plagiarism percentage for research paper

Frequently asked questions

What is an acceptable percentage of plagiarism.

Your work should not contain any  plagiarism . Even if your score is 1%, you will need to review each similarity and decide whether it’s necessary to revise your work.

But  contrary to popular belief, plagiarism checkers work by detecting similarities, not plagiarism . Not all similarities are plagiarism. Similarities can be:

• Properly cited quotes
• In-text citations or your reference list entries
• Commonly used phrases

What should I do with a found similarity?

Frequently asked questions: Scribbr Plagiarism Checker

The free report tells you if your text contains potential plagiarism and other writing issues. The premium report gives you the resources you need to review issues in detail and resolve them.

Scribbr’s free plagiarism checker estimates the risk of plagiarism by calculating the percentage of text in your document that’s similar to other sources.

A moderate or high risk of plagiarism means that the plagiarism software detected several similarities worth reviewing.

Note that similarities are not necessarily plagiarism. You will need to decide on your own whether your text needs revision or citation.

Information can often be found in more than one place. For this reason, other sources citing the same information you used can come up in your Sources Overview.

The important thing is to make sure you’ve cited the source of the material. Try to find the original source, but if you can’t find it, it’s best to cite the source where you found the information.

Similarities in your document are highlighted for quick and easy review. Each color corresponds to a source in your Sources Overview at the right side of your report.

Extensive testing proves that Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is one of the most accurate plagiarism checkers on the market in 2022.

The software detects everything from exact word matches to synonym swapping. It also has access to a full range of source types, including open- and restricted-access journal articles, theses and dissertations, websites, PDFs, and news articles.

No, you will never get a 100% match because the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker does not store documents in a public database.

You can change the settings of your report by clicking on the gear icon which is displayed just above the similarity score.

The settings allow you to exclude search repositories or ignore small matches, quoted material, or references in your bibliography.

No, the Self-Plagiarism Checker does not store your document in any public database.

In addition, you can delete all your personal information and documents from the Scribbr server as soon as you’ve received your plagiarism report.

Are you not satisfied with the results of the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker , or are you experiencing difficulties with the document? Find out what to do when…

• you cannot see your plagiarism results: Try opening the results in Google Chrome, or request a PDF copy .
• you see an error message in the header of your document: Don’t worry – you can ignore the error message .
• you see “Error! Bookmark not defined” in your table of contents: Don’t worry – this error doesn’t affect your results .
• you are not satisfied with your similarity score: The similarity score shows you what percentage of your text the software found in sources in the Turnitin database. That means we cannot change your score.However, you can reduce the similarities yourself by following our simple guides to interpreting the report and avoiding plagiarism . Then the similarity score of your submitted paper will be much lower. If you want to see your new score after following these guides, you can purchase a second check .
• you are not 100% happy with our service: Read about our 100% happiness guarantee and fill in the feedback form. We will contact you within 24 hours.

If you copied a fragment from a source and the Plagiarism Check did not find it, there are four possible explanations.

You paraphrased the fragment

If you paraphrased the original text by using different words and/or changing their order, the fragment will no longer be detected by the plagiarism software.

You can test this by searching the fragment in double quotation marks on Google. If no results are returned, you successfully paraphrased. Note that you still need to cite the source of the original idea.

However, if Google did return a result but our software did not highlight it, this might mean that…

The source is not part of our database

The Turnitin database used by the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker contains 99.3 billion current and historical webpages and 8 million journal articles and books. However, it’s possible that the source you used is an inaccessible publication or a student paper that is not part of our database. Even if you’re certain that the source is publicly accessible, it might not yet have been added to the database. Turnitin is constantly updating its database by searching the internet and adding new publications. You can expect the source to be added in the near future.

To cater to this, we have th e Self-Plagiarism Check er at Scribbr. Just upload any document you used and start the check. You can repeat this as often as you like with all your sources. With your Plagiarism Check order, you get a free pass to use the Self-Plagiarism Checker. Simply upload them to your similarity report and let us do the rest!

The “Exclude Small Matches” number is set too high

By default, the plagiarism report shows similarities of 9 words or more. If the fragment you copied is shorter than that, it will not be shown in the report.

You can manually adjust the minimum length in order to show shorter similarities. Find out how to do that here .

Your document was not readable

If you uploaded a PDF file, it is possible that your document is not machine readable or was converted to an image instead of text. As a result, no similarities will be found.

To test if the text in your PDF is readable, you can copy and paste the document into a text editor (e.g. Microsoft Word, Notepad, TextEdit). If the text editor shows the same text as the PDF, then the text will also be readable by our plagiarism software.

If you know that you used a fragment, but it wasn’t found by our plagiarism software, it’s best to paraphrase or quote it anyway (and be sure to cite the source ). It’s always better to be safe than sorry!

Yes, Scribbr offers a limited free version of its plagiarism checker in partnership with Turnitin. It uses Turnitin’s industry-leading plagiarism detection technology and has access to most content databases.

Run a free plagiarism check

If you’re a university representative, you can contact the sales department of Turnitin .

Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker is powered by elements of Turnitin’s Similarity Checker , namely the plagiarism detection software and the Internet Archive and Premium Scholarly Publications content databases .

The add-on AI detector is powered by Scribbr’s proprietary software.

Your document will be compared to the world’s largest and fastest-growing content database , containing over:

• 99.3 billion current and historical webpages.
• 8 million publications from more than 1,700 publishers such as Springer, IEEE, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis.

Note: Scribbr does not have access to Turnitin’s global database with student papers. Only your university can add and compare submissions to this database.

Scribbr’s plagiarism checker offers complete support for 20 languages, including English, Spanish, German, Arabic, and Dutch.

The add-on AI Detector and AI Proofreader are only available in English.

The complete list of supported languages:

If you purchased a Plagiarism Checker in combination with our Proofreading & Editing service, you can start the Plagiarism Checker anytime at your convenience.

Scribbr recommends using the Plagiarism Checker after you have received your document and gone through all of the edits. Then you can upload the most recent version of your paper and avoid having to manually transfer changes from one document to another.

No, your teacher, professor, or admissions officer will not be able to see your submissions at Scribbr because they’re not added to any shared or public databases.

Your writing stays private. Your submissions to Scribbr are not published in any public database, so no other plagiarism checker (including those used by universities) will see them.

If your university uses Turnitin, the result will be very similar to what you see at Scribbr.

The only possible difference is that your university may compare your submission to a private database containing previously submitted student papers. Scribbr does not have access to these private databases (and neither do other plagiarism checkers).

To cater to this, we have the Self-Plagiarism Checker at Scribbr. Just upload any document you used and start the check. You can repeat this as often as you like with all your sources. With your Plagiarism Check order, you get a free pass to use the Self-Plagiarism Checker. Simply upload them to your similarity report and let us do the rest!

Yes, if you are interested in buying more than 25 plagiarism checks, please fill in this form . Depending on the size of your request, you will be contacted by a representative of either Scribbr or our partner Turnitin .

For questions, please reach out to our Support team .

You can download or print your plagiarism report using the “Share” button in the bottom-left corner of your plagiarism report.

Exclude similarities : Step 1: Open your Plagiarism Check results. Step 2: Click on the highlighted similarity that you would like to exclude. Step 3: Click on the “Exclude” button on the right.

The similarity is now excluded from your total similarity score.

If you have excluded multiple sources from your total similarity score, then you might see an error message in your Plagiarism Check results. Unfortunately, this is a problem that we cannot fix at the moment.

If you encounter this issue, you can simply ignore all irrelevant similarities and subtract their score from your total similarity score. This allows you to calculate your actual similarity score by yourself.

Review every similarity for plagiarism, and decide whether or not you need to revise your text.

• Review the similarity, and think about whether or not the match makes sense to you.
• Revise the snippet if necessary. You can do so by paraphrasing or quoting . Always cite your sources.

If you accidentally uploaded the wrong document to the Plagiarism Checker , Scribbr will not refund you for this check or give you a discount for another check. The check starts automatically upon payment, which is why we cannot change your document anymore.

A similarity score of 0% means that our plagiarism software didn’t find any similarities between your document and other documents in our database .

On average, only 1 out of 150 students achieve this. Congratulations!

Your similarity score shows you what percentage of your text is found within sources in the comparison database.

For example, if your score is 15%, then 15% of the content you wrote is unoriginal, as it matches text in the database.

You will have to review each similarity and decide whether or not you need to revise your work.

What is a good score?   How do I update my work?

If you’re unable to view the Plagiarism Check results in your browser, please try the following two solutions:

1. Are you using Google Chrome?

We’ve found that using Google Chrome resolves most issues related to the results page. First, try using Google Chrome to open your Plagiarism Check results. If you are already using Google Chrome, or if this solution does not work, then proceed to the second solution.

2. Contact support for a PDF copy of the results.

If the first solution doesn’t work, you can contact our support team via chat or email and request a PDF copy of the results via email. This way, you can still review and process the results. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Scribbr checks your document for plagiarism only once. You can use the “exclude text” feature to exclude similarities that you’ve resolved, which automatically updates your similarity score.

If you would like to recheck your entire document, you can purchase a new plagiarism check at the regular price. We don’t currently offer a subscription service.

Sometimes a quote is marked as a similarity by the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker . A quote is not a form of plagiarism , but you do have to ensure you have properly cited the original source.

If you’re certain that you have correctly quoted and cited, you can exclude the similarity from your plagiarism score.

Below we briefly explain the rules for quoting in APA Style .

Quotes under 40 words

When quoting fewer than 40 words, use double quotation marks around the quote, and provide an APA in-text citation that includes the author, the year, and a page number or range.

Quotes over 40 words

If the quote contains 40 words or more, format it as a block quote , which begins on a new line and is indented in its entirety. Include an in-text citation  after the period.

Sometimes it is necessary to quote a source at length:

The Scribbr Plagiarism Checker detect similarities between your paper and a comprehensive database of web and publication content . Because many students write their references in the same way (for instance in APA Style ), a plagiarism checker finds many similarities with these sources.

A reference found by the check is not a form of plagiarism. Therefore, there is no need to take action.

How to exclude your reference list from your results:

You can exclude matches from your reference list in your Plagiarism Check results. However, please be aware that this might not always work, depending on your document.

No worries! This error does not influence the accuracy of your Plagiarism Check results.

If you have inserted a chapter or section title in the header of your document, then you might see an error message in your Plagiarism Check results.

Instead of the title, you will see an error message like the one above. Unfortunately, this is a problem that we cannot fix.

Our check may flag these error messages as similarities. You can ignore these similarities.

If you have an automatic table of contents and/or list of figures and tables, then you might see an error message instead of the page numbers. The error message might look like this: “Error! Bookmark not defined.”

Unfortunately, this is something we cannot fix. Our check may flag these error messages as similarities. You can ignore these similarities.

The Scribbr Plagiarism Checker is able to work with the following file formats:

The format you use doesn’t influence the final result. If you’re working with a format not listed here, we recommend converting it prior to submitting.

At the moment we do not offer a monthly subscription for the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker. This means you won’t be charged on a recurring basis – you only pay for what you use. We believe this provides you with the flexibility to use our service as frequently or infrequently as you need, without being tied to a contract or recurring fee structure.

You can find an overview of the prices per document here:

Please note that we can’t give refunds if you bought the plagiarism check thinking it was a subscription service as communication around this policy is clear throughout the order process.

By default, the plagiarism report only shows similarities of 9 words or more.

You can change the minimum length of a similarity yourself in order to exclude small matches from the plagiarism report.

What is the best value for the “Exclude Small Matches” setting?

The ideal minimum length of similarities is different per case. In general, we believe that setting the minimum to 8 words results in too many small similarities that are unlikely to be plagiarism. That’s why the default value is set to 9.

However, if you believe that your document contains many small similarities that are not plagiarism ( like these ), you can try changing the setting to 10 or 11 to get a more accurate view of the potential plagiarism in your document.

Proceed with caution , since increasing the number might hide potential plagiarism in your report.

How can I change this “Exclude Small Matches” setting?

1) Click on the gear icon on the top right of the plagiarism report

2) Fill in your desired minimum similarity length

3) Click “Done” to go back to the “Sources overview”

When should I change the “Exclude Small Matches” value?

For most people, there is no need to change this value. However, if you want more control over the similarities shown in your report and you think that most of the small similarities are not relevant, you can increase this number.

Please proceed with caution, since increasing this number might hide potential plagiarism in your report. Decreasing the value is not recommended.

What happens when you decrease the “Exclude Small Matches”?

If you decrease this number, shorter similarities will be included in the report. This means you will see more similarities and a higher similarity percentage.

However, most of these extra similarities are unlikely to be instances of plagiarism. Short similarities are often the result of common phrases that appear in many different sources.

What happens when you increase the “Exclude Small Matches”?

If you increase this number, only longer similarities will be included in the report. This means you will see fewer similarities and a lower similarity percentage.

Since the similarities are longer, the similarities you now see are more likely to be plagiarism.

However, by excluding the smaller similarities, you might miss some instances of potential plagiarism.

