I bet every editor who ever worked with content of any kind has ever asked himself the following questions. How to quickly and seamlessly identify the unscrupulous author who tries to pass someone else’s writing off as his own? What should you pay attention to when editing the ready text submitted by copywriter? And, of course, what can you do in order to protect yourself from using poor-quality writings and timely avoid the horrible consequences and irreparable damage to your professional image it may cause? Well, let’s put our aiming cross on plagiarism and deal with this phenomenon once and for all. Our professional editing team has prepared this post that will help you to learn how to quickly and efficiently detect plagiarism using these 10 simple ways.
What is Plagiarism or Why Do They Do It?
According to common dictionary definition, plagiarism is unauthorized usage or close imitation of another’s author language or thoughts without crediting the original author. Plagiarism is quite a common phenomenon and I bet that almost everyone has ever got dirty with plagiarism, especially in the school years. Remember how you cheated off that test in the sixth grade, don’t you? Yes, it was also a plagiarism, but don’t worry, none will sue you because of that school test, although the same can't be said for your college essay, thesis, or dissertation. Unlike harmless “classroom exam” plagiarism, the ‘adult’ deliberate representation of someone else’s work as one’s own, especially in order to get valuable consideration, often goes in breach of the law and may cause the serious consequences from copywriter or editor losing his/her job or college student having his paper rejected to even a real court suit. Well, the author can always deal with plagiarism issues through rewriting or rewording his work, but what about an editor?
The task of editor, who like a knight in a shiny armor stands sentinel over the original content, is to make sure that a paper lying in front of him is free of any trace of plagiarism. How to do so? Well, it’s quite a complicated question that cannot be answered in brief. Even if you have considerable suspicions about a text containing plagiarism, it may be quite challenging to identify the matching paragraphs with the naked eye. Just imagine that you have two writings lying on the table in front of you that you have to compare; and don’t forget that the plagiarism may often be partial, sentence-wise or paragraph-wise; or the author may have used several sources on the Internet, especially in our modern age of growing IT advancement. So how can you make sure that the content is really original, so your copywriter could get his payment or your student his excellent mark? We got an answer for you.
Plagiarism Detection Software or Editor’s Best Friends
Today the Internet offers a number of various software tools for plagiarism detection, but we have chosen top 10 most convenient and reliable for everyday use by the editors.
1. DupliChecker
DupliChecker is free plagiarism detection software with easy and user-friendly interface that perfectly fits for beginners. It is quite convenient, as long as it offers various options for text insertion, including copy-pasting the textual content, uploading the text file or entering the URL link to the text posted online. It was designed as a professional software tool and ensures 100% authentic results. DupliChecker is absolutely free service; however it has limitation on number of searches per day (50 searches for registered users and 1 search per day for unregistered), so if you require multiple plagiarism checks on a daily basis, you should probably consider other options from our list.
2. CopyLeaks
CopyLeaks is one of the most reliable plagiarism check software that offers number of products for academic and business purposes, including beta-version of complex plagiarism check for websites. Its search base includes more than sixty trillion pages all over the web, while the service supports various file formats in many languages. CopyLeaks has both free and premium-subscription versions different in support prioritization and number of words/credits available per month and requires mandatory registration of account in order to launch a check. This is probably the most suitable instrument for detection of plagiarism in online content.
3. Paperrater
Paperrater is specialized free software tool for student papers and academic documents developed by linguist professionals and graduated students. Besides plagiarism detection, it also offers grammar check and writing suggestion tools. It’s quite convenient service for academic purposes, although it doesn’t offer a feature of saving the statistics reports. Paid version of Paperrater offers better processing speed and ability to check longer documents up to six hundred words, as long as downloading the text files.
4. Plagium
Plagium is a free plagiarism detection tool offering several features. It ensures highly reliable plagiarism check through searching for matches not only on the web, but also in social media like Facebook, etc. Paid version unlocks additional features, such as text file uploading.
5. Plagiarisma
Free downloadable plagiarism detection service for Windows that supports around two hundred different languages and additional feature of searching website content via URL. However, number of free searches is limited to only 3 per day (unlimited in the paid version); and the service is considered relatively less reliable due to the Synonymizer tool facilitating plagiarism.
6. PlagScan
Free software for easy plagiarism detection that does not require any download or installation and continuously notifies the user about of check progress. Although, it has rather complicated interface and fits rather for experienced users.
7. Copyscape
Copyscape is the plagiarism detection software powered by Google Web APIs and developed by Indigo Stream Technologies Ltd that is considered as one of the most reliable web-services on the market. Although being subscription-based, it also offers a limited free version.
8. Viper
Viper is another free software tool for Microsoft Windows. It is focused on academic paper checking and conducts searching against 10 billion academic sources. It also compares the content with text files saved on your PC.
9. Quetext
100% free software that does not require downloading and offers unlimited usage without creating an account. The only disadvantage is that you cannot upload the text file, so it is necessary to copy and paste the text for checking.
10. Dustball
One of the most popular online software tools for detection of unoriginal content. It has the free version available, as well as extended pro version through paid subscription.
Vigilance Comes First
As you already may know, the plagiarism issue and everything related to it is a severe headache not only for hapless plagiarist, but although for editor and generally everyone who would clean the plagiarism mess after him. But, well, if the irretrievable has already happened and you have faced the plagiarism issues requiring urgent expert solution, you may always order our expert services for content rewriting, editing, etc. If you have any questions about the service we offer, be welcome to contact our support team.