Plagiarism is derived from the Latin term ‘Plagiarius,’ which means ‘to kidnap’. To kidnap words, in the context of writing or blogging, is when you display another’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their permission.
It is done by incorporating it into your work without allowing them to take credit or giving them proper credit. This definition encompasses all published and unpublished materials. It could be in manuscript, print, or electronic form. Note that plagiarism can be deliberate or not deliberate.
Plagiarism, intentional or unintentional in nature, is always a disciplinary offense under the examination regulations. It is a criminal violation and a form of intellectual theft that can result in severe disciplinary action.
Types of Plagiarism to Avoid
Plagiarism is a problem that plagues several writings, may it be academic writing or professional writing in a form of blogging.
Theft can take many forms, but it refers to the act of taking intellectual property from other sources, such as photos or video footage, without properly attributing them. It can arise in a variety of situations.
Though plagiarism is commonly done with schoolwork, it can also happen in professional settings.
Let’s discuss the different types of plagiarism to avoid.
1. Verbatim (Word for Word) Or Direct Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of attempting to pass off someone else’s work as one’s own. Word for word plagiarism, also known as verbatim plagiarism, is the most common type of plagiarism.
It can also be defined as the act of consciously attempting to defraud academic tutors by passing off someone else’s work as one’s own.
Verbatim plagiarism is not only the most common type of plagiarism. This type of plagiarism also carries the biggest penalty. This is because this is somewhat premeditated plagiarism.
2. Hired Plagiarism
A blogger hires someone to write an assignment for him in hired plagiarism. It also entails purchasing tasks from various online services. Having someone else compose an essay for you and then claiming it as your own is termed plagiarism.
Plagiarism for hire was a thing long before the Internet. In almost every institution, there were some students who would sell or write new essays for pupils for a fee.
Similarly, essay mills existed as mail order businesses long before the Internet, and many institutions have stories of term paper file cabinets in frat homes and sororities solely for the purpose of coordinated plagiarism.
3. Borrowed Plagiarism
Borrowed plagiarism occurs when a writer employs the original material’s actual language rather than his or her own without attributing it to the original writer. It’s not just a matter of avoiding plagiarism when you incorporate borrowed information into your own writing.
Smooth transitions between your own words and ideas and those acquired from other sources are also required. These transitions should introduce and identify your sources, as well as analyze the stuff you’ve borrowed.
Inexperienced writers frequently include a summary or a quotation in the middle of their own work, relying solely on a parenthetical citation to assist the reader in understanding it.
4. Self Plagiarism
When you recycle your own words from your works that have been published already, it can also be referred to as self-plagiarism.
Self-plagiarism refers to repurposing previously published or submitted material for a class. This includes having the need to resubmit a whole manuscript, copying or paraphrasing parts or snippets, or recycling previously gathered data.
While it does not constitute outright theft of others’ ideas, it might cause problems in the scholarly publishing industry. Self-plagiarism can also refer to the simultaneous publication of identical works in two places.
This is also known as duplicate publication. Furthermore, even if you are simply revisiting an old idea or a previously published observation, it is recommended practice to thoroughly credit your earlier work.
Self-plagiarism deceives your viewers by portraying previously published work as wholly new and unique. To avoid self-plagiarism is to protect the integrity of the research record and scientific discoveries in general. If you want to include any text, ideas, or statistics from a previous project, make sure you cite yourself to keep your reader informed.
Every published publication is expected to contain fresh information and findings that increase our understanding of the world. When you use uncited recycled information in your manuscript, you are debating the unstated assumption that you are presenting wholly new findings.
5. Patch Writing or Mosaic Plagiarism
Mosaic plagiarism, also known as patchwork plagiarism or gradual plagiarism, is one of the most common forms of plagiarism.
Mosaic Plagiarism happens when a writer borrows phrases from a source without quoting them or finds synonyms for the author’s language while maintaining the original’s general structure and meaning. Sometimes known as “patchwriting,” this type of plagiarism is academically dishonest and punished, whether intended or not.
Patchwork plagiarism, sometimes known as ‘patchwriting,’ happens when an entire patch of copied content retains practically all of the source content’s uniqueness, giving the impression of direct copying. It contains just minor alterations or rephrasing of passages from the source text while preserving the majority of the language and content structure.
6. Collaboration or Collusion
According to the dictionary, collusion is done in secret, whereas successful collaboration is done openly.
Successful collaboration brings all stakeholders to the table so that informed decisions can be made and equitable programs can be devised, whereas collusion puts those without knowledge at a disadvantage.
Whether you want to work on your project with another individual, check with your supervisor to determine if it’s possible, and then ask for permission if needed.
If you’ve been given permission to collaborate with another, you must explicitly acknowledge their contribution in your introduction.
7. Contributing Author
Plagiarism is also defined as failing to credit an author or editor who contributed to the work.
For example, if you and your partner collaborate on a project but only one of you is given credit, the one who is given credit is plagiarizing a portion of the work.