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• v.26(2); 2014 Apr

Plagiarism in Scientific Research and Publications and How to Prevent It

Faculty of medicine, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Quality is assessed on the basis of adequate evidence, while best results of the research are accomplished through scientific knowledge. Information contained in a scientific work must always be based on scientific evidence. Guidelines for genuine scientific research should be designed based on real results. Dynamic research and use correct methods of scientific work must originate from everyday practice and the fundamentals of the research. The original work should have the proper data sources with clearly defined research goals, methods of operation which are acceptable for questions included in the study. When selecting the methods it is necessary to obtain the consent of the patients/respondents to provide data for execution of the project or so called informed consent. Only by the own efforts can be reached true results, from which can be drawn conclusions and which finally can give a valid scholarly commentary. Text may be copied from other sources, either in whole or in part and marked as a result of the other studies. For high-quality scientific work necessary are expertise and relevant scientific literature, mostly taken from publications that are stored in biomedical databases. These are scientific, professional and review articles, case reports of disease in physician practices, but the knowledge can also be acquired on scientific and expert lectures by renowned scientists. Form of text publications must meet standards on writing a paper. If the article has already been published in a scientific journal, the same article cannot be published in any other journal with a few minor adjustments, or without specifying the parts of the first article which is used in another article. Copyright infringement occurs when the author of a new article, with or without mentioning the author, uses a substantial portion of previously published articles, including past contributions in the first article. With the permission of the publisher and the author, another journal can re-publish the article already published. In that case, that is not plagiarism, because the journal states that the article was re-published with the permission of the journal in which the article is primarily released. The original can be only one, and the copy is a copy, and plagiarism is stolen copy. The aim of combating plagiarism is to improve the quality, to achieve satisfactory results and to compare the results of their own research, rather than copying the data from the results of other people's research. Copy leads to incorrect results. Nowadays the problem of plagiarism has become huge, or widespread and present in almost all spheres of human activity, particularly in science.

Scientific institutions and universities should have a center for surveillance, security, promotion and development of quality research. Establishment of rules and respect the rules of good practice are the obligations of each research institutions, universities and every individual researchers, regardless of which area of science is being investigated. There are misunderstandings and doubts about the criteria and standards for when and how to declare someone a plagiarist. European and World Association of Science Editors (EASE and WAME), and COPE - Committee on Publishing Ethics working on the precise definition of that institution or that the scientific committee may sanction when someone is proven plagiarism and familiarize the authors with the types of sanctions. The practice is to inform the editors about discovered plagiarism and articles are withdrawn from the database, while the authors are put on the so-called black list. So far this is the only way of preventing plagiarism, because there are no other sanctions.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND PHASES OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Jacques Yves Cousteau said: “What is a scientist after all? Scientist is a curious man looking through a keyhole of nature, trying to understand what is happening” ( 1 ).

Whether it comes to young enthusiasts eager to contribute to the scientific community or, in turn, experienced scientific researchers who want to establish their name in the pillars of science for the general good of the research, from the idea to the final realization there is a certain sequence of steps to be followed ( 2 ). Scientific research in medicine is the process of implementation of systemic study within well-defined aspects which can contribute to universal mental, physical and social well-being of individuals and communities, as defined in the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO). There are several types of medical scientific research: laboratory, clinical research and public health. Scientific research contributes to the community and individuals in the community. The benefit to the community is reflected in the collection of evidence that will enhance clinical and socio-medical policies and practices, identifying health problems and methods of health promotion, prevention of disease and disability, the expansion of scientific literature that is the basis for all future scientific research, policy and practice. The well-being of the individual is acquiring new knowledge, and the development of new, improved skills, which will result in the individual academic growth ( 3 , 4 , 5 ).

1.1 Scientific research

In order that research project be valuable and recognized by the academic community and other researchers, it is essential that contains the same elements as other articles. It does not matter to which level of academic status belong the author of the study, it is essential that the steps are the same for all studies. The author Kathryn H. Jacobsen in her book “Introduction to Research Methods in Health: A Practical Guide” ( 1 ) states that the research process consists of five steps: problem identification, selection of the research manner, the choice of study design and data collection, data analysis and writing the conclusion ( 5 , 9 ).

Studies on the population level have clearly defined goals, while the most important of these are ( 5 – 10 ):

• Identifying and classifying new clinical identity;
• Detection of risk factors for disease;
• The development and testing of new protocols for the prevention or treatment of disease ( 1 , 8 ).

The process of scientific research from ideas, hypothesizing, through evidence, analysis of results, to the conclusion and publication of research results in an indexed journal can take months, even years. Unfortunately, the funds allocated for research is often provided by the researchers themselves, and it is a major limiting factor that some research can even begin or end.

1.2 Stages of scientific research

Scientific research has several stages ( 11 - 20 ):

• Determining research topics;
• The choice of scientific methods of research;
• Study design and data collection;
• Data processing, analysis and interpretation;
• Writing and publishing a scientific article;

1.3 Rules for proper research

In order that study had its purpose and effects, but also justify the intent and invested funds, it must meet certain postulates:

• Every scientific research from idea to written scientific article should go through certain phases: the review of the relevant literature on the topic of research, defining the objectives and hypotheses of research, sample selection for the study, implementation of research based on scientific methodological principles, statistical analysis, comparing the obtained own results with results of other authors published in scientific publications, conclusions and specific recommendations for any specific application in practice. Study design and project outline research are usually conducted by experienced researchers as mentors and by own work;
• Researchers and authors of scientific papers must follow the rules of the Ethics Code of Good Scientific Practice (GSP), primarily to follow the principles of honesty and integrity;
• Researchers rely on published data, and must be trained to selectively process the information, then, must be able to distinguish between original ideas and, finally, to have knowledge in order that their research results are compared with previously published in the scientific literature.

In order to achieve and realize the above mentioned:

• Authors are required to follow ethical principles and stick to moral and legal regulations acceptable by the scientific community;
• Authors must properly cite relevant publications and cite facts and conclusions, or published or unpublished ideas and words of other researchers and authors. The reader should be clearly informed of the facts from the original texts of other authors, or of recycled articles from other sources (numerical marking, following Vancouver, the Harvard, APA, PubMed and other rules of citation of articles and other sources, for example: 2,9,14,15, etc.);
• Authors should properly cite references in their original form (the author(s), article title, abbreviated journal title, year of publication, volume editions, number, initial and final page of the published article, or the other sources in accordance to the order prescribed);
• Authors should use the knowledge acquired in the lectures, conferences or other sources of scientific and technical literature, provided that each source must include full bibliographic information;
• Authors must each citation in the text indicated in the bibliography at the end of the text and put it in quotation marks copied the contents of which have more than six consecutive words;
• Authors must obtain permission from other authors or publishers of scientific reproduction of protected materials (texts, images, charts, graphs, etc.) copyright;
• If the author re-used text or attachment as another author's own observations, then published in the article, in quotation marks, should be accompanied by a quote of recycled text, published in the primary source;
• Authors and coauthors must sign a declaration of originality and authorship which provides descriptions of contribution by each of them separately in an article that is going to be published;
• Every author of the publication must respect the rules of writing an article in which he/she wants to publish the article, considering that most journals have their own rules, but in line with the principles ICMJE, COPE, etc.

1.4 Scientific publishing

Publications are the products of scientific work. Once published, scientific work becomes a source of reference, post publishing review and critique. To contribute to the largest evidence-based medicine (EBM), the paper should be credible, while honesty of each author becomes a pillar of trust in science. Researchers become responsible for what they publish and influence the future of the publication, science and education in general.

2. SCIENTOMETRICS

Scientometrics is part of Scientology (the science of science) that analyzes scientific papers and their citations in scientific journals selected sample ( 1 , 8 ).

The term scientometrics first appeared in the literature in 1969. The original definition of scientometrics is that it is a scientific discipline or field of science that deals with the study of science as an information process by applying quantitative (statistical) methods, and later Tibor Braun (who is the 1977 formed an international magazine Scientometrics) introduced the world to name Scientometrics ( 8 ). Some of the indicators used in the evaluation of scientific research ( 1 , 8 ):

• Impact Factor;
• Citing articles;
• Citing journal;
• The number and order of authors, etc.

Impact factor is the number of citations of articles published in the journal during the previous two years, divided by the total number of articles published in the journal for the same time period. Impact factor depends on: the quality of the journal, the language in which it was printed, the territory covered by the distribution system ( 8 ).

2.1 Impact factor (IF)

Given the growing number of scientific publications, there is a need among the readership to assess quality and reliable source of information. IF is the most commonly used evaluation aid. IF does not indicate quality, but high impact factor indicates the possibility of high quality ( 1 , 4 , 6 , 8 ).

In order to assessed IF and citation in general, it uses a large number of databases, such as Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, etc. Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports are involved and the scientific citation index (Science Citation Index, SCI) and Social Scientific Citation Index (SSCI) ( 1 ).

In the use of IF there are some pitfalls to be avoided ( 1 ):

The two-year period is not long enough to assess the quality over quoting, as in many disciplines, yet these publications did not reach the top. Five-year estimate of IF gives better results.

Citing is considered as “currency” of modern science, which is why its analysis of the editors, authors and readers become indispensable. Many authors, intentionally and inappropriately, citing their previous articles to raise their rating in the research community.

SCI database covers less than one-quarter reviews of contemporary journals and shows preference to journals in the English language. As a result this reveals a serious discrepancy between the citation in English and in other languages.

In 2009 an article had 5,624 citations, which shifted IF this journal from 3 to 49.93 while all other articles in this journal had three or less citations. Because of this uneven distribution it is impossible to estimate the IF on the basis of a single article or author ( 1 , 5 ).

Incompleteness depends among other things on, the discipline, the language and location of scientists–researchers.

Articles within the fast growing discipline is more quoted than traditional scientific fields, such as mathematics and theoretician. These varieties give a distorted picture of the rating of certain journals. Also, some subject areas are additionally cited with works from other areas. Examples of medical, clinical studies that rely on the results of basic science, resulting in 3-5 times larger number of citations of articles of basic medicine in relation to the clinical part. The consequence is that the basic medical journals have higher IF of the journal Clinical Medicine, which does not give a realistic picture of any original research note. On the other hand, review articles are cited more often than the original parts, so many journals and IF it's rating rose by publishing an increasing number of review articles.

Invalid works, such articles withdrawn continue to be cited in other articles. It leads to the bias in the calculation of IF.

2.2 H-index and its application

H-index is based on the number of cited articles of an author published in a journal or other publications in relation to the number of citations of these articles in other publications. Citing provides insight into the scientific work because it encourages scientists to deal with the most current topics ( 1 , 8 ).

With regard to the respective issues when calculating the IF, the scientific community has proposed many solutions. Hirsch in 2005 suggests that every scientist has its own H-index. It is probably the simplest index, oriented on scientist and defined as the number of articles by the number of citations ≥ h. in order To raise his/hers H-index, the author must be cited additional 2h+1 times. For example, to increase its H-index from 4 to 5 must be quoted another nine times. Its only drawback is that this factor is unfavorable for young researchers who have not had enough opportunities to publish a large number of works in the short time they had available for research. Schreiber suggests that in calculating the H-index should not be used self citation because it is unethical and is subject to manipulation, and introduces the concept of “the honest h index, hh) ( 1 ). Yet, despite its many shortcomings, the Impact Factor is currently most often used metric tool for assessing the journal, which should be a message to researchers to continue their search for a reliable and applicable scientometrics method ( 1 , 22 ).

All persons who present themselves as the authors of the article must meet the following requirements: to have contributed significantly to the planning and preparation of the article, or analysis and interpretation of results and participated in writing and correcting the article, as well as to agree with the final version of the text. People engaged in collecting data or superior researchers, however, have not been active participants in the development of scientific work and cannot be authors. The editor has the right to ask the author to explain the individual contribution of each of them. The contribution of one author is 1, and if in the preparation of the article participated many authors, their contribution is 1/n. This means that the contribution of each subsequent is half the size of the contributions of previous author in order. The order is determined by agreement between the authors ( 8 , 9 ).

Citing is the way in which the author explains to the readers that certain textual content contained in particular paper is taken from another source. It also gives the reader insight they needed to find the original source, including:

Information concerning the author;

• Title of the article;
• Page numbers from which the material was taken;
• Time when some content was “downloaded” from some official sites where the content is stored and presented for public use (Open access).

Recognition of authorship by quoting is the only proper way to use the work of others and not to commit plagiarism. There are many reasons that source should be cited:

• Citing helps greatly to the one who wants to know more about the author's ideas and where these ideas came;
• Not all the sources are as good and true. Journals with a high above mentioned indices are relevant to quote;
• Citing shows how much work has gone into research;
• Citing helps the reader to distinguish between the author's and ideas of others.

Very important issues to be considered when quoting content of other authors from scientific publications are:

• When to use quotation marks;
• When to paraphrase;
• When to use an idea already expressed by someone?
• MLA (MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION);
• ACS (AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY);
• IEEE (INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS);
• NLM (NATIONAL LIBRARY OD MEDICINE);
• VANCOUVER (BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES);
• APA (AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION).

4. PLAGIARISM

4.1 definitions of plagiarism.

Plagiarism (Latin plagere =kidnap, plagiatum = “stealing people”), means the act of appropriation or copying someone else's written, artistic or other creative work as your own, either in part or in whole, without specifying the source or authorship of the original. Unlike forgery in which is questioned the authenticity of the work, plagiarism is the illegal and unethical copying of another's work, which is up as its own. Plagiarism is literary term for stealing, copying others' works. In recent years, it is interpreted as a violation of copyright. Generally speaking, plagiarism is when someone uses someone else's ideas, statements, linguistic style and does not recognize the intellectual authors. Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional ( 1 , 4 , 6 , 12 ).

Types of plagiarism ( 12 ):

• Direct form–Fully or partially copy the text, computer files, audio or video recordings without mentioning the primary source;
• Mosaic form–Borrowing ideas and opinions from the original source, a few words and phrases without citing the source;
• Self-plagiarism–Reuse own work without specifying the primary (own) sources.
• In some ancient cultures of the Far East, certain forms of plagiarism were common.
• According to data from WAME - World Association of Medical Editors, precise definition of plagiarism is when are copied six consecutive words ( 6 , 21 ) in a continuous set of 30 used characters.

Generally speaking, plagiarism is when someone uses someone else's ideas, statements, linguistic style and does not recognize the intellectual pioneers. Plagiarism main goal is to deceive the reader. An interesting comment was made by Samuel Johnson, which one of the manuscripts received for publication characterized as follows: “Your work is good and original. Unfortunately, the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good” ( 1 ).

