Plagiarism is the act of copying someone else’s words or ideas without giving proper credit. It is a serious academic offense that can result in penalties such as failing grades, suspension, or even expulsion. Plagiarism can also damage your reputation as a writer and harm your career prospects.
To avoid plagiarism, you need to cite your sources correctly and use quotation marks when quoting directly from another author. You also need to check your work for plagiarism before submitting it to ensure that you have not unintentionally copied any content from the internet or other sources.
But how do you check your work for plagiarism? Many online tools can help you detect plagiarism in your writing. Some of them are free, while others require a subscription or a fee.
In this article, we will review some of the best free plagiarism checkers that you can use to scan your documents for originality and accuracy.
The meaning of plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work or ideas as one’s own without proper acknowledgement. This can include using content copied and pasted from a source, paraphrasing without accurate citation, borrowing ideas without credit, or turning in work that has already been turned in for another project or course.
Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional. Intentional plagiarism is when someone deliberately copies or uses someone else’s work without giving credit. This is considered a form of cheating and dishonesty.
Unintentional plagiarism is when someone accidentally copies or uses someone else’s work without giving credit. This can happen due to a lack of knowledge, carelessness, or confusion about the rules of citation and referencing.
Plagiarism can also be classified as direct or indirect. Direct plagiarism is when someone copies or uses someone else’s exact words without quotation marks or citations. This is considered the most blatant form of plagiarism and can be easily detected by a plagiarism checker free.
Indirect plagiarism is when someone copies or uses someone else’s ideas, concepts, or arguments without citation. This is considered a more subtle form of plagiarism and can be harder to detect by a plagiarism checker.
The importance of talking about plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and discussed in academic and professional settings. Talking about plagiarism can help raise awareness and understanding of what plagiarism is, why it is wrong, and how to avoid it.
Talking about plagiarism can also help create a culture of academic honesty and integrity that values originality and creativity.
Some of the benefits of talking about plagiarism are:
- It helps students learn the proper methods of citation and referencing that are required in different disciplines and formats.
- It helps students develop their critical thinking and writing skills by encouraging them to use their own words and voice.
- It helps students avoid accidental plagiarism by making them aware of the common pitfalls and mistakes that can lead to unintentional copying.
- It helps instructors detect and prevent plagiarism by providing them with tools and guidelines to check their students’ work for originality.
- It helps researchers and writers protect their intellectual property rights by ensuring that they receive proper credit for their work and that they do not infringe on the rights of others.
- It helps researchers and writers enhance their credibility and reputation by ensuring that their work is reliable and trustworthy.
A brief explanation of the Plagiarism Checker Software
A plagiarism checker is a program that can scan essays, research papers, or other written pieces to look for plagiarism.
To find any overlaps in terminology, phrasing, or sentence structure between the material under consideration and a database of previously published texts, the plagiarism checker app compares them.
If any matches are found, the software underlines the potentially questionable parts and offers a report indicating the percentage of the text that is believed to be plagiarized. Some programs that detect plagiarism also offer potential sources for allegedly plagiarized content.
For students, instructors, researchers, and writers, these apps can be useful in ensuring the originality of their work and preventing accidental plagiarism.
These apps can also help improve writing skills by providing feedback on grammar, spelling, vocabulary, tone, clarity, and readability.
Plagiarism Types
Different types of plagiarism can occur in academic and professional writing. Some of the most common types are
Direct Plagiarism
It is when someone copies or uses someone else’s exact words without quotation marks or citations. This is considered the most blatant form of plagiarism and can be easily detected by a plagiarism checker. For example
Source: “The concept of human rights emerged stronger after World War II.”
Direct plagiarism: The concept of human rights emerged stronger after World War II.
Self-Plagiarism
Self-plagiarism is when someone reuses their previous work without citation or permission. This can include turning in the same paper for different courses or projects, recycling parts of previous papers into new ones, or publishing the same research in different journals.
Self-plagiarism can violate academic policies and ethical standards by creating duplicate content issues and misleading readers about the novelty and originality of the work. For example
Source: “In this paper, I will argue that social media has a positive impact on democracy.”
Self-plagiarism: In another paper for a different course: “In this paper, I will argue that social media has a positive impact on democracy.”
