A precisely reproduced, properly cited and formatted quote signals good scholarship.
   • Re-typing the quote cements it in your mind as resident knowledge, for use in a defense or oral presentation. Instructors may seek such evidence as an adjunct to the use of online plagiarism software, according to Robert Harris.
   • Typing it AS A QUOTE reminds you that it comes from another person, and you will be less likely to misuse it later and awaken the sleeping dragon of online plagiarism software.
3. Then, delete the pasted text so it does not trigger online plagiarism software after all.

 
Include quotation marks!
 

• When typing or pasting in a quote, please type the opening quotation marks in first. Dim-witted it may seem, but even a superb, well-intentioned writer, can overlook a missing set of quotation marks in a long paper. Online plagiarism software finds them promptly.
• In some style manuals, block quotes are indented (and may thereby avoid triggering a flag from online plagiarism software). It may be wise to adopt this as your routine practice, with instructor approval. The indentation will help you visually spot quotes later on, and insert appropriate citations. Online plagiarism software suffers from no such limitations in picking up un-cited quotes!

 
Cite everything!
 
Unless something is so well-known as to be a by-word, or a cliché, be safe, and boring, and cite someone. Online plagiarism software does not care if you are boring.
 
Here are some examples:

Read the rest of this entry »

Every physician will tell you that there is no better way to get rid of some illness than to completely avoid it by living a healthy lifestyle. Perhaps, it is somewhat strange to compare plagiarism with a disease. However, it is much better to avoid plagiarism completely than to allow it to ruin your reputation.
 
Based on this, only one question remains: how to do it? Therefore, we will dedicate this article to the techniques of avoiding plagiarism.
 
Avoiding plagiarism by extensive reading
 
Ironically enough, the first and foremost technique of avoiding plagiarism has nothing to do with writing, checking oneself and detection software. The most efficient way of avoiding plagiarism is extensive reading. By doing this you broaden your vocabulary, get used to different phrase constructions and pick up numerous methods and techniques of writing. It will not be a problem for you to write several distinctive texts with thousands of books read. A thousand! — one might scream. Allow us to assure you: you will need a single year to read thousand books with an average reading speed.
 
Avoiding plagiarism by starting anew
 

Read the rest of this entry »

Plagiarism detector software is a wide term that covers much more than just plug-ins that you use to ensure your writing is original. Usually, the term “plagiarism detector software” refers to numerous online services that scan web pages and check them for plagiarism, ensuring the web content of the checked site is unique. Did you know that? No? Then, we will devote this article to plagiarism detector software that deals with web content.
 
Plagiarism detector software: why do they use it?
 
Perhaps, the most common reason to use such online service is to check copywriting content. Certainly, every professional copywriter checks it himself/herself: after all, his status depends on the originality of his/her material. Yet, we hope you will agree that it is unwise to rely upon one’s professionalism if it is not yet proved by an unquestionable reputation. Thus, editors who order copywriting services usually use plagiarism detector software to crosscheck every piece of writing.
 
Other regular clients of plagiarism detector software are those companies whose business is all about writing: custom writing companies, resume writing services, etc. Their reputation depends on the originality and uniqueness of their work. Thus, every piece of writing and every site page of theirs should be checked for plagiarism on a regular basis.
 
Plagiarism detector software: security levels
 
Plagiarism detector software usually deals with three security levels.

Read the rest of this entry »

Plagiarism search engines are very useful, no matter whether you want to check someone’s work for plagiarism or you want to make sure that your own “masterpiece” is 100% non-plagiarized.
 
The structure of plagiarism search engines is rather complex and their algorithms are even more. Well, you do not need to go deep into all these technical details of how different plagiarism search engines work. Thus, let us present all this mechanism using a very simple pattern. A plagiarism-detector scans your web content or a text you type into the corresponding field and compares it against all web content available on the Internet (including those stored in archives).
 
What is the process of searching for plagiarism?
 
There are several options.

• The simplest way is to use special online plagiarism search engines. You do not have to do much – just copy/paste your text and press the button “scan” (it depends on the plagiarism search engine you choose). You will get a report sent to your e-mail. Online plagiarism search can be either free or charged.