It is “the tendency of literary theft and misappropriation of others spiritual property as a whole” or generally “attributed someone else's work as your own” ( 1 ).

4.2 Common causes of plagiarism

• Following trends of academic promotion and research funding, which entails the use of extensive text on the principle of “publish at all costs” or “Perish mantra”;
• Personal ambitions of poorly educated individuals;
• Financial pressure.

4.3 Types of plagiarism

Plagiarism is not always black and white issue. The boundary between plagiarism and research is sometimes unclear. Identifying different forms of plagiarism is a very important step towards its prevention.

Here are listed ten ( 10 ) most common types of plagiarism as follows:

• CLONE–Submitting someone else's work, which is just transcribed, as his/hers own;
• CTRL-C–Contains most of the text from a single source, without alterations;
• FIND–REPLACE–Changing key words and phrases, but retaining a substantial part of the content of the primary sources;
• REMIX–Paraphrasing multiple sources which are so arranged that complement each other;
• RECYCLE–The use of their own work (if the article is already published somewhere and not cited);
• HYBRID–Combine perfectly cited sources with the copied without citation;
• MASH UP–Blending the copied material which is taken from multiple sources;
• ERROR 404–Includes quoting non-existent or inaccurate source;
• AGGREGATOR–Include proper citation of sources, but contains almost nothing of their own work;
• RE–TWEET–Includes proper citation, but with too much text used from the original.

4.4 Plagiarizing others' research results

Unlike forgery in which is questioned the authenticity of the article, plagiarism when it comes to illegal and unethical taking of another's work, which is presented as its own.

Many people define plagiarism as copying someone else's work, or borrowing other people's ideas. But terms such as copying and lending may mask the seriousness of the offense.

According to Merriam–Webster dictionary plagiarism represents (1: a) The theft and use of other people's ideas or words as yours; b) Use of sources without attribution; c) Literary theft and d) presenting some ideas as own and as it is new, while this idea already exists in other source. In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud, involving the theft of someone else's work and presenting as own.

4.5 Is the theft of ideas and words really possible?

Statutory legislation in the academic community in the United States and other developed countries strictly protects the expression of their own ideas, which are considered intellectual property and are protected by copyrights. Almost all forms of expression are protected by Copyright as long as they are preserved in any medium (such as a book or a computer file).

4.6 That is why under plagiarism is considered ( 1 , 6 ):

• Presenting someone else's work as own;
• Copying words or ideas of another person without specifying the original authorship;
• Not using quotation marks;
• Giving incorrect information about the source that is cited;
• Changing words but copying the sentence structure of the source without specifying the source or authorship of the original;
• Copying so many words or ideas which eventually make most of the work, regardless of whether the source is acknowledged or not.

4.7 How to avoid plagiarism?

It is very easy to find information on a topic that needs to be explored, but it is not always easy to add that information to own work and do not create a plagiarism. There are ways to avoid plagiarism, and should just be followed simple steps when writing a paper.

There are several ways to avoid plagiarism ( 1 , 6 ):

• Paraphrasing - When information is found that is great for research, it is read and written with own words.
• Quote - Very efficient way to avoid plagiarism. It is literally the wording of certain authors and they sentences are always placed in quotes.
• Quotation or citation in the text marked with the number at the end of the citations while under this number is stated the reference from which the quote was taken.
• Citing own material - If the author of the material used it in an earlier paper, he/she shall quote he/she self, because if this is not done, he/she plagiarized him/herself
• References must be listed at the end of the article and includes sources where authors found the information in the given article.
• Always follow the rules to properly cite references, acknowledging ideas taken at conference and formal/informal conversations;
• Reference must include full bibliographic information;
• Any source that is specified in the text must be listed in the references;
• Quotation marks should be used if are copied more than six consecutive words;

The author must obtain permission from other authors/publishers to reproduce the tabular, graphic or picture attachments or used text under copyright ( 6 , 12 )

Unfortunately, digitizing made copy-paste plagiarism and inappropriate reuse resources from Web sites, online journals and other electronic media. Within academic institutions, plagiarism, which is made by students, professors or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud. Researchers and professors are usually punished for plagiarism by sanctions, suspension or even loss of credibility. It was easier to detect plagiarism, during the 1980s. In the last century, began to develop software for the detection of academic (“Turnitin” and “Safe Assign” software) and scientific plagiarism (“Cross Check” and “eTBlast” software) ( 1 , 7 ). International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has given a detailed explanation of what is not a duplicate publication. In the U.S. in 1989, ORI proposed sanctions for plagiarism ( 4 , 6 , 8 ).

Retractions in academic publishing have reached celestial heights–even increased tenfold in the last three decades, and the biggest reason for this is plagiarism and duplications (self plagiarism). The National Science Foundation (NSF) in March 2013 stated to explore more than 100 cases of suspected plagiarism in a year. Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to NSF, but also to other academic institutions as well as other spheres of interest, which is often revealed to the public only when scandals break out. In Germany, two prominent members of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister had to withdraw from office amid allegations of alleged plagiarism in dissertations. Similar scandals rocked Canada, the Philippines, Romania and Russia. Most high-publicity scandals are illuminated in the past three years, thanks to a significant extent bringing around readership of plagiarism as well as facilitated and increased access to instruments for the detection of plagiarism. This knowledge is worrisome because it indicates that plagiarism and duplication are not problems of recent date, but are now only more easily visible ( 20 ).

The software to detect plagiarism is well tested, widely available, economically affordable and easy to use. Although it relies on human analysis, this instrument can significantly speed up the process of validation of submission originality. Publications that require the use of instruments for the detection of plagiarism as part of the review and guideline authors have significantly reduced the number of rejected or withdrawn papers. On the other hand, a large number of organizations ignore this problem. In a survey conducted by Thenticate in October 2012, one of three scientific editors said they continue to face a plagiarized work, and according to the same survey, more than half of the scientific researchers do not check their work, but leaves the editors to detect plagiarism or duplication (even those unintended) ( 20 ).

To researchers is recommended that before they even send somewhere their work, to use the software in order to identify plagiarism or self-plagiarism, which perhaps they themselves are not aware of, in order to preserve public confidence, clean professional record and the further possibility of publishing and finance works. The scientific community, with special emphasis on publishers, must be clear and consistent in finding plagiarism, deterring it, with clear sanctions for those who violate these provisions ( 12 ).

5. MEASURES TO PREVENT PLAGIARISM

Historically, the first attempts to address scientific misconduct and dishonesty were initiated in the U.S. 1992 with the establishment of the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). The main tasks of this organization are to promote scientific integrity, the development of guidelines for scientific research and investigation of allegations of misconduct, especially in biomedicine. Based on the American model, many national bodies for ethics in science are founded on a global level.

Another major step forward was the establishment of a Committee on Publication Ethics based in the UK (COPE, 1997). COPE has introduced the scientific principles of fairness and developed a set of diagrams which recorded occurrence of plagiarism. If plagiarism is treated after publication, editors should inform the reader about the misconduct. Also, plagiarism can be detected electronically (e.g. Cross Check) ( 21 , 22 ).

At the international level, databases with cases of plagiarism should start publishing the names of all blacklisted–plagiarist.

Scientific and academic institutions should have a unit for monitoring, research and quality development. In accordance with the principles of the GSP and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) institutions should take responsibility for the integrity of research reporting ( 23 - 26 ).

6. CONCLUSION

Modern medicine from a doctor requires continuous training, follow up of new medical discoveries and implementation of new knowledge into practice. A doctor in the PHC or in hospitals encounters with patients of different disease profiles, which are manifested in a different form, different intensity, with different response to therapy and different prognosis, so that every patient is a new experience. However, this experience and knowledge is often not sufficient for the best outcome for the patient and doctors are often forced to use additional reading and research on the problem of his/hers patient. Therefore, use of medical journals and articles that are in databases widely available to everyone who knows them properly. For this reason, it is particularly important that any research conducted revealed that published an article to be written according to the rules described above, to be conducted as meta-analyzes that will shorten “wondering” of readers trough the huge number of articles related to the problem and thus conclusions from made research combined with their knowledge and experience and to provide to the patient better service (on these principles is based Evidence Based Medicine EBM) ( 10 , 14 ).

On the other hand, thanks to the databases available on the Internet and medical journals, many researchers get ideas for their own research, and are used to compare the results of different studies, taking into account not to make plagiarism and proper citation is of utmost importance.

Finally, as more the author has been cited, his credibility is increased, indicating that the quality of its scientific research work. In literature and on various websites and blogs today is revealed a growing number of cases of plagiarism and other unethical behavior of the researchers. Described are several cases of plagiarism in the countries of the Balkan region. In the countries of former Yugoslavia, the number of plagiarism in books, articles, monographs, scientific papers and it is rapidly increasing. One important reason is that the newly introduced concept of the Bologna education requires academic staff to quickly and in large quantity publish scientific and professional articles for advancement in academic career, it has become counterproductive and degrades the quality of the published articles content. Plagiarism is now easier to detect thanks to databases and software packages specifically designed for this purpose.

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Plagiarism in Research — The Complete Guide [eBook]

Table of Contents

Plagiarism can be described as the not-so-subtle art of stealing an already existing work, violating the principles of academic integrity and fairness. Well, there's no denying that we see further by standing on the shoulders of giants, and when it comes to constructing a research prose, we often need to look at the world through their lens. However, in this process, many students and researchers, knowingly or otherwise, resort to plagiarism.

In many instances, plagiarism is intentional, whether through direct copying or paraphrasing. Unfortunately, there are also times when it happens unintentionally. Regardless of the intent, plagiarism goes against the ethos of the scientific world and is considered a severe moral and disciplinary offense.

The good news is that you can avoid plagiarism and even work around it. So, if you're keen on publishing unplagiarized papers and maintaining academic integrity, you've come to the right place.

With this comprehensive ebook on plagiarism, we intend to help you understand what constitutes plagiarism in research, why it happens, plagiarism concepts and types, how you can prevent it, and much more.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is defined as representing a part of or the entirety of someone else's work as your own. Whether published or unpublished, this could be ideas, text verbatim, infographics, etc. It is no different in the academic writing, either. However, it is not considered plagiarism if most of your work is original and the referred part is diligently cited.

The degree of plagiarism can vary from discipline to discipline. Like in mathematics or engineering, there are times when you have to copy and paste entire equations or proofs, which can take a significant chunk of your paper. Again, that is not constituted plagiarism, provided there's an analysis or rebuttal to it.

That said, there are some objective parameters defining plagiarism. Get to know them, and your life as a researcher will be much smoother.

Common types of plagiarism

Plagiarism often creeps into academic works in various forms, from complete plagiarism to accidental plagiarism.

The types of plagiarism varies depending on the two critical aspects — the writer's intention and the degree to which the prose is plagiarized. These aspects help institutions and publishers define plagiarism types more accurately.

The agreed-upon forms of plagiarism that occur in research writing include:

1. Global or Complete Plagiarism

Global or Complete plagiarism is inarguably the most severe form of plagiarism  — It is as good as stealing. It happens when an author blatantly copies somebody else's work in its entirety and passes it on as their own.

Since complete plagiarism is always committed deliberately and disguises the ownership of the work, it is directly recognized under copyright violation and can lead to intellectual property abuse and legal battles. That, along with irredeemable repercussions like a damaged reputation, getting expelled, or losing your job.

2. Verbatim or Direct Plagiarism

Verbatim or direct plagiarism happens when you copy a part of someone else's work, word-to-word, without providing adequate credits or attributions. The ideas, structure, and diction in your work would match the original author's work. Even if you were to change a few words or the position of sentences here and there, the final result remains the same.

The best way to avoid this is to minimize copy-pasting entire paragraphs and use it only when the situation calls for it. And when you do so, use quotation marks and in-text citations, crediting the original source.

3. Source-based Plagiarism

Source-based plagiarism results from an author trying to mislead or disguise the natural source of their work. Say you write a paper, giving enough citations, but when the editor or peer reviewers try to cross-check your references, they find a dead end or incorrect information. Another instance is when you use both primary and secondary data to support your argument but only cite the former with no reference for the latter.

In both cases, the information provided is either irrelevant or misleading. You may have cited it, but it does not support the text completely.

Similarly, another type of plagiarism is called data manipulation and counterfeiting . Data Manipulation is creating your own data and results. In contrast, data counterfeiting is skipping or adultering the key findings to suit your expected outcomes.

Using misinformed sources in a research study constitutes grave violations and offenses. Particularly in the medical field, it can lead to legal issues such as wrong data presentation. Its interpretation can lead to false clinical trials, which can have grave consequences.

4. Paraphrasing Plagiarism

Paraphrasing plagiarism is one of the more common types of plagiarism. It refers to when an author copies ideas, thoughts, and inferences, rephrases sentences, and then claims ownership.

Compared to verbatim, paraphrasing plagiarism involves changing words, sentences, semantics or translating texts. The general idea or the topic of the thesis, however, remains the same and as clever as it may seem, it is straightforward to detect.

More often authors commit paraphrasing by reading a few sources and writing them in their own words without due citation. This can lead the reader to believe that the idea was the author's own when it wasn’t.

5. Mosaic or Patchwork Plagiarism

One of the more mischievous ways to abstain from writing original work is mosaic plagiarism. Patchwork or mosaic plagiarism occurs when an author stitches together a research paper by lending pieces from multiple sources and weaving them as their creation. Sure, the author can add a few new words and phrases, but the meat of the paper is stolen.

It’s common for authors to refer to various sources during the research. But to patch them together and form a new paper from them is wrong.