Mosaic Plagiarism
Mosaic plagiarism is when someone copies or uses parts of someone else’s work without quotation marks or citations. This can include using synonyms or changing word order to disguise the source or mixing copied content with original content without proper attribution.
Mosaic plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional, but it still constitutes a form of dishonesty and misrepresentation. For example
Source: “The concept of human rights emerged stronger after World War II.”
Mosaic plagiarism: After World War II, the idea of human rights became more powerful.
Accidental Plagiarism
Accidental plagiarism is when someone unintentionally copies or uses someone else’s work without giving credit. This can happen due to a lack of knowledge, carelessness, or confusion about the rules of citation and referencing.
Accidental plagiarism can still have negative consequences such as failing grades, academic probation, or legal action. To avoid accidental plagiarism, one should always cite their sources correctly and check their work for originality before submitting it. For example
source: “The concept of human rights emerged stronger after World War II.”
Accidental plagiarism: Human rights became more important after World War II. (I forgot to cite the source)
The Repercussions of Plagiarism
Plagiarism can have serious repercussions for both individuals and institutions that engage in it. Some of the possible repercussions of plagiarism are
Legal Repercussions
Plagiarism can violate intellectual property rights and copyright laws, which protect the ownership and authorship of creative works. Plagiarism can result in legal action and lawsuits from the original authors or publishers, who may seek compensation or injunctions for the unauthorized use of their work.
Plagiarism can also damage the reputation and credibility of the plagiarists, who may face public scrutiny and criticism.
Academic Repercussions
Plagiarism can violate academic integrity policies and ethical standards, which require students, researchers, and instructors to produce original and honest work. Plagiarism can result in academic penalties such as failing grades, suspension, or expulsion.
Plagiarism can also affect the quality and validity of academic research, which relies on accurate citations and references.
Professional Repercussions
Plagiarism can undermine professional ethics and values, which require writers, journalists, editors, and publishers to produce reliable and trustworthy work. Plagiarism can result in professional sanctions such as losing jobs, contracts, or clients.
Plagiarism can also harm the career prospects and opportunities of the plagiarists, who may lose their credibility and respect in their field.
Personal Repercussions
Plagiarism can affect personal morals and character, which require individuals to act with honesty and responsibility. Plagiarism can result in personal guilt and shame for deceiving others and oneself.
Plagiarism can also hinder personal growth and development, which depend on learning and creativity.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a Plagiarism Checker
Using a plagiarism checker can have both advantages and disadvantages for students, instructors, researchers, and writers. Some of the advantages and disadvantages are:
Advantages of using a plagiarism checker
- It helps you avoid plagiarism and its consequences by detecting any similarities or matches between your text and other sources.
- It helps you improve your writing skills by providing feedback on grammar, spelling, vocabulary, tone, clarity, and readability.
- It helps you ensure the quality and credibility of your work by verifying that your work is original and unique, that it does not contain any false or misleading information, and that it meets the standards and expectations of your audience.
- It helps you protect your intellectual property rights by ensuring that you receive proper credit for your work and that you do not infringe on the rights of others.
Disadvantages of using a plagiarism checker
- It may not be able to detect all types of plagiarism, especially indirect or mosaic plagiarism, which can be harder to identify by a software program.
- It may not be able to access all sources of information, especially those that are not available online or in public databases, which can limit its accuracy and reliability.
- It may not be able to distinguish between intentional and unintentional plagiarism, which can affect its fairness and validity.
- It may not be able to account for different citation styles and formats, which can vary depending on the discipline and purpose of the work.
Apps for Detecting Plagiarism by Type
There are different types of apps for detecting plagiarism that can suit different needs and preferences. Some of the types are
Free Plagiarism Checker:
Some examples of plagiarism checker free apps are
Plagiarism Checker by Copy Checker:
Copy Checker is a 100% free plagiarism checker app that compares your text to billions of web pages and academic papers across the internet.
It gives you a percentage of similarity and highlights the matching sources for each sentence. You can also use Copy Checker’s paraphrasing tool to rewrite any plagiarized content in a unique way.
Quetext:
This is a free plagiarism checker app that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to compare your text to over 20 billion web pages and academic papers across the internet.
