To Use Or Not To Use: Plagiarism Checker

I didn't kniw they even existed. How would they work? Do you feed it your writing then would it somehow break it down to sentences and check those against some massive database of everything ever written in the history of the world and flag the sentences that were used in the past?

Shadow_Ferret said:

I didn't kniw they even existed. How would they work? Do you feed it your writing then would it somehow break it down to sentences and check those against some massive database of everything ever written in the history of the world and flag the sentences that were used in the past?

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My business courses had us submit our final papers into a program called Turn It In (or something to that effect). And yes, it checked your entire paper against databases of published articles and I think ran a google search to see if anything was copied. Usually it'd would only be a problem f a student not properly citing a source, not deliberate plagiarism.

To the OP: I have no idea if the program is free, and wouldn't bother using it myself for my own work.

amergina said:

I don't. There's no reason for me to do that, as I don't copy other people's work.

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This. I can't imagine a writer needing to check their own work for plagiarism. An agent or an editor on a work under consideration, maybe; I wouldn't know. But a writer checking their own work, no.

I don't. There's no reason for me to do that, as I don't copy other people's work.

allias said:

Hi guys, I am currently doing some kind of research in writing sphere and I need to know your opinion about plagiarism checkers/detectors. Do you check your content for plagiarism (to exclude any possible accidental plagiarism, for example)?

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There is no such thing as accidental plagiarism. If you copy enough of someone else's work for it to be considered plagiarism, it was not an accident. So, no, I don't check my work.

As I don't copy other people's work. There's no reason for me to do that, I don't.

;-P

I thought the plagiarism checker was to check if others haven't plagiarised your online work, e.g. blog posts. It does happen from time to time - some blogs have nothing but copy and pastes of other people's blog posts, and my blog gets a few views so I do check every now and then.

I don't check my own work for plagiarism because I know it's original. Not sure how accidental plagiarism can happen unless you're quoting other people's work and didn't credit it right. I've heard of that happening in scientific literature, but it's not relevant to fiction and an online plagiarism checker isn't going to pick up that kind of mistake anyway.

No, and I don't see why I'd ever need to use it. I'm pretty sure no one's ever written the same stories as me. Sure, I might have similarities in concept, but that's it.

It would be useful for a writer who posts their work online and wanted to see if anyone is plagiarizing their work. That's the risk of displaying any kind of artwork online.

A free (but maybe not so comprehensive?) alternative would be to place a random sentence from your document inside quotes in the Google searchbar, and it will search for that specific phrase.

Another good site is Tineye, which checks for images.

Turns out I've plagiarized a chunk of text from the bit I've posted here for critique...

amergina said:

I don't. There's no reason for me to do that, as I don't copy other people's work.

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I don't either, but I've often wondered, after reading something that struck me as particularly interesting or well-written, if I did stored it away in my brain and then years later subconsciously pulled it out and used it, not realizing where it came from.

How would I accidentally plagiarize something?

That's like, 'oh, I accidentally stole your wallet!'

I just suggested how.

I used one when I came across the thing, but it was just out of curiosity, because I don't copy. I think I'll look at one again and see what it says.

No. Many years of teaching showed me that there is no such thing as accidental plagiarism.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I don't either, but I've often wondered, after reading something that struck me as particularly interesting or well-written, if I did stored it away in my brain and then years later subconsciously pulled it out and used it, not realizing where it came from.

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Closest thing I've ever had has been character names or locations. But a google search clears that up just fine.

There are free plagiarism checkers. They're not as thorough as the ones you pay for, but they're good enough to see if anyone's copied and pasted one of your blog posts onto their blog.

Wouldn't I already know if I plagiarized?

veinglory said:

No. Many years of teaching showed me that there is no such thing as accidental plagiarism.

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Why not, and where does plagiarism start then? After all, maybe it is possible to trace the phrase "I love you so much" (5 word rule) back to the first author to have ever written it down, so is it NOT accidental plagiarism for someone else 200 years later to write those exact words? How original must words be so they can be owned?

NaeimGiladisLegacy said:

Why not, and where does plagiarism start then? After all, maybe it is possible to trace the phrase "I love you so much" (5 word rule) back to the first author to have ever written it down, so is it NOT accidental plagiarism for someone else 200 years later to write those exact words? How original must words be so they can be owned?

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But that is such a generic phrase I'm not sure it would even count

It's like "I had bacon and eggs for dinner" or "I need a pee" or "Hi, Dad, what's for dinner"

Are people not allowed to say that because someone else did?

Something actually recognisable from another work might be more applicable. "Luke, I am your father" or "I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate" or something.

Generic phrases are fine although you might want to punch it up.


If you use a lot (of generic phrases) together so that a plagiarism detector picks them up. genericism is your problem not plagiarism...