Mosaic plagiarism can be difficult to detect, so authors, too confident in themselves, often resort to it. However, these days, there are plenty of online tools like Turnitin, Enago, and EasyBib that identify patchwork and correctly point to the sources from which you have borrowed.

6. Ghostwriting

Outside of the academic world, ghostwriting is entirely acceptable. Leaders do it, politicians do it, and artists do it. In academia, however, ghostwriting is a breach of conduct that tarnishes the integrity of a student or a researcher.

Ghostwriting is the act of using an unacknowledged person’s assistance to complete a paper. This happens in two ways — when an author has their paper’s foundation laid out but pays someone else to write, edit, and proofread. The other is when they pay someone to write the whole article from scratch.

In either case, it’s utterly unacceptable since the whole point of a paper is to exhibit an author's original thoughts presented by them. Ghostwriting, thus, raises a serious question about the academic capabilities of an author.

7. Self-plagiarism

This may surprise many, but rehashing previous works, even if they are your own, is also considered plagiarism. The biggest reason why self-plagiarism is a fallacy is because you’re trying to claim credit for something that you have already received credit for.

Authors often borrow their past data or experiment results, use them in their current work, and present them as brand new. Some may even plagiarize old published works' ideas, cues, or phrases.

The degree to which self-plagiarism is still under debate depends on the volume of work that has been copied. Additionally, many academic and non-academic journals have devised a fixed ratio on what percentage of self-plagiarism is acceptable. Unless you have made a proper declaration through citations and quotation marks about old data usage, it will fall under the scope of self-plagiarism.

8. Accidental Plagiarism

Apart from the intentional forms of plagiarism, there’s also accidental plagiarism. As the name suggests, it happens inadvertently. Unwitting paraphrasing, missing in-text or end-of-text citations, or not using quotation blocks falls under the same criteria.

While writing your academic papers, you have to stay cautious to avoid accidental plagiarism. The best way to do this is by going through your article thoroughly. Proofread as if your life depended on it, and check whether you’ve given citations where required.

Why is it important to avoid research plagiarism?

As a scholar, you must be aware that the sole purpose of any article or academic writing is to present an original idea to its readers. When the prose is plagiarized, it removes any credibility from the author, discredits the source, and leaves the reader misinformed which goes against the ethos of academic institutions.

Here are the few reasons why you should avoid research plagiarism:

Critical analysis is important

While writing research papers, an author must dive deep into finding various sources, like scholarly articles, especially peer-reviewed ones. You are expected to examine the sources keenly to understand the gaps in the chosen topic and formulate your research questions.

Crafting critical questions related to the field of study is essential as it displays your understanding and the analysis you employed to decipher the problems in the chosen topic. When you do this, your chances of being published improve, and it’s also good for your long-term career growth.

Streamlined scholarly communication

An extended form of scholarly communication is established when you respond and craft your academic work based on what others have previously done in a particular domain. By appropriately using others' work, i.e., through citations, you acknowledge the tasks done before you and how they helped shape your work. Moreover, citations expand the doorway for readers to learn more about a topic from the beginning to the current state. Plagiarism prevents this.

Credibility in originality

Originality is invaluable in the research community. From your thesis topic and fresh methodology to new data, conclusion, and tone of writing, the more original your paper is, the more people are intrigued by it. And as long as your paper is backed by credible sources, it further solidifies your academic integrity. Plagiarism can hinder these.

How does plagiarism happen?

Even though plagiarism is a cardinal sin and plagiarized academic writing is consistently rejected, it still happens. So the question is, what makes people resort to plagiarism?

Some of the reasons why authors choose the plagiarism include:

• Lack of knowledge about plagiarism
• Accidentally copying a work
• Forgetting to cite a source
• Desire to excel among peers
• A false belief that no one will catch them
• No interest in academic work and just taking that as an assignment
• Using shortcuts in the form of self-plagiarism
• Fear of failing

Whatever the reason an author may have, plagiarism can never be justified. It is seen as an unfair advantage and disrespect to those who have put in the blood, sweat, and tears into doing their due diligence. Additionally, remember that readers, universities, or publishers are only interested in your genuine ideas, and your evaluation, as an author, is done based on that.

Related Article: Citation Machine Alternatives — Top citation tools 2023

Consequences of plagiarism

We have reiterated enough that plagiarism is objectionable and has consequences. But what exactly are the consequences? Well, that depends on who the author is and the type of plagiarism.

For minor offenses like accidental plagiarism or missing citations, a slap on the wrist in the form of feedback from the editor or peers is the norm. For major cases, let’s take a look:

For students

• Poor grades

Even if you are a first-timer, your professor may choose to fail you, which can have a detrimental effect on your scores.

• Failing a course

It is not rare for professors to fail Ph.D. and graduate students when caught plagiarizing. Not only does this hurt your academics, but it also extends the duration of your study by a year.

• Disciplinary action

Every university or academic institution has strict policies and regulations regarding plagiarism. If caught, an author may have to face the academic review committee to decide their future. The results seen in general cases range from poor grades, failure for a year, or being banished from any academic or research-related work.

• Expulsion from the university

A university may resort to expulsion only in the worst of cases, like copyright violation or Intellectual Property theft.

• Tarnished academic reputation

This just might be the most consequential of all scenarios. It takes a lifetime to build a great impression but a few seconds to tarnish it. Many academics lose their peers' trust and find it hard to recover.  Moreover, background checks for future jobs or fellowships become a nightmare.

For universities

A university is built on reputation. Letting plagiarism slide is the quickest way to tarnish its reputation. This leads to lesser interest from top talent and publishers and trouble finding grant money.

Prospective students turning away from a university means losing out on tuition money. This further drives experienced faculty away. And the cycle continues.

For researchers

• Legal battles

Since it falls under copyright infringement, researchers may face legal battles if their academic work is believed to be plagiarized. There is no shortage of case studies, like those of Doris Kearns Goodwin or Mark Chabedi, where authors, without permission, used another person's work and claimed it to be their own. In all these instances, they faced legal issues that led to fines, barred from writing and research, and sometimes, imprisonment even.

• Professional reputation

Publishers and journals will not engage authors with a past of plagiarism to produce content under their brand name. Also, if the author is a professor or a fellow, it can lead to contract termination.

How to avoid plagiarism in research?

The simplest way to avoid plagiarism would be to put in the work. Do original research, collect new data, and derive new conclusions. If you use references, keep track of each and every single one and cite them in your paper.

To ensure that your academic writing or research paper is unique and free from any type of plagiarism, incorporate the following tips:

• Pay adequate attention to your references

Writing a paper requires extraordinary research. So, it’s understandable when researchers sometimes lose track of their references. This often leads to accidental plagiarism.

So, instead of falling into this trap, maintain lists or take notes of your reference while doing your research. This will help you when you’re writing your citations.

• Find credible sources

Always refer to credible sources, whether a paper, a conference proceeding or an infographic.  These will present unbiased evidence and accurate experimentation results with facts backing the evidence presented by your paper.

• Proper use of paraphrasing, quotations, and citations

It’s borderline impossible to avoid using direct references in your paper, especially if you’re providing a critical analysis or a rebuttal to an already existing article. So, to avoid getting prosecuted, use quotation marks when using a text verbatim.

In case you’re paraphrasing, use citations so that everyone knows that it’s not your idea. Credit the original author and a secondary source, if any. Publishers usually have guidelines about how to cite. There are many different styles like APA, MLA, Chicago, etc. Be on top of what your publisher demands.

Usually, it is observed that readers or the audience have a greater inclination towards paraphrasing than the quotes, especially if it is bulky sections. The reason is obvious: paraphrasing displays your understanding of the original work's meaning and interpretation, uniquely suiting the current state of affairs.

• Review and recheck your work multiple times

Before submitting the final, you must subject your work to scrutiny. Multiple times at that. The more you do it, the less your chances of falling under accidental plagiarism.  To ensure that your final work does not constitute any types of plagiarism, ensure that:

• There are no misplaced or missed citations
• The paraphrased text does not closely resemble the original text
• You don’t have any wrongful references
• You’re not missing quotation marks or failing to provide the author's credentials after quotation marks
• You use a plagiarism checker

More on how to avoid plagiarism .

On top of these, read your university or your publisher’s policies. All of them have their sets of rules about what’s acceptable and what’s not. They also define the punishment for any offense, factoring in its degree.

• Use Online Tools

After receiving your article, most universities, publishers, and other institutions will run it through plagiarism checkers, including AI detectors , to detect all types of plagiarism. These plagiarism checkers function based on drawing similarities between your article and previously published works present in their database. If found similar, your paper is deemed plagiarized.

You can always save yourself from embarrassment by staying a step ahead. Use a plagiarism checker before you submit your paper. Using plagiarism checker tools, you can quickly identify if you have committed plagiarism. Then, no one except you will know about it, and you will have a chance to correct yourself.

Best Plagiarism Checkers in 2023

Plagiarism checkers are an incredibly convenient tool for improving academic writing. Therefore, here are some of the best plagiarism checkers for academic writing.

Turnitin's iThenticate

This is one of the best plagiarism checker for your academic paper and a good fit for academic writers, researchers, and scholars.

Turnitin’s iThenticare claims to cross-check your paper against 99 billion+ current and archived web pages, 1.8 billion student papers, and best-in-class scholarly content from top publishers in every major discipline and dozens of languages.

The iThenticate plagiarism checker is now available on SciSpace. ( Instructions on how to use it .)

Grammarly serves as a one-stop solution for better writing. Through Grammarly, you can make your paper have fewer grammatical errors, better clarity, and, yes, be plagiarism-free.

Grammarly's plagiarism checker compares your paper to billions of web pages and existing papers online. It points out all the sentences which need a citation, giving you the original source as well. On top of this, Grammarly also rates your document for an originality score.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is another AI writing assistant that offers a plethora of tools to better your document. One of its paid services include a ProWritingAid Plagiarism Checker that helps authors find out how much of their work is plagiarized.

Once you scan your document, the plagiarism checker gives you details like the percentage of non-original text, how much of that is quoted, and how much is not. It will also give you links so you can cite them as required.

EasyBib Plagiarism Checker

EasyBib Plagiarism Checker compares your writing sample with billions of available sources online to detect plagiarism at every level. You'll be notified which phrases are too similar to current research and literature, prompting a possible rewrite or additional citation.

Moreover, you'll get feedback on your paper's inconsistencies, such as changes in text, formatting, or style. These small details could suggest possible plagiarism within your assignment.

Plagiarism CheckerX

Working on the same principle of scanning and matching against various sources, the critical aspect of Plagiarism CheckerX is that you can download and use it whenever you wish. It is slightly faster than others and never stores your data, so you can stay assured of any data loss.

Compilatio Magister

Compilatio Magister is a plagiarism checker designed explicitly for teaching professionals. It lets you access turnkey educational resources, check for plagiarism against thousands of documents, and seek reliable and accurate analysis reports.

Quick Wrap Up

In the world of academia, the spectre of plagiarism lurks but fear not, for armed with awareness and right plagiarism checkers, you have the power to conquer this foe.

Even though plenty of students or researchers believe they can get away with it, it’s never the case. You owe it to yourself and everyone who has invested time and resources in you to publish original, plagiarism-free research work every time.

Throughout this eBook, we have explored the depths of plagiarism, unraveling its consequences and the importance of originality. Many universities have specific classes and workshops discussing plagiarism to create ample awareness of the subject. Thus, you should continue to be honourable in this regard and write papers from the heart.

Hey there! We encourage you to visit our SciSpace discover page to explore how our suite of products can make research workflows easier and allow you to spend more time advancing science.

With the best-in-class solution, you can manage everything from literature search and discovery to profile management, research writing, and much more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. how to paraphrase without plagiarizing.

• Understand the original text completely.
• Write the idea in your own words without looking at the original text.
• Change the structure of sentences, not just individual words.
• Use synonyms wisely and ensure the context remains the same.
• Lastly, always cite the original source.

Even when paraphrasing, it's important to attribute ideas to the original author.

2. How to avoid plagiarism in research?

• Understand what constitutes plagiarism.
• Always give proper credit to the original authors when quoting or paraphrasing their work.
• Use plagiarism checker tools to ensure your work is original.
• Keep track of your sources throughout your research.
• Quote and paraphrase accurately.

3. Examples of plagiarism?

• Copying and pasting text directly from a source without quotation or citation.
• Paraphrasing someone else's work without correct citation.
• Presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own.
• Recycling or self-plagiarism, where you mention your previous work without citing it.

4. How much plagiarism is allowed in a research paper?

In the academic world, the goal is always to strive for 0% plagiarism. However, sometimes, minor plagiarism can occur unintentionally, such as when common phrases are matched in plagiarism software. Most institutions and publishers will allow a small percentage, typically under 10%, for such instances. Remember, this doesn't mean you can deliberately plagiarize 10% of your work.

5. What are the four types of plagiarism?

• Direct Plagiarism definition: This occurs when one directly copies someone else's work word-for-word without giving credit.
• Mosaic Plagiarism definition: This happens when someone borrows phrases from a source without using quotation marks, or finds synonyms for the author's language while keeping the same general structure and meaning.
• Accidental Plagiarism definition: This happens when a person neglects to cite their sources, or misquotes their sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source by using similar words, groupings, or phrases without attribution.
• Self-Plagiarism definition: This happens when someone recycles their own work from a previous paper or study and presents it as new content without citing the original.

6. How much copying is considered plagiarism?

Any amount of copying can be considered plagiarism if you're presenting someone else's work as your own without attribution. Even a single sentence copied without proper citation can be seen as plagiarism. The key is to always give credit where it's due.

7. How to check plagiarism in a research paper?

There are numerous online tools and software that you can use to check plagiarism in a research paper. Some popular ones include Grammarly, and Copyscape. These tools compare your paper with millions of other documents on the web and databases to identify any matches. You can also use SciSpace paraphraser to rephrase the content and keep it unique.