Additionally, to avoid plagiarism, if someone edits your work and makes major modifications, that person should be credited.
8. Aggregated
Plagiarism does not require an essay or paper to be a word-for-word replica of another work.
It’s possible that your paper is considered plagiarism if it’s based on another paper and employs the same concepts and sources. If the sources and concepts are the same, rewriting the language used will not make the paper or essay distinctive.
9. Outline Plagiarism
Plagiarism is also defined as the use of the same structure with new information. Outline plagiarism, often known as “retweet plagiarism,” involves using another paper’s outline.
Although the sources and style are unique, the paper or essay does not include fully original content.
10. Accidental Plagiarism
This can happen if you don’t know how to correctly paraphrase, quote, and cite your research.
Due to a lack of knowledge about proper documentation, bloggers may mistakenly attribute someone else’s words or ideas as their own. In other words, if you paraphrase research from a book, article, or website without including an in-text citation, the reader will presume the concept and/or words are yours, not someone else’s.
Even if you include the source’s name in your reference list at the end of the essay, plagiarism is still present due to the lack of an in-text citation.
Reasons to Shun Plagiarism to the Core
First and foremost plagiarized content must be avoided since consequently, it will damage your self-esteem. Self-respect will slowly creep out of your vein. When you are caught during this crime people will show you no respect since you are unable to respect others as well by giving them proper credit.
Another reason is that search engines despise plagiarized content and penalize it appropriately. Duplicate content is sorted by search engines depending on a number of variables. The published date is one of these characteristics, which effectively limits the ability to rank.
So, if you’re employing plagiarized or copied information on your website, you’re wasting your time. It’s possible that your website will be ranked lower than it was previously.
Aside from the punishment prepared by SEO to those who are detected plagiarizing you will face severe legal consequences because many trackers will determine if someone else’s work is being stolen. Thus, these palpable reasons will surely motivate you to overcome though how tedious and difficult the process is.
The impact of plagiarism is quite challenging and detrimental to your career. This is heavier than the cost of avoiding plagiarism.
Avoiding plagiarism is more than just double-checking your sources or changing enough words, it’s about putting your academic talents to work to make your work the best it can be.
Key Solutions to Avoid Plagiarism in Blogging
What can you do to avoid plagiarism in blogging?
Well, bloggers can employ common strategies. Often, these strategies are underrated because bloggers tend to overlook the value of ensuring content is free from any of the violations.
Constant Monitoring of Your Site Contents
Before publishing, use a plagiarism checker to ensure that your work is original. Upload a text file or paste information into the box, and the unique checking algorithm will provide a plagiarism report with highlighted used sources and copied sentences after scanning.
It’s also an excellent tool to utilize if you have other authors providing content for your site and want to be sure their work is 100% original. Even if you write an article from scratch, there’s a risk it’ll be identical to other people’s work. You should be aware that you may be accused of inadvertent plagiarism, so be cautious.
You can use a free plagiarism detector on the internet to see if it’s your case. You should utilize a plagiarism checker for your blog entries, just like students do for their homework. You can see what parts of your text need to be changed once it has been scanned. Note that you must do this check for uniqueness for each item of content you plan to publish.
Bloggers can utilize a variety of text comparison tools that are easily available online for proofreading. They’re great plagiarism detectors, indicating comparable words, phrases, and sentences in a matter of minutes, allowing you to rule out a duplicated written piece.
There are several wonderful software that will scan the content and give a report that includes any duplication if you input the URL of the webpage you want to check in the search box.
Personalized Approach and Creativity
Consider the issue and jot down your thoughts and creative ideas before writing your first line. One of the most vital aspects is that your work is absolutely unique and yours because readers aren’t interested in reading something they’ve seen before. Take different thoughts, blend the sources, extract the facts, and place your own experience in the context, offering unique views and ideas, rather than replicating other people’s work.
You can add a personal touch to your content by sharing personal examples or experiences to back up the factual information in your blog posts, or by mentioning unusual things that have happened to you. You can turn your writings into posts that are all about you and your blog, what your passions and your interests are, and plagiarists will find it more difficult to copy and steal your work.
To make it more difficult to plagiarize, write a post about how you designed your blog but describe your personal story, including pictures, and share the problems you’ve encountered.
Plagiarism is a serious academic and professional offense. All members of the academic community should acknowledge their obligation to the originators of the ideas, words, and facts that form the basis for their own work as a matter of intellectual honesty.
Passing off someone else’s work as your own is unethical. Furthermore, it is also a strong indicator that you have not completed the learning process. Thus, reveals your half-baked academic or professional skills. Plagiarism is immoral which may lead to major ramifications for your future career.
However, plagiarism appears to be a natural feature of the Internet. There is sure to be some overlap in information with millions of blog articles written every day. That is no justification, though, for not being diligent in your own efforts to prevent passing off other people’s work as your own.
You not only protect yourself from accusations of plagiarism by being meticulous in your writing efforts, keeping track of your information sources, and providing links, but you also inject yourself into the larger discourse.
