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How to Improve Journalism Writing With the Help of Plagiarism Checkers

Newspapers, journals, magazines require a journalistic style of writing which is primarily objective. A magazine or newspaper caters to different types of news. Hence the platter may have different styles of writing. In journalism, writing style can matter from one writing to another. The journalistic style does not mean that a journalist only needs to put the news in words and present them. They need to use their own words to offer the readers the joy of reading.

The readers are more interested in reading original content as they are more interested in knowing the news. For news, raw facts also do not always make sense. Journalists have the liberty to express it from their point of view. They need to make sure that they are not stripping facts out of the content and leaving it as an opinionated piece.

Even when they are working on a project, they should not plagiarize. Journalists can get penalized for using plagiarized content in their articles. One may wonder, why? Well, because most countries have strict laws to prevent copyright violation. They must use a plagiarism check tool before publishing any content.

Though the journalists cannot copy-paste an entire content from any other published article, they can use parts from another writing in their feature or journal article. They may find it necessary to use a part of their reference material to substantiate their argument.

They can use those parts within quotes, and they also need to do proper citations to avoid any charge of plagiarism. In case they are paraphrasing those parts, they may not use quotation marks. However, it is a must for them to do a proper citation.

Different Styles of Journalistic Writing:

Although many people consider that there is only one type of journalism writing, and they follow the format of report writing. In reality, there are plenty of different Journalism writing styles that a journalist can use while working on their content. Here are some types of writing that a reader can commonly spot in any journalistic article:

1. Investigative Writing:

In investigative writing, the journalists need to reveal any truth regarding an incident or situation. They should include facts in this article. There is no place for sensation or assumption. The writers need to create a sense of suspense to make the article captive and exciting.

2. Review Writing:

The writer delivers the opinion on a book, artwork, or any other product using this type of writing. These articles are majorly opinion-based. Hence, the journalist can take the liberty to express their feelings about the thing.

3. Feature Writing:

Featured articles deal with a variety of topics. They primarily seek the details of the subject to make the content a roundabout article. The journalist gets to show their creativity in feature articles.

4. Columns:

A column is mainly author-based and is a helpful way of expression for a writer. They can get a loyal readership for themselves, and this type of article is primarily a blog type of writing.

5. General Report Writing/ News Writing:

This type of news writing only involves straight facts or news. The journalist does not need to sugar-coat any of the data for this type of article. They need to state straight facts through these types of articles.

Types of Plagiarism:

Plagiarism can be of different types. Direct plagiarism occurs when a writer directly copies the whole content and uses it under their name.

A journalist may also use the same content with some minor changes in the synonymous words, leading to mosaic plagiarism. It may also happen that they are paraphrasing parts from another writing without any citation. That is also an instance of plagiarism. It may also happen that a journalist wants to use portions of their previous works in their current assignment. They can do it.

However, in that case, they need to do a proper citation. If they fail to do so, then that can be an instance of self-plagiarism. Plagiarism can be accidental as well. It may also happen that the journalist has mistakenly avoided the quotation marks or misquoted the part. They can also fail to do the proper citation. These are some instances of accidental plagiarism. Whether accidental or intentional, plagiarism severely affects the career of a journalist.

They must do proper citations for the work they are using to strengthen their argument. In the citation, they need to include all the valid information related to the work. There are different styles of citation like APA, MLA, Chicago styles, and more. The journalists can use any of the styles as per their choice. They need to make sure they are appropriately crediting the original author of the content.

Consequences of Plagiarism in Journalism:

Since plagiarism is a form of stealing, publishing houses have their policies to deal with plagiarism. If a newspaper or magazine publishes plagiarised content, it takes away the trust of the reader. The decrease in readership may impact their revenue from circulation. It eventually leads to revenue decrease received from advertisements. Thus, the publication houses are very strict about plagiarism. If a journalist submits a paper with plagiarism, that may impact their career, and on occasions, its damage can be severe.

Moreover, most countries have strict rules regarding plagiarism, and the plagiarists have to face severe consequences, like financial compensation or imprisonment. If a writer feels the violation of their right to work, they may seek legal help. If the charges are correct, then the journalist may have to undergo some significant consequences.

How to Stay Away From Plagiarized Writeups?

A writer or journalist needs to be careful about plagiarism. They need to use a plagiarism checker tool before submitting their work. They can upload their article on a plagiarism checker tool and scan the content to find any plagiarised content present in it. The tool compares it with the other existing resources and finds out similar parts. A plagiarism checker for journal articles highlights the copied portions and mentions the sources of those parts.

The writers can easily do a citation for those plagiarised parts. The writers need to refer to the related information about the work they are using. They need to mention the author’s name, work, page number, edition, publication, and other valid data in the citation. The journalists need to remember that crediting the original source is the only way to avoid plagiarism charges.

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