You might also like

Plagiarism FAQs: 10 Most Commonly Asked Questions on Plagiarism in Research Answered

3 Common Mistakes in Research Publication, and How to Avoid Them

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Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code
• What Constitutes Plagiarism?

In academic writing, it is considered plagiarism to draw any idea or any language from someone else without adequately crediting that source in your paper. It doesn't matter whether the source is a published author, another student, a website without clear authorship, a website that sells academic papers, or any other person: Taking credit for anyone else's work is stealing, and it is unacceptable in all academic situations, whether you do it intentionally or by accident.

The ease with which you can find information of all kinds online means that you need to be extra vigilant about keeping track of where you are getting information and ideas and about giving proper credit to the authors of the sources you use. If you cut and paste from an electronic document into your notes and forget to clearly label the document in your notes, or if you draw information from a series of websites without taking careful notes, you may end up taking credit for ideas that aren't yours, whether you mean to or not.

It's important to remember that every website is a document with an author, and therefore every website must be cited properly in your paper. For example, while it may seem obvious to you that an idea drawn from Professor Steven Pinker's book The Language Instinct should only appear in your paper if you include a clear citation, it might be less clear that information you glean about language acquisition from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website warrants a similar citation. Even though the authorship of this encyclopedia entry is less obvious than it might be if it were a print article (you need to scroll down the page to see the author's name, and if you don't do so you might mistakenly think an author isn't listed), you are still responsible for citing this material correctly. Similarly, if you consult a website that has no clear authorship, you are still responsible for citing the website as a source for your paper. The kind of source you use, or the absence of an author linked to that source, does not change the fact that you always need to cite your sources (see Evaluating Web Sources ).

Verbatim Plagiarism

If you copy language word for word from another source and use that language in your paper, you are plagiarizing verbatim . Even if you write down your own ideas in your own words and place them around text that you've drawn directly from a source, you must give credit to the author of the source material, either by placing the source material in quotation marks and providing a clear citation, or by paraphrasing the source material and providing a clear citation.

The passage below comes from Ellora Derenoncourt’s article, “Can You Move to Opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration.”

Here is the article citation in APA style:

Derenoncourt, E. (2022). Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration. The American Economic Review , 112(2), 369–408. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20200002

Source material

Why did urban Black populations in the North increase so dramatically between 1940 and 1970? After a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940. Wartime jobs in the defense industry and in naval shipyards led to substantial Black migration to California and other Pacific states for the first time since the Migration began. Migration continued apace to midwestern cities in the 1950s and1960s, as the booming automobile industry attracted millions more Black southerners to the North, particularly to cities like Detroit or Cleveland. Of the six million Black migrants who left the South during the Great Migration, four million of them migrated between 1940 and 1970 alone.

Plagiarized version

While this student has written her own sentence introducing the topic, she has copied the italicized sentences directly from the source material. She has left out two sentences from Derenoncourt’s paragraph, but has reproduced the rest verbatim:

But things changed mid-century. After a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940. Wartime jobs in the defense industry and in naval shipyards led to substantial Black migration to California and other Pacific states for the first time since the Migration began. Migration continued apace to midwestern cities in the 1950s and1960s, as the booming automobile industry attracted millions more Black southerners to the North, particularly to cities like Detroit or Cleveland.

Acceptable version #1: Paraphrase with citation

In this version the student has paraphrased Derenoncourt’s passage, making it clear that these ideas come from a source by introducing the section with a clear signal phrase ("as Derenoncourt explains…") and citing the publication date, as APA style requires.

But things changed mid-century. In fact, as Derenoncourt (2022) explains, the wartime increase in jobs in both defense and naval shipyards marked the first time during the Great Migration that Black southerners went to California and other west coast states. After the war, the increase in jobs in the car industry led to Black southerners choosing cities in the midwest, including Detroit and Cleveland.

Acceptable version #2 : Direct quotation with citation or direct quotation and paraphrase with citation

If you quote directly from an author and cite the quoted material, you are giving credit to the author. But you should keep in mind that quoting long passages of text is only the best option if the particular language used by the author is important to your paper. Social scientists and STEM scholars rarely quote in their writing, paraphrasing their sources instead. If you are writing in the humanities, you should make sure that you only quote directly when you think it is important for your readers to see the original language.

In the example below, the student quotes part of the passage and paraphrases the rest.

But things changed mid-century. In fact, as Derenoncourt (2022) explains, “after a period of reduced mobility during the Great Depression, Black out-migration from the South resumed at an accelerated pace after 1940” (p. 379). Derenoncourt notes that after the war, the increase in jobs in the car industry led to Black southerners choosing cities in the midwest, including Detroit and Cleveland.

Mosaic Plagiarism

If you copy bits and pieces from a source (or several sources), changing a few words here and there without either adequately paraphrasing or quoting directly, the result is mosaic plagiarism . Even if you don't intend to copy the source, you may end up with this type of plagiarism as a result of careless note-taking and confusion over where your source's ideas end and your own ideas begin. You may think that you've paraphrased sufficiently or quoted relevant passages, but if you haven't taken careful notes along the way, or if you've cut and pasted from your sources, you can lose track of the boundaries between your own ideas and those of your sources. It's not enough to have good intentions and to cite some of the material you use. You are responsible for making clear distinctions between your ideas and the ideas of the scholars who have informed your work. If you keep track of the ideas that come from your sources and have a clear understanding of how your own ideas differ from those ideas, and you follow the correct citation style, you will avoid mosaic plagiarism.

Indeed, of the more than 3500 hours of instruction during medical school, an average of less than 60 hours are devoted to all of bioethics, health law and health economics combined . Most of the instruction is during the preclinical courses, leaving very little instructional time when students are experiencing bioethical or legal challenges during their hands-on, clinical training. More than 60 percent of the instructors in bioethics, health law, and health economics have not published since 1990 on the topic they are teaching.

--Persad, G.C., Elder, L., Sedig,L., Flores, L., & Emanuel, E. (2008). The current state of medical school education in bioethics, health law, and health economics. Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 36 , 89-94.

Students can absorb the educational messages in medical dramas when they view them for entertainment. In fact, even though they were not created specifically for education, these programs can be seen as an entertainment-education tool [43, 44]. In entertainment-education shows, viewers are exposed to educational content in entertainment contexts, using visual language that is easy to understand and triggers emotional engagement [45]. The enhanced emotional engagement and cognitive development [5] and moral imagination make students more sensitive to training [22].

--Cambra-Badii, I., Moyano, E., Ortega, I., Josep-E Baños, & Sentí, M. (2021). TV medical dramas: Health sciences students’ viewing habits and potential for teaching issues related to bioethics and professionalism. BMC Medical Education, 21 , 1-11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02947-7

Paragraph #1.

All of the ideas in this paragraph after the first sentence are drawn directly from Persad. But because the student has placed the citation mid-paragraph, the final two sentences wrongly appear to be the student’s own idea:

In order to advocate for the use of medical television shows in the medical education system, it is also important to look at the current bioethical curriculum. In the more than 3500 hours of training that students undergo in medical school, only about 60 hours are focused on bioethics, health law, and health economics (Persad et al, 2008). It is also problematic that students receive this training before they actually have spent time treating patients in the clinical setting. Most of these hours are taught by instructors without current publications in the field.

Paragraph #2.

All of the italicized ideas in this paragraph are either paraphrased or taken verbatim from Cambra-Badii, et al., but the student does not cite the source at all. As a result, readers will assume that the student has come up with these ideas himself:

Students can absorb the educational messages in medical dramas when they view them for entertainment. It doesn’t matter if the shows were designed for medical students; they can still be a tool for education. In these hybrid entertainment-education shows, viewers are exposed to educational content that triggers an emotional reaction. By allowing for this emotional, cognitive, and moral engagement, the shows make students more sensitive to training . There may be further applications to this type of education: the role of entertainment as a way of encouraging students to consider ethical situations could be extended to other professions, including law or even education.

The student has come up with the final idea in the paragraph (that this type of ethical training could apply to other professions), but because nothing in the paragraph is cited, it reads as if it is part of a whole paragraph of his own ideas, rather than the point that he is building to after using the ideas from the article without crediting the authors.

Acceptable version

In the first paragraph, the student uses signal phrases in nearly every sentence to reference the authors (“According to Persad et al.,” “As the researchers argue,” “They also note”), which makes it clear throughout the paragraph that all of the paragraph’s information has been drawn from Persad et al. The student also uses a clear APA in-text citation to point the reader to the original article. In the second paragraph, the student paraphrases and cites the source’s ideas and creates a clear boundary behind those ideas and his own, which appear in the final paragraph.

In order to advocate for the use of medical television shows in the medical education system, it is also important to look at the current bioethical curriculum. According to Persad et al. (2008), only about one percent of teaching time throughout the four years of medical school is spent on ethics. As the researchers argue, this presents a problem because the students are being taught about ethical issues before they have a chance to experience those issues themselves. They also note that more than sixty percent of instructors teaching bioethics to medical students have no recent publications in the subject.

The research suggests that medical dramas may be a promising source for discussions of medical ethics. Cambra-Badii et al. (2021) explain that even when watched for entertainment, medical shows can help viewers engage emotionally with the characters and may prime them to be more receptive to training in medical ethics. There may be further applications to this type of education: the role of entertainment as a way of encouraging students to consider ethical situations could be extended to other professions, including law or even education.

Inadequate Paraphrase

When you paraphrase, your task is to distill the source's ideas in your own words. It's not enough to change a few words here and there and leave the rest; instead, you must completely restate the ideas in the passage in your own words. If your own language is too close to the original, then you are plagiarizing, even if you do provide a citation.

In order to make sure that you are using your own words, it's a good idea to put away the source material while you write your paraphrase of it. This way, you will force yourself to distill the point you think the author is making and articulate it in a new way. Once you have done this, you should look back at the original and make sure that you have represented the source’s ideas accurately and that you have not used the same words or sentence structure. If you do want to use some of the author's words for emphasis or clarity, you must put those words in quotation marks and provide a citation.

The passage below comes from Michael Sandel’s article, “The Case Against Perfection.” Here’s the article citation in MLA style:

Sandel, Michael. “The Case Against Perfection.” The Atlantic , April 2004, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/04/the-case-against-pe... .

Though there is much to be said for this argument, I do not think the main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is that they undermine effort and erode human agency. The deeper danger is that they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean aspiration to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifted character of human powers and achievements.

The version below is an inadequate paraphrase because the student has only cut or replaced a few words: “I do not think the main problem” became “the main problem is not”; “deeper danger” became “bigger problem”; “aspiration” became “desire”; “the gifted character of human powers and achievements” became “the gifts that make our achievements possible.”

The main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is not that they undermine effort and erode human agency. The bigger problem is that they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean desire to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifts that make our achievements possible (Sandel).

Acceptable version #1: Adequate paraphrase with citation

In this version, the student communicates Sandel’s ideas but does not borrow language from Sandel. Because the student uses Sandel’s name in the first sentence and has consulted an online version of the article without page numbers, there is no need for a parenthetical citation.

Michael Sandel disagrees with the argument that genetic engineering is a problem because it replaces the need for humans to work hard and make their own choices. Instead, he argues that we should be more concerned that the decision to use genetic enhancement is motivated by a desire to take control of nature and bend it to our will instead of appreciating its gifts.

Acceptable version #2: Direct quotation with citation

In this version, the student uses Sandel’s words in quotation marks and provides a clear MLA in-text citation. In cases where you are going to talk about the exact language that an author uses, it is acceptable to quote longer passages of text. If you are not going to discuss the exact language, you should paraphrase rather than quoting extensively.

The author argues that “the main problem with enhancement and genetic engineering is not that they undermine effort and erode human agency,” but, rather that “they represent a kind of hyperagency—a Promethean desire to remake nature, including human nature, to serve our purposes and satisfy our desires. The problem is not the drift to mechanism but the drive to mastery. And what the drive to mastery misses and may even destroy is an appreciation of the gifts that make our achievements possible” (Sandel).

Uncited Paraphrase

When you use your own language to describe someone else's idea, that idea still belongs to the author of the original material. Therefore, it's not enough to paraphrase the source material responsibly; you also need to cite the source, even if you have changed the wording significantly. As with quoting, when you paraphrase you are offering your reader a glimpse of someone else's work on your chosen topic, and you should also provide enough information for your reader to trace that work back to its original form. The rule of thumb here is simple: Whenever you use ideas that you did not think up yourself, you need to give credit to the source in which you found them, whether you quote directly from that material or provide a responsible paraphrase.

The passage below comes from C. Thi Nguyen’s article, “Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles.”

Here’s the citation for the article, in APA style:

Nguyen, C. (2020). Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles. Episteme, 17 (2), 141-161. doi:10.1017/epi.2018.32

Epistemic bubbles can easily form accidentally. But the most plausible explanation for the particular features of echo chambers is something more malicious. Echo chambers are excellent tools to maintain, reinforce, and expand power through epistemic control. Thus, it is likely (though not necessary) that echo chambers are set up intentionally, or at least maintained, for this functionality (Nguyen, 2020).

The student who wrote the paraphrase below has drawn these ideas directly from Nguyen’s article but has not credited the author. Although she paraphrased adequately, she is still responsible for citing Nguyen as the source of this information.

Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles have different origins. While epistemic bubbles can be created organically, it’s more likely that echo chambers will be formed by those who wish to keep or even grow their control over the information that people hear and understand.

In this version, the student eliminates any possible ambiguity about the source of the ideas in the paragraph. By using a signal phrase to name the author whenever the source of the ideas could be unclear, the student clearly attributes these ideas to Nguyen.

According to Nguyen (2020), echo chambers and epistemic bubbles have different origins. Nguyen argues that while epistemic bubbles can be created organically, it’s more likely that echo chambers will be formed by those who wish to keep or even grow their control over the information that people hear and understand.

