Write Unique Content and Avoid Plagiarism

Avoiding Plagiarism - Important Content Facts

Plagiarism is a topic approached all too seldom and how to avoid it is rarely focused upon. It is however, a problem when it comes to intellectual property.

Plagiarism Definition

Plagiarism is defined as taking someone else's work or ideas and claiming them as your own original work. Most writers and designers consider it theft. The search engines penalize for plagiarized or duplicate content and the writer's reputation and that of the website will suffer.

Schools have problems with plagiarized content when essays or research papers are assigned. It has become such an issue that there are websites dedicated to checking papers and articles for plagiarism.

Newspapers, journals and magazines also struggle with the issue of plagiarism. It can be costly in terms of the reputation of all parties involved.

Websites struggle also with plagiarism issues. Content scrapers regularly take articles from sites and then present them on their own websites in order to gain free content. Most writers and bloggers write to be heard; however, they want credit for their efforts and plagiarism does not give credit to the original author.

What are Your Thoughts on the Matter?

You are a writer or a blogger in order to communicate your view of the world, politics or bathtub rings to others. If the thoughts are not your own, then you are not doing what you set out to do.

The Ethical View on Plagiarism

As mentioned before, most article writers and bloggers write to convey a message and it is not fast or easy work. Most articles are carefully crafted and painstakingly edited. Taking the results of their hard work and creativity and claiming it as your own is simply unethical and tantamount to theft. It is also legally actionable.

Plagiarism is Easy to Detect

If you copy something word for word from another site and paste it verbatim on your own site, the chances are you will be exposed. Currently there are many sophisticated plagiarism detection engines online, and writers are notably unforgiving of plagiarism. You will be discovered.

The Search Engines Penalize for Plagiarism

The search engines do not call it plagiarism they call it duplicate content. They will not file suit against you, but they will penalize your site for its lack of original content and use of duplicated material. If you found the material on the web, the chances are the search engines were there before you and have already indexed it. It belongs to them and any other use is duplicate content.

Plagiarism is Death for Your Reputation

Most sites have a product and they feature experts that write about their specialties. An expert who publishes plagiarized material from the internet however, does not maintain a reputation for long.

Not Everything on the Internet is Free to Take

One thing that many new persons might misunderstand about internet publishing is that just because it is out there for anyone to read, does not mean it is not out there to be taken by anyone. Content still has a legal owner.

If you find an article that, you would love to reprint then check on the copyright restrictions. Most blogs include the copyright information on the bottom of the page in fine print. If you are still unsure, then contact the author and ask for permission.

If you are writing about a new subject then you should research it as thoroughly as possible. Jot down notes in a notebook in your own words, and then later write your article referring only to your notes. This reduces the chance that you will inadvertently plagiarize someone else's work