Why is Plagiarism Important?

Plagiarism is any unauthorized use of parts or the whole of any work without giving proper credit to the original creator. Unethical copying of any work is considered theft, and therefore it takes away the originality and trustworthiness of the content.

Understanding why plagiarism often happens is essential to avoid it in the future.

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Why People Plagiarize

People plagiarize for numerous reasons, but no one reason fits all. For example, why a blogger might plagiarize is different from the reason a student does.

Often, most people don’t understand plagiarism in all its forms. So, first, you should try and have an essential understanding of what plagiarism is.

Nevertheless, here are some of the most common reasons we hear for why plagiarism occurs.

For Students:

  • Fear of failure
  • The desire for a good grade
  • Overwhelmed with the current workload
  • They feel the teacher doesn’t care, so why should they

Other Reasons:

(Not applicable to just students)

  • Accidental (they forgot to cite correctly, place quotation marks, etc.)
  • They didn’t know they were plagiarizing (aka, not being familiar with all the forms of plagiarism)
  • They didn’t think anyone would notice
  • Time management issues
  • Stressed

Why Avoiding Plagiarism is Important

As mentioned before, plagiarism is unethical and considered a form of theft, thereby making it a punishable offense.

But there are many other reasons why we should avoid plagiarism.

For starters, plagiarism undermines credibility and can severely damage your reputation. If you’re a student, that can range from a failing grade to suspension to ruining your academic record entirely.

If you’re a blogger or copywriter, you jeopardize your career and any person or organization associated with you.

Bottom line, no matter who you are, plagiarizing takes away trustworthiness. That’s why it is vital to understand how to avoid plagiarism, whether you’re in academics or a business professional.

Copyleaks FYI

Legal repercussions for plagiarism can include fines up to $50,000 or more and a year in jail. 

Some Tips to Avoid Plagiarism

Start as soon as possible.

The first step to producing a well-written article or assignment is to start working on it as soon as possible. If you keep procrastinating, then, in the end, the stress of the time crunch can lead to careless mistakes, including accidental plagiarism.

Keep track of ALL your sources.

While working on any project, keeping track of all your sources is vital. Keep track of all site URLs, author’s name, page numbers, etc. Because once you’re done, it’s much easier to check your work and ensure every reference you’ve used is listed and cited correctly.

<span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">Use a plagiarism checker.

After you’ve finished your work, the final step is to review and edit. Consider scanning your work through an online plagiarism checker tool as part of your editing process. Not only will this help produce original work, but it’ll also give you peace of mind.

Start as soon as possible.

The first step to producing a well-written article or assignment is to start working on it as soon as possible. If you keep procrastinating, then, in the end, the stress of the time crunch can lead to careless mistakes, including accidental plagiarism.

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How Do Plagiarism Checkers Work?

The typical process for the Copyleaks online plagiarism checker tool is:

  1. First, scan or upload your document.
  2. Within seconds, the AI software will begin identifying the textual elements, breaking down the entire document into smaller chunks of semantically related phrases.
  3. Then it will begin filtering out the unique characters and symbols.
  4. Next, it starts checking for plagiarism within local portals.
  5. Using the unique Copyleaks algorithm, the plagiarism checker further monitors the larger chunks of data.
  6. Usage of search engines for further comparisons is the final step.
  7. Once the document scan is complete (typically in less than a minute), the Copyleaks plagiarism checker generates a plagiarism report.

 

While several online plagiarism tools are available, what makes Copyleaks unique is our AI-based technology that generates results in real-time.

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