Uncited Quotation

When you put source material in quotation marks in your essay, you are telling your reader that you have drawn that material from somewhere else. But it's not enough to indicate that the material in quotation marks is not the product of your own thinking or experimentation: You must also credit the author of that material and provide a trail for your reader to follow back to the original document. This way, your reader will know who did the original work and will also be able to go back and consult that work if they are interested in learning more about the topic. Citations should always go directly after quotations.

The passage below comes from Deirdre Mask’s nonfiction book, The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power.

Here is the MLA citation for the book:

Mask, Deirdre. The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2021.

In New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive.

It’s not enough for the student to indicate that these words come from a source; the source must be cited:

After all, “in New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive.”

Here, the student has cited the source of the quotation using an MLA in-text citation:

After all, “in New York, even addresses are for sale. The city allows a developer, for the bargain price of $11,000 (as of 2019), to apply to change the street address to something more attractive” (Mask 229).

Using Material from Another Student's Work

In some courses you will be allowed or encouraged to form study groups, to work together in class generating ideas, or to collaborate on your thinking in other ways. Even in those cases, it's imperative that you understand whether all of your writing must be done independently, or whether group authorship is permitted. Most often, even in courses that allow some collaborative discussion, the writing or calculations that you do must be your own. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't collect feedback on your writing from a classmate or a writing tutor; rather, it means that the argument you make (and the ideas you rely on to make it) should either be your own or you should give credit to the source of those ideas.

So what does this mean for the ideas that emerge from class discussion or peer review exercises? Unlike the ideas that your professor offers in lecture (you should always cite these), ideas that come up in the course of class discussion or peer review are collaborative, and often not just the product of one individual's thinking. If, however, you see a clear moment in discussion when a particular student comes up with an idea, you should cite that student. In any case, when your work is informed by class discussions, it's courteous and collegial to include a discursive footnote in your paper that lets your readers know about that discussion. So, for example, if you were writing a paper about the narrator in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and you came up with your idea during a discussion in class, you might place a footnote in your paper that states the following: "I am indebted to the members of my Expos 20 section for sparking my thoughts about the role of the narrator as Greek Chorus in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried ."

It is important to note that collaboration policies can vary by course, even within the same department, and you are responsible for familiarizing yourself with each course's expectation about collaboration. Collaboration policies are often stated in the syllabus, but if you are not sure whether it is appropriate to collaborate on work for any course, you should always consult your instructor.

• The Exception: Common Knowledge
• Other Scenarios to Avoid
• Why Does it Matter if You Plagiarize?
• How to Avoid Plagiarism
• Harvard University Plagiarism Policy

PDFs for This Section

• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Online Library and Citation Tools

How much plagiarism is allowed?

The world is constantly changing, and so are our beliefs about it. That is why we need to establish an independent mindset and critical thinking to rely on. Originality in our manifestation, including writing, is a crucial part of it. That is why educators and content creators need to check their papers for similarity to avoid plagiarism.

What percentage of plagiarism is acceptable ? The question is worth 10.3 billion search results. Well, to those looking for a simple answer: no, there’s no single benchmark. Or could zero plagiarism count? Different universities, colleges, and high schools have different standards. What is good and allowed for one, will be a red flag for another one.

Mostly, no more than 20% of text coincidence can be tolerated, while more means the text is not original. Although, even if that 20% is just a single copy-pasted piece of text, it’s considered borrowed.

What percentage of plagiarism is acceptable in university

How much plagiarism is allowed also depends on the type of the paper. The acceptable percentage varies within the limit of the mentioned 20%. Each case is individual, and the educational institution, the teacher, and the nature of the detected similarities should be taken into account. However, obviously, how much plagiarism is allowed in research paper differs when we talk about a regular essay or a dissertation.

One should keep in mind that the similarities found may be unintentional plagiarism. It happens that the students accidentally copy someone else’s ideas out of pure coincidence or based on the resources they have studied without realizing they are repeating the information.

That’s why if you notice plagiarism in your student’s work, it’s time to talk to them, figure out the reasons, and map the possible ways out. To help you do this, we’ve prepared a checklist you can share with your students. You can send it to them the way it is, or use it as an inspiration to create your own one—it’s up to you.

A Comprehensive Checklist on How to Avoid Plagiarism

The obvious answer is to produce original content. But cases might differ, so check out a few tips to polish your writing.

#1. Avoid Direct Quotes and Paraphrasing

First, say your goodbyes to copy-pasting or rephrasing someone else’s thoughts. Instead, read different sources of information on your topic, jot down key points, and then write their essence in your own words. Examples:

#2. Proper referencing

To err is human. Spotting and fixing the mistakes (and learning from them) can make you superhuman. Double-checking the text can enable you to find those “Oh, I’ve already read it somewhere” parts. Here, I mean that sometimes you can mimic your own style, even not knowing that.  Reviewing the same content after a while can help you have a fresh look at it and find those self-plagiarized sentences or paragraphs. It can also allow you to discover tricky referencing issues when you might have missed citing something properly. In case you don’t trust yourself, ask one of your mates to review your paper.

#4. Enriching vocabulary to avoid clichés

Another common reason for plagiarism is using the same phrases you can come across on thousands of websites. It’s not about some industry-specific terms you might desperately need in your physics, nursing, marketing, or any other assignment. I mean rather generic phrases and idioms like “as easy as a pie,” “sky’s the limit,” “sad but true,” etc. Not to mention some of them might be inappropriate for academic writing, if you overuse them, they’ll drop your content originality. To avoid that, we recommend:

• Reading more books, scientific journals, and so on to expand your general knowledge and vocabulary, as a result.
• Jotting down new words and phrases you haven’t known before and trying to use them in your speaking or writing. If applicable, of course.
• Using synonyms to eliminate tautology. You can find some good ones in the Thesaurus , or Power Thesaurus . Feel free to use those tools whenever you see some repeated words or idioms.

#5. Scanning texts with plagiarism checkers

To be on the safe side, I would advise checking your paper with specialized tools, like PlagiarismCheck.org before submitting it. This will help you make sure you’ve produced an original piece of content. A huge plus of such tools is that they can define all possible types of plagiarism, including copying your own style. For example, PlagiarismCheck.org delivers a report with highlights of the matching parts and links to the sources those pieces of text come from.

Let’s wrap it up

If we come back to our initial question: “ How much plagiarism is allowed ?”, the answer is still “None in a perfect world.” Yet, we live in reality, so up to 20% might be tolerated. We suggest minimizing even those numbers by educating your students on how to produce unique content.

Anyways, if you need to scan for plagiarism , try PlagiarismCheck.org . We’ve built it with academic integrity in mind, so it includes AI checker GPT and can spot ghostwriting by comparing student’s writing style from previous works and the current ones. And if you have any questions—be sure to get in touch with our team.

Discover how PlagiarismCheck.org can empower your workflow!

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Most basic plagiarism checkers review your work and calculate a percentage, meaning how much of your writing is indicative of original work. But, the EasyBib plagiarism checker goes way beyond a simple percentage. Any text that could be categorized as potential plagiarism is highlighted, allowing you time to review each warning and determine how to adjust it or how to cite it correctly.

You’ll even see the sources against which your writing is compared and the actual word for word breakdown. If you determine that a warning is unnecessary, you can waive the plagiarism check suggestion.

Plagiarism is unethical because it doesn’t credit those who created the original work; it violates intellectual property and serves to benefit the perpetrator. It is a severe enough academic offense, that many faculty members use their own plagiarism checking tool for their students’ work. With the EasyBib Plagiarism checker, you can stay one step ahead of your professors and catch citation mistakes and accidental plagiarism before you submit your work for grading.

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Imagine – it’s finals week and the final research paper of the semester is due in two days. You, being quite familiar with this high-stakes situation, hit the books, and pull together a ten-page, last-minute masterpiece using articles and materials from dozens of different sources.

However, in those late, coffee-fueled hours, are you fully confident that you correctly cited all the different sources you used? Are you sure you didn’t accidentally forget any? Are you confident that your teacher’s plagiarism tool will give your paper a 0% plagiarism score?

That’s where the EasyBib plagiarism checker comes in to save the day. One quick check can help you address all the above questions and put your mind at ease.

What exactly is plagiarism? 

Plagiarism has a number of possible definitions; it involves more than just copying someone else’s work. Improper citing, patchworking, and paraphrasing could all lead to plagiarism in one of your college assignments. Below are some common examples of accidental plagiarism that commonly occur.

Quoting or paraphrasing without citations

Not including in-text citations is another common type of accidental plagiarism. Quoting is taking verbatim text from a source. Paraphrasing is when you’re using another source to take the same idea but put it in your own words. In both cases, it’s important to always cite where those ideas are coming from. The EasyBib plagiarism checker can help alert you to when you need to accurately cite the sources you used.

Patchwork plagiarism

When writing a paper, you’re often sifting through multiple sources and tabs from different search engines. It’s easy to accidentally string together pieces of sentences and phrases into your own paragraphs. You may change a few words here and there, but it’s similar to the original text. Even though it’s accidental, it is still considered plagiarism. It’s important to clearly state when you’re using someone else’s words and work.

Improper citations

Depending on the class, professor, subject, or teacher, there are multiple correct citation styles and preferences. Some examples of common style guides that are followed for citations include MLA, APA, and Chicago style. When citing resources, it’s important to cite them accurately. Incorrect citations could make it impossible for a reader to track down a source and it’s considered plagiarism. There are EasyBib citation tools to help you do this.

Don’t fall victim to plagiarism pitfalls. Most of the time, you don’t even mean to commit plagiarism; rather, you’ve read so many sources from different search engines that it gets difficult to determine an original thought or well-stated fact versus someone else’s work. Or worse, you assume a statement is common knowledge, when in fact, it should be attributed to another author.

When in doubt, cite your source!

Time for a quick plagiarism quiz! 

Which of the following requires a citation?

• A chart or graph from another source
• A paraphrase of an original source
• Several sources’ ideas summarized into your own paragraph
• A direct quote
• All of the above

If you guessed option E than you’d be correct. Correct punctuation and citation of another individual’s ideas, quotes, and graphics are a pillar of good academic writing.

What if you copy your own previous writing?

Resubmitting your own original work for another class’s assignment is a form of self-plagiarism, so don’t cut corners in your writing. Draft an original piece for each class or ask your professor if you can incorporate your previous research.

What features are available with the EasyBib plagiarism checker? 

Along with providing warnings and sources for possible plagiarism, the EasyBib  plagiarism checker works alongside the other EasyBib tools, including a grammar checker  and a spell checker . You’ll receive personalized feedback on your thesis and writing structure too!

The  plagiarism checker compares your writing sample with billions of available sources online so that it detects plagiarism at every level. You’ll be notified of which phrases are too similar to current research and literature, prompting a possible rewrite or additional citation. You’ll also get feedback on your paper’s inconsistencies, such as changes in text, formatting, or style. These small details could suggest possible plagiarism within your assignment.

And speaking of citations, there are also  EasyBib citation tools  available. They help you quickly build your bibliography and avoid accidental plagiarism. Make sure you know which citation format your professor prefers!

Great! How do I start? 

Simply copy and paste or upload your essay into the checker at the top of this page. You’ll receive the first five grammar suggestions for free! To try the plagiarism checker for free, start your EasyBib Plus three-day free trial.* If you love the product and decide to opt for premium services, you’ll have access to unlimited writing suggestions and personalized feedback.

The EasyBib plagiarism checker is conveniently available 24 hours a day and seven days a week. You can cancel anytime.  Check your paper for free today!.

*See Terms and Conditions

Visit www.easybib.com for more information on helpful EasyBib writing and citing tools.

For informational guides and on writing and citing, visit the EasyBib guides homepage .

Interpreting the Similarity Report

Though we're known for scanning submissions for plagiarism, Turnitin actually does not check for plagiarism in your work. What we actually do is check your submissions against our database, and if there are instances where your writing is similar to, or matches against, one of our sources, we will flag this for your instructor to review. Our database includes billions of web pages: both current and archived content from the internet, a repository of works other students have submitted to Turnitin in the past, and a collection of documents, which comprises thousands of periodicals, journals, and publications.

It is perfectly natural for an assignment to match against some of our database. If you've used quotes and referenced correctly, there will be instances where we will find a match and that is totally OK! The similarity score simply highlights any matching areas in your paper so your instructor can use this as an investigative tool to determine if the match is or is not acceptable.

Similarity Reports provide a summary of matching or highly similar text found in a submitted paper. When a Similarity Report is available for viewing, a similarity score percentage will be made available. Similarity Reports that have not yet finished generating are represented by a grayed out icon in the Similarity column. Reports that are not available may not have generated yet, or assignment settings may be delaying the generation of the report.

Overwritten or resubmitted papers may not generate a new Similarity Report for a full 24 hours. This delay is automatic and allows resubmissions to correctly generate without matching to the previous draft.

The color of the report icon indicates the similarity score of the paper, based on the amount of matching or similar text that was uncovered. The percentage range is 0% to 100%. The possible similarity ranges are:

• Blue: No matching text
• Green: One word to 24% matching text
• Yellow: 25-49% matching text
• Orange: 50-74% matching text
• Red: 75-100% matching text

Students, be sure to consult your instructor's syllabus, contact them directly, or review your institution's overarching policies on what counts as an acceptable similarity score before you submit a paper. Every school, instructor, or assignment could very well have a different amount of matching text that is considered acceptable.

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How to Practice Academic Medicine and Publish from Developing Countries? pp 247–252 Cite as

How to Check for Plagiarism?