You can also use Quetext’s comparison feature to see how your text differs from the original source side by side.
Plagiarism Remover
Copyleaks:
This is a free plagiarism detector tool that compares your content to more than 60 trillion web pages and academic papers on the internet using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
It provides you with a precise similarity score and lists the sources that correspond to each paragraph. You may compare your content with the original source side by side using Copyleaks’ comparison tool.
Paid Plagiarism Checker:
Some examples of paid plagiarism checker app are
Grammarly:
This is a paid plagiarism checker app that offers more than just plagiarism checking. Grammarly can also help you with grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, tone, clarity, and readability.
Grammarly’s plagiarism checker compares your text to over 16 billion web pages and academic papers stored in ProQuest’s databases.
Turnitin:
This is a paid plagiarism checker app that is widely used in academic settings. Turnitin can also help you with citation generation, feedback provision, grading management, and more.
Turnitin’s plagiarism checker compares your text to over 70 billion web pages and academic papers stored in its own databases.
Scribbr:
This is a paid plagiarism checker app that offers more than just plagiarism checking. Scribbr can also help you with citation generation, proofreading, editing, structure check, clarity check, word count reduction, and more.
Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is powered by Turnitin, a leader in plagiarism prevention. It compares your text to over 99 billion web pages and 8 million publications.
What characteristics should we check for in a Plagiarism Checker?
Before purchasing a plagiarism detector app, there are some characteristics that we should check for to ensure that we get the best value and quality for our money. Some of these characteristics are
Accuracy and reliability:
The most important characteristic of a good plagiarism detector app is its accuracy and reliability. We want an app that can detect all types of plagiarism, especially indirect or mosaic plagiarism, which can be harder to identify by a software program.
We also want an app that can provide us with precise similarity scores and detailed reports that show us the exact matches and sources for each sentence or paragraph. We should avoid apps that give us false positives or false negatives, which can mislead us about the originality and quality of our work.
Database size and coverage:
Another important characteristic of a good plagiarism detector app is its database size and coverage. We want an app that can access a large number of web pages and academic papers across the internet, especially those that are not available online or in public databases, which can limit its accuracy and reliability.
We also want an app that can cover different languages, disciplines, and formats, which can vary depending on our needs and preferences. We should avoid apps that have limited databases, outdated algorithms, or hidden fees.
Speed and performance:
Another important characteristic of a good plagiarism detector app is its speed and performance. We want an app that can scan our documents quickly and efficiently, without compromising its accuracy and reliability.
We also want an app that can handle large files, multiple documents, or bulk uploads, which can save us time and effort. We should avoid apps that are slow, unstable, or prone to errors.
User interface and features:
Another important characteristic of a good plagiarism detector app is its user interface and features. We want an app that has a simple and easy-to-use interface, without requiring any complex procedures or technical skills.
We also want an app that has useful features such as grammar check, paraphrasing tool, comparison feature, alert service, etc., which can enhance our writing skills and experience. We should avoid apps that have confusing or cluttered interfaces or lack essential features.
Security and privacy:
Another important characteristic of a good plagiarism detector app is its security and privacy. We want an app that protects our data and documents from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.
We also want an app that respects our rights and preferences regarding the storage, deletion, or sharing of our data and documents. We should avoid apps that compromise our security or privacy or violate our terms and conditions.
Customer support and feedback:
Another important characteristic of a good plagiarism detector app is its customer support and feedback. We want an app that provides us with timely, helpful, and friendly customer support, in case we encounter any issues, questions, or complaints.
We also want an app that listens to our feedback, suggestions, or reviews, and makes improvements or updates accordingly. We should avoid apps that ignore our customer support or feedback or treat us rudely or disrespectfully.
Conclusion
Plagiarism is a serious problem that can have negative consequences for your academic performance, your professional image, and your ethical standards. To prevent plagiarism, you need to reference your sources properly and verify your work for originality before submitting it.
Many free online tools can help you check your work for plagiarism, but not all of them are trustworthy and accurate.
We hope this article has helped you find the best free plagiarism checker for your needs. Remember, a good plagiarism checker is not enough to guarantee plagiarism-free work. You also need to write with honesty, creativity, and responsibility.