The bad thing about online plagiarism search is that sometimes plagiarism search engines “detect” very common phrases like “Let us consider…” or “It depends…” Thus, you need to analyze the report got/sent very carefully.

• Another way of searching for plagiarism is manual. This way is very complex and time-consuming - you will have to type into a search engine phrases/sentences from your text manually.
• If you have a blog and want it to be checked on a regular basis, you can subscribe to online plagiarism search services.

Read the rest of this entry »

No wonder EVE plagiarism detection software is so popular. With all the essay databases, teachers are going crazy. To have at least some control of the situation, they use all kinds of plagiarism detection tools.
 
EVE plagiarism detection systems (essay verification engines) work following a typical scheme. It is not Internet-based. You will need to pay a certain price to use EVE plagiarism detection software or trial it for free during several days. EVE plagiarism detection software checks essays against a certain base of materials placed online.
 
Such EVE plagiarism detection system is used to check the content of an essay to discover whether a student cheated or not. Teachers use it actively these days. This is why for all of you cheaters reading this, keep in mind – even if you purchase or download not a very reliable but a very cheap essay paper, at least read it and try to rewrite sentences basing on the ideas and sources already researched for you.
 
Certainly, EVE plagiarism software is not almighty. It works only with concrete programs and formats. So, you can inhale and sigh with relief. However, EVE plagiarism detection system proved to be extremely effective even though somehow narrowed down, so the cheaters are still in danger.
 
Do not hope that the teacher will leave you along with your manipulations. An experienced one will clearly see or at least suspect something. Plus, teachers have this really weird habit to memorize each student’s style and manner of writing. So, if there are major differences in a short period of time, be sure your paper will be scanned for plagiarism, if it has not been yet.

Here is a story: you are not very motivated to write this paper. You think that this assignment is kind of useless, with no positive impact on your knowledge or your final grade. So, you decide to relax and, for the first time in your life, you decide to plagiarize. You do not copy/paste the whole piece you find on the Internet, but you combine a few papers, copy/pasting the best parts of each source found. You think - everybody is doing it, so why cannot I do it once in my life?
 
Hundreds of students share your logic, by the way. However, this logic does not work with any online plagiarism finder .You see, plagiarism finder software does not identify whether this is the first time you plagiarize or not, and it simply shows the percentage of plagiarism. It is a program, it completely lacks emotions like compassion or understanding.
 
The majority of teachers use a certain plagiarism finder to make sure that all students are treated in the same way. Your teacher is not dreaming to catch you on plagiarizing, but he/she wants to see how hard you work, how much effort you put into your research. And such plagiarism finder is a great way to make the process of grading more fair, you should understand this.
 
After this plagiarism finder shows the percentage of plagiarism, your teacher decides whether your work can be considered original or not. Usually, the percentage of plagiarism should be no more than 5-7 percent, otherwise you will have troubles.
 
By the way, you can check whether your paper contains any instances of plagiarism and avoid all the troubles. Just search for some plagiarism finder online (it is not a plagarism finder or a plagerism finder; make sure you spell it correctly).
 
So, we advise you to think twice before you decide to plagiarize. It is better to produce a bad paper rather than a plagiarized one. And you can definitely prepare a good paper that deserves a high grade – just find some motivation!

There are two most common cases of using software to check plagiarism: teachers who want to run students’ papers through a plagiarism checker, and students who want to check whether their papers contain a high percentage of plagiarism.
 
In both cases, both teachers and students look for free and reliable software to check papers for plagiarism. So, probably you are a student and you want to make sure that your paper, or the paper you ordered, is non-plagiarized (or contains a low percentage of plagiarism).
 
What is the best way to check for plagiarism? Certainly, you will not do it yourself, but let software do this work for you. What software to check for plagiarism should you choose?
 
There is a great variety of choices. You just need to “google” some of the best software to check plagiarism. So, just type into a search box the key words, such as plagiarism checking software, and you will get a list of them. Make sure you do not type in something like “how to check for plagerism”, since you will end up with a low quality checker, if any.
 
Before you choose software to check the level of plagiarism in your paper, we advise you to compare at least three, or even more, available options. You never know what additional bonuses you can get by using a new software program. For example, some software programs can check for plagiarism and correct some mistakes, identifying weak parts of your paper.

Read the rest of this entry »