• Samiran Nundy 4 ,
• Atul Kakar 5 &
• Zulfiqar A. Bhutta 6  
• Open Access
• First Online: 24 October 2021

42k Accesses

The word ‘Plagiarism’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘Plagiare’ which means ‘to kidnap or abduct’. In scientific literature, it means the ‘wrongful appropriation’ and ‘stealing and publication’ of another author’s ‘language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions’ and depicting it as one’s own creative work. Plagiarism amounts to academic untruthfulness and a breach of journalistic integrity [1].

Copying from one it’s plagiarism, copying from two it’s research. Wilson Mizner, American playwright, raconteur and entrepreneur (1876–1933).

You have full access to this open access chapter,  Download chapter PDF

1 What Is Plagiarism?

The word ‘Plagiarism’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘Plagiare’ which means ‘to kidnap or abduct’. In scientific literature, it means the ‘wrongful appropriation’ and ‘stealing and publication’ of another author’s ‘language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions’ and depicting it as one’s own creative work. Plagiarism amounts to academic untruthfulness and a breach of journalistic integrity [ 1 ].

2 Why Is Plagiarism So Rampant in India?

There are many reasons why plagiarism is common in India. There is the compulsory thesis before the final postgraduate examination which students need to finish in time so they find the ‘cut and paste’ technique to be a convenient shortcut to writing the manuscript or even doing the research. The other reason is that they have never attended research methodology workshops where plagiarism is discussed. They do not know that plagiarism is a serious offence that can be punished with suspension or expulsion from their institution in other countries. The unfamiliarity with the English language, lax checking by their supervisors and an absence of punishment are other reasons for this. Plagiarism reflects the poor standards of our medical publications [ 2 ]. However, it is also a global phenomenon and not unique to India [ 3 ].

3 What Action Can Be Taken Against you if your Manuscript Is Found to be Plagiarized?

All types of plagiarism can attract disciplinary action which may range from removing the published paper, legal and monetary repercussions and academic and professional damage to your reputation. All good journals and many universities check the manuscripts for this through online checking systems which are now widely available. We should have a ‘zero tolerance policy’ for such acts.

4 Does Plagiarism Apply Only to Written Text?

No, this statement is not true as plagiarism applies to text in manuscripts as well as images, clinical photographs, tables, graphs, and pictorial data.

5 Is There a Gazette of India Notification on Plagiarism?

Yes , the University Grants Commission (UGC) has a regulation, dated 31 July 2018 regarding promotion in academic institutions and on the prevention of plagiarism. It defines 20 terms like plagiarism, author, academic integrity, script, source, etc. It also describes a penalty for a plagiarized thesis and dissertation. It also mentions that all students should submit a soft copy of their theses or dissertations to some central information and library centre [ 4 ].

6 What Is the UGC’s Classification of Plagiarism?

In 2018, it classified plagiarism in educational institutions into various levels. If similarity is less than 10%, no action is taken. However, if the level of plagiarism increases above this, the action given below is recommended [ 4 , 5 ].

Level 1—10–40% similarity. No marks or credits shall be awarded for the plagiarized script. The revised manuscript should be re-submitted within 6 months.

Level 2—40–60% similarity. No marks or credits shall be awarded for the plagiarized script. The student is entitled to resubmit the revised script after 1 year but not exceeding 18 months.

Level 3—above 60% similarity. No marks or credits shall be awarded for the plagiarized script. Registration for the course itself is cancelled.

7 What Are the Sections in Articles which Are Excluded from Plagiarism Checks?

The areas which are excluded are: [ 4 ].

Quoted statements (quoted work can be reproduced with all the necessary permissions).

References/Bibliography.

Table of Contents.

Preface/Acknowledgements.

Standard symbols/Generic terms.

8 What Do Words Quote, Paraphrase and Similarity Mean?

A quote is using or repeating the same words as in the original text. If this is done it should appear under inverted commas. For example, Hippocrates stated ‘I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous’.

A Paraphrase is rewriting the original idea in our own words. While doing paraphrasing the central concept or the meaning of the text is not changed.

Similarity is copied text and is like the original text. The original and the text written are exactly the same.

9 What Are the Various Types of Plagiarism? [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]

Total or Complete Plagiarism

This depicts a severe form of plagiarism. In this, the investigator passes off someone else’s script or study as his own, and submits it under his own name.

Direct Plagiarism

Direct or verbatim plagiarism is a type of complete plagiarism when one section of the text is copied rather than the whole text.

Self- or Auto-plagiarism

Auto-plagiarism, also known as self-plagiarism or duplication, happens when authors reuse sizeable portions of their previously published work without attribution.

Paraphrasing plagiarism

This is the most common type of plagiarism seen among students. It involves the use of the original author’s manuscript after making some minor changes in the sentences and creating a new article.

‘Cut and paste’ plagiarism

This type of plagiarism is becoming common among students because of the easy accessibility of scientific information on the internet.

Mosaic/patchwork plagiarism

Mosaic plagiarism may be difficult to detect because it interposes someone else’s a few sentences or paragraphs within the text.

Accidental Plagiarism

This can be either intended or unintended. Even for this, there is no excuse and the consequences are often the same.

10 How Can we Check for Plagiarism?

Many sites are now available - free or paid. Grammarly©, Whitesmoke©, Prewriting aid©, Duplichecker©, Plagarism © Check.org©C, Quetext ©, small SEO plagiarism checker©, copytext©, viper©, checkforplagiarism.net©, Wordpress Plugin©, Plagium©, etc.

11 How Does a Plagiarism Report Appear?

Once a check is done, the report looks similar to the Fig. 24.1 . The lines and sentences which have been copied are highlighted in various colours as is the source from which it has been copied.

Review in an article with 92% plagiarism, along with the sources (published with permission editor—Current Medical Research and Practice)

12 How Much Plagiarism Is Usually Allowed for a Paper to Be Accepted?

When it is an original paper, the author should aim at zero plagiarism. However, in many journals, a similarity of up to 15% is allowed. For a chapter in a book, this limit is about 5% and in a thesis, less than 10% is accepted.

13 What Is the Difference between Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement?

Plagiarism is claiming credit for a work you did not do or using someone else’s work without proper attribution.

Copyright infringement is a broad term covered under the law. In this, an author uses someone else’s work without obtaining their permission.

14 What Are the Five Rules for Avoiding Plagiarism?

Plan to finish your project well in time before submission.

Recognize the concept behind the manuscript you need to cite.

Never do ‘copy–paste’; it seems to be a shortcut but eventually it takes double the time to correct the mistakes.

Use your own language to build up the manuscript.

Use an online plagiarism device to check before final submission.

15 Conclusions

Plagiarism is a type of research delinquency that consists of copying someone else’s work or idea without giving him proper credit.

Plagiarism extends not only to the text but also to tables, charts and pictures.

An awareness about the risks of plagiarism is low among the students and researchers in developing countries.

To avoid the copy–paste culture, students should be instructed to read articles completely and carefully and then write a paper in their own words.

Sinha R, Singh G, Kumar C. Plagiarism and unethical practices in literature. Indian J Opthal. 2009;57:481–5.

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Gasparyan AY, Nurmashev B, Seksenbayev B, Trukhachev VI, Kostyukova EI, Kitas GD. Plagiarism in the context of education and evolving. J Korean Med Sci. 2017;32:1220–7.

Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018 (lasted accessed 27th March 20202). Available on https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/7771545_academic-integrity-Regulation2018.pdf .

Kadam D. Academic integrity and plagiarism: the new regulations in India. Indian J Plast Surg. 2018;51:109–10.

Fred HL, Scheid MS. Egregious plagiarism: more than misconduct. Tex Heart Inst J. 2017;44:7–8.

Winsett RP. The importance of self-plagiarism in publication. Prog Transplant. 2017;27:327–8.

Weems M. Plagiarism in review. Pediatr Rev. 2017;38:3–5.

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Samiran Nundy

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Institute for Global Health and Development, The Aga Khan University, South Central Asia, East Africa and United Kingdom, Karachi, Pakistan

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Nundy, S., Kakar, A., Bhutta, Z.A. (2022). How to Check for Plagiarism?. In: How to Practice Academic Medicine and Publish from Developing Countries?. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5248-6_24

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Acceptable Plagiarism Percentage: Turnitin or SafeAssign in College

• by Joseph Kenas
• January 18, 2024

Plagiarism is a type of academic fraud or cheating. It typically involves the use of someone’s work, whether published or unpublished, without the permission of the author or creator.

While plagiarism does not necessarily involve breaking the law, it is widely considered to be unethical and unacceptable in the academic, business, and wider communities.

A significant range of penalties exists for plagiarism, depending on the severity of the offense, the type of plagiarism, and the jurisdiction within which an offense takes place.

As much as plagiarism is wrong, sometimes it is unavoidable and thus there is an acceptable plagiarism percentage.

What Percentage of Plagiarism is Acceptable

The allowed similarity score varies from institution to institution. For instance, it may be acceptable to have a certain percentage of a college research paper deemed plagiarized, but it would be acceptable for high school essays. 

The acceptable plagiarism percentage is any score of 15% and below because this similarity shows little or low or no copying.

However, there is no widely accepted criteria on which plagiarism level is acceptable because different industries and institutions have different originality policies.

However, the plagiarism percentage you should avoid at all times is more than 15%. Any percentage above that will be enough to get you into trouble.

For instance, if you have 15% plagiarism in a research paper, then you have the risk to be reported by your tutor for academic dishonesty. In a nutshell, the acceptable plagiarism percentage is between 0 and 15% for all kinds of papers.

What Every Percentage Score Means

A summary of matching or substantially similar text detected in a submitted paper is provided in a Similarity Report. A similarity score percentage will be displayed when a Similarity Report is available for viewing.

A grayed-out icon in the Similarity column represents Similarity Reports that have not yet completed generating. Reports that aren’t available may not have yet been generated, or assignment settings may be preventing the report from being generated.

The report icon’s color represents the paper’s similarity score, which is calculated on the basis of matching or comparable text found. The following are some probable similarity ranges from 0% to 100%.

• Blue: there is no matching text 
• Green: A single word to 24% matching text.
• Yellow: Text that matches 25-49%
• Orage: Text matching 50-74%
• Red: indicates that the text is 75-100 percent identical

Factors Determining Acceptable Plagiarism Score

The percentage of plagiarism is a critical issue for students, teachers, and educational institutions. In some cases, plagiarism is an accidental mistake, but in the majority of cases, it is a deliberate action.

Considering research papers are one of the most important factors that determine your grade, they must be crafted without plagiarism.

Most academic industries, faculties, and professors have developed an extensive guide on what percentage of plagiarism is acceptable in different situations.

Here will go over the factors that determine the percentage of plagiarism acceptable in research papers.

1. Your Field of Study 

In colleges or universities, there are several fields of students each with its own running and set of rules and regulations. Since these filed are independent, their acceptable plagiarism percentage varies.

For example for a law student, a plagiarism percentage of 10% is already a very serious matter whereas such a percentage may be acceptable in other fields.

It is also important to note that fields that deal with factual scientific data (sciences and maths), may accept a large plagiarism percentage than other fields.

2. The Type of Assignment

When it comes to plagiarism, different types of assignments have different acceptable plagiarism percentages

That means the acceptable plagiarism percentage varies based on the type of assignment, and this is because while some types of assignments can be completed in a short time, others take up a lot of time.

For example, while a 5% plagiarized book review will get you a failing grade, a 5% plagiarized term paper will get you a passing grade.

Additionally, there are many different types of papers, and there are many different types of assignments. Sometimes an assignment will have a different requirement than another.

For example, a term paper will have a much higher acceptable plagiarism percentage than a 500-word essay.

3. The Strictness of Your Professor

How strict your professor is, is also a factor that determines how much plagiarism percentage you are allowed. This all boils down to the choices and preferences of your instructor.

Professors with a strict grading policy will tell you to keep the plagiarism percentage as low as 1% while those with a lenient grading policy may accept even original papers with 25% similarity score. However, to be on the safer side, also ensure you keep your plagiarism as low (less than 5%)

The Strictness of Sour school Rules

Different institutions of study have different rules and policies.

For example, there are those schools that require their grading be made by the institution itself as opposed to those who task individual professors with the grading.

Again, some colleges require papers to be marked and reviewed by a panel of professors who will then award you the grade.

Other schools have a portal where you submit your paper, and the portal has strict guidelines (such as acceptable plagiarism percentage) which the professor uses to grade your paper. All these school factors determine the acceptable plagiarism percentage. 

Technically, plagiarism is wrong. However, there is an acceptable percentage of plagiarism that is allowed. The acceptable percentage of plagiarism is considered to be 10%. If you go beyond that percentage, then your thesis will be plagiarized.

If you do not want to be accused of plagiarism, then avoid copying the work of others. Either cite your sources or paraphrase the idea of others. Even when giving a speech, you can avoid patchwork plagiarism by citing your sources while speaking.

You can do this if you use quotation marks correctly. Note that you should always referee to your school guidelines to avoid severe plagiarism consequences.

What is the acceptable plagiarism percentage for Turnitin?

Turnitin does not have an acceptable percentage threshold for plagiarism. There are two elements that are assessed when you submit work to Turnitin to check for originality. The first is the text itself, and the second is the structure or design, so plagiarism is assessed by both the text and the presentation. 

However, Turnitin levels of 15% or less are widely considered appropriate. It is also important to note that there is no universally defined similarity score because plagiarism policies differ by institution.

Is 32 similarity on Turnitin bad?

32 similarity is usually the maximum similarity level the Turnitin system will determine. It means that at least 32% of your paper is plagiarized from existing sources. You should check your paper as soon as possible.

If your paper is not your own work, you may face serious consequences. The Turnitin system is used by most universities and colleges, so if your instructor catches you cheating, you will be expelled without a doubt.

What is the acceptable plagiarism percentage for a thesis?

According to various universities, students are advised to avoid plagiarism as much as possible. The acceptable level of plagiarism varies from university to university.

Some universities accept 25% or even 20% plagiarism, while others say it should not exceed 5%. To avoid your paper not being accepted, refer to your university guideline and apply the percentage of plagiarism that you are allowed to use.

What percentage of plagiarism is acceptable by Google?

The answer to this question is not yet clear. Google’s policy about duplicate content is very strict these days. You should avoid repeating the same content on your web pages. But it doesn’t mean you cannot copy the content from other websites.

The best thing is to share the knowledge with your visitors. Don’t forget, Google is a search engine that generates data from the web. You can use aggregation in your favor. You can add links to the original content when you re-share the information.

Joseph is a freelance journalist and a part-time writer with a particular interest in the gig economy. He writes about schooling, college life, and changing trends in education. When not writing, Joseph is hiking or playing chess.

How to Avoid Plagiarism in Research Papers (Part 1)

Writing a research paper poses challenges in gathering literature and providing evidence for making your paper stronger. Drawing upon previously established ideas and values and adding pertinent information in your paper are necessary steps, but these need to be done with caution without falling into the trap of plagiarism . In order to understand how to avoid plagiarism , it is important to know the different types of plagiarism that exist.

What is Plagiarism in Research?

Plagiarism is the unethical practice of using words or ideas (either planned or accidental) of another author/researcher or your own previous works without proper acknowledgment. Considered as a serious academic and intellectual offense, plagiarism can result in highly negative consequences such as paper retractions and loss of author credibility and reputation. It is currently a grave problem in academic publishing and a major reason for paper retractions .

It is thus imperative for researchers to increase their understanding about plagiarism. In some cultures, academic traditions and nuances may not insist on authentication by citing the source of words or ideas. However, this form of validation is a prerequisite in the global academic code of conduct. Non-native English speakers  face a higher challenge of communicating their technical content in English as well as complying with ethical rules. The digital age too affects plagiarism. Researchers have easy access to material and data on the internet which makes it easy to copy and paste information.

Related: Conducting literature survey and wish to learn more about scientific misconduct? Check out this resourceful infographic today!

How Can You Avoid Plagiarism in a Research Paper?

Guard yourself against plagiarism, however accidental it may be. Here are some guidelines to avoid plagiarism.

1. Paraphrase your content

• Do not copy–paste the text verbatim from the reference paper. Instead, restate the idea in your own words.
• Understand the idea(s) of the reference source well in order to paraphrase correctly.
• Examples on good paraphrasing can be found here ( https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase.html )

2. Use Quotations

Use quotes to indicate that the text has been taken from another paper. The quotes should be exactly the way they appear in the paper you take them from.

3. Cite your Sources – Identify what does and does not need to be cited

• The best way to avoid the misconduct of plagiarism is by self-checking your documents using plagiarism checker tools.
• Any words or ideas that are not your own but taken from another paper  need to be cited .
• Cite Your Own Material—If you are using content from your previous paper, you must cite yourself. Using material you have published before without citation is called self-plagiarism .
• The scientific evidence you gathered after performing your tests should not be cited.
• Facts or common knowledge need not be cited. If unsure, include a reference.

4. Maintain records of the sources you refer to

• Maintain records of the sources you refer to. Use citation software like EndNote or Reference Manager to manage the citations used for the paper
• Use multiple references for the background information/literature survey. For example, rather than referencing a review, the individual papers should be referred to and cited.

5. Use plagiarism checkers

You can use various plagiarism detection tools such as iThenticate or HelioBLAST (formerly eTBLAST) to see how much of your paper is plagiarised .

Tip: While it is perfectly fine to survey previously published work, it is not alright to paraphrase the same with extensive similarity. Most of the plagiarism occurs in the literature review section of any document (manuscript, thesis, etc.). Therefore, if you read the original work carefully, try to understand the context, take good notes, and then express it to your target audience in your own language (without forgetting to cite the original source), then you will never be accused with plagiarism (at least for the literature review section).

Caution: The above statement is valid only for the literature review section of your document. You should NEVER EVER use someone else’s original results and pass them off as yours!

What strategies do you adopt to maintain content originality? What advice would you share with your peers? Please feel free to comment in the section below.

If you would like to know more about patchwriting, quoting, paraphrasing and more, read the next article in this series!

Nice!! This article gives ideas to avoid plagiarism in a research paper and it is important in a research paper.

the article is very useful to me as a starter in research…thanks a lot!

it’s educative. what a wonderful article to me, it serves as a road map to avoid plagiarism in paper writing. thanks, keep your good works on.

I think this is very important topic before I can proceed with my M.A

it is easy to follow and understand

Nice!! These articles provide clear instructions on how to avoid plagiarism in research papers along with helpful tips.

Amazing and knowledgeable notes on plagiarism

Very helpful and educative, I have easily understood everything. Thank you so much.

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What should universities' stance be on AI tools in research and academic writing?

Understanding Plagiarism in Review Papers

The world of academia takes plagiarism very seriously. The copying of others’ works without appropriate citation is not only unethical but can also harm a student’s academic career. But what about review papers? How much is too much? Let’s dive in and find out.

How Much Plagiarism is Allowed in Review Papers?

In most academic journals, the acceptable similarity percentage is 15% . If you’re hovering around 17%, you’re in the clear but should still exercise caution. Although journals conduct their own plagiarism checks, they evaluate the entire manuscript context and not just the similarity percentage. However, crossing a 20% threshold often raises red flags about the originality of the content.

Different Content, Different Tolerances

Understanding the acceptable plagiarism percentage often depends on the nature of the document:

Note : It’s vital to be aware of unintentional plagiarism. Sometimes, similarities can arise purely by coincidence or unknowingly echoing studied resources.

A Checklist to Avoid Plagiarism

Keeping your academic writing original requires vigilance. Here are some steps you can follow to ensure your content is plagiarism-free:

1. Avoid Direct Quotes and Paraphrasing

• Steer clear from directly lifting or rephrasing others’ thoughts.
• Instead, understand the essence from various sources and pen them in your unique style.

2. Proper Referencing

• Citing sources can be a challenge, but it’s vital to differentiate your work.
• There are various formats like MLA, APA, Chicago, and more.
• Online tools can assist in generating citations, ensuring your references are in order.

3. Proofreading

• Review your content thoroughly, looking for familiar phrases or unintentional copying.
• Enlist a friend’s help for a fresh perspective on your paper.

4. Enriching Vocabulary

• Avoid clichés by expanding your vocabulary.
• Reading more and noting new terms can help. Synonyms can also come in handy.

5. Scanning Texts with Plagiarism Checkers

• Before submission, use specialized tools like PlagiarismCheck.org to ensure content originality.

Plagiarism is a serious issue in academic writing, and understanding its nuances is crucial for students and professionals alike. While there are guidelines on acceptable percentages, the ultimate goal should be producing genuine and original content. By following the steps mentioned above, one can ensure their work stands up to the highest standards of academic integrity. After understanding plagiarism in review papers, learn various strategies to avoid it in your academic work.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. is 25% plagiarism acceptable.

No, it’s not. Most journals and institutions only allow up to 20%. Ideal plagiarism levels in research papers should be between 0 and 10%, excluding cited references.

2. Can Review Papers Have Plagiarism?

Yes, they can. All parts of a thesis, including literature reviews, require plagiarism checks. Proper citation is mandatory to avoid plagiarism allegations.

3. What is Originality in Article Review?

Originality involves presenting unique content that reflects the author’s own insights and interpretations. In journals, it requires new contributions to the existing literature.

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Plagiarism Checker by Quetext

Free plagiarism checker: how it works, enter text into plagiarism detection tool.

We make it simple. Just copy and paste all content from your document into our plagiarism checker and hit the ‘Check Plagiarism’ button to get started.

Evaluate text for plagiarism

Our plagiarism detection tool uses DeepSearch™ Technology to identify any content throughout your document that might be plagiarized. We identify plagiarized content by running the text through three steps:

• 1.) Contextual Analysis
• 2.) Fuzzy Matching
• 3.) Conditional Scoring

Accurate plagiarism results

After evaluating the text against billions of internet sources, you will be provided with a plagiarism score showing the percentage of text that is an exact or near-match to existing text online.

Resolve plagiarism risk and use citations

Our ColorGrade™ feedback feature highlights exact matches vs. near-exact or “fuzzy” matches with corresponding colors. From there, you can resolve plagiarism issues by deleting or altering the at-risk copy. Or, you can use our handy “Cite Source” feature to generate citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago formats and insert the citations directly into your document.

Plagiarism Checker Benefits

Whether producing original content or verifying that of others, there’s a lot to gain from using a plagiarism checker. Accurate, automatic detection of duplicate content facilitates the copy-checking process for teachers, students, content writers, and more. Results showing the exact percentage of plagiarized content allows users to see exactly how much text has been copied and where they need to re-word.

For Teachers

Before homework can be graded for quality, it must first be confirmed as original. Our easy-to-use tool arms teachers with a simple, effective way to verify and grade students’ work. Educators at all levels can benefit from ensuring academic integrity through a comprehensive plagiarism check. From K-12, all the way through higher education, teachers are faced with the task of verifying the originality of the work of dozens, if not hundreds, of students each year. Automating this process frees teachers up to focus on the quality of work, rather than be bogged down by its originality.

For Students

While the prevalence of academic plagiarism is on the rise, much of it is arguably unintentional. A simple, yet accurate and comprehensive, plagiarism checker offers students peace of mind when submitting written content for grading. It is much easier to do a quick check for potential plagiarism before submission rather than convince a teacher after the fact that your academic integrity is not in question. And Quetext even takes checking for plagiarism a step further, helping students identify and cite the source itself with our built-in citation generator.

For Copywriters

Plagiarism risk is not restricted to academia. Anyone tasked with writing for an individual or business has an ethical and legal responsibility to produce original content. On top of that, content writers are often tasked with producing content on topics outside of their wheelhouse, leaving them reliant on the work of others for their research. Our plagiarism checker gives content writers a quick and easy method to prevent copyright infringement. Checking even lengthy pieces of writing takes only a few minutes, keeping companies’ public content in check and writers’ integrity intact.

Types of Plagiarism

It’s important to understand that plagiarism expands far beyond just copying someone else’s work word-for-word. There are several different types of plagiarism that should be avoided.

Self-Plagiarism

Many believe that, as long as they produced the work at some point in the past, they can include it in future pieces. However, even if you were the original author, that original work must be cited in order to not be flagged as plagiarism. Treat your past self as a totally separate author; be sure to include all relevant citations and quotations, the same as you would for any other source.

Patchwork Plagiarism

Patchwork plagiarism is the act of piecing together a "patchwork" of existing content to form something new. Assembling unoriginal content in this manner often involves some paraphrasing, with only slight changes. This type of plagiarism can be tricky and can certainly occur unintentionally, especially in academia. Since academic writing is largely based on the research of others, a well-meaning student can inadvertently end up plagiarizing.

Mosaic Plagiarism

Mosaic plagiarism is synonymous with patchwork plagiarism. It describes the process of loosely rearranging or restating another's work without issuing proper credit. It can occur accidentally or intentionally. For authors, mosaic plagiarism endangers their academic integrity or reputation as a writer. For those checking content originality, such as teachers, mosaic plagiarism can easily appear to be original content, which can make mosaic plagiarism especially difficult to detect manually.

Accidental Plagiarism

Plagiarism doesn’t have to be intentional to still be considered plagiarism — even in early academia, where students are just learning how to properly cite others’ work. While there may be no ill intent from the student, most schools have policies explicitly treating accidental plagiarism the same as intentional plagiarism. Students are expected to know how to properly issue credit to other authors. Similarly, content writers risk damage to their reputation if they produce plagiarized content, regardless of intent.

Plagiarism Checker FAQ

What is plagiarism.

Plagiarism is representing someone else’s work as your own. In educational contexts, there are differing definitions of plagiarism depending on the institution. Plagiarism is considered a violation of academic integrity and a breach of journalistic ethics.

What percentage of a paper can be plagiarized (or copied) and still be considered unique?

Generally speaking, similar or exact copies of another source should be kept under 15% for the total text of the article/paper/essay. As a best practice, citations should be used whenever using another source word-for-word.

What’s the difference between deliberate and accidental plagiarism?

Deliberate plagiarism is purposely copying works from books, articles, webpages, or someone else’s paper and representing it as your original work. Alternatively, accidental plagiarism occurs in a few different ways:

• Incorrectly citing another person’s works
• Failing to paraphrase another person’s works - even when citing it correctly
• Reusing your own previous papers and inadvertently representing it as a new idea

What are the consequences of plagiarism?

The consequences for plagiarizing another person’s works vary. But broadly speaking, the types of consequences can be grouped by person and profession.

Plagiarism consequences for students

Maintaining academic integrity is a top priority for every educational institution. As already mentioned, ignorance of how to properly cite sources is not an excuse for plagiarism. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure they are submitting work that has not been plagiarized.

Failure to do so can result in disciplinary action, including an automatic failed grade, removal from a class, or expulsion from a school or university. Students who are allowed to continue at their institution following an act of plagiarism may encounter mistrust and additional scrutiny from teachers and instructors.

Plagiarism consequences for copywriters

Copywriters stake their reputation (and by extension, that of their client or company) on their writing. All copywriters must produce completely original content for their clients.

The consequences for plagiarism here are clear: Copywriters who plagiarize the content of others will quickly find it difficult to obtain paying assignments. Similar to academic situations, it is the copywriter’s own responsibility to ensure that their content is 100% original.

Plagiarism consequences for journalists

Journalists are held to exceptionally high standards of integrity in their writing. A journalist who produces plagiarized content jeopardizes the trust of their readers and publishers. Plagiarism can instantly reduce a journalist’s career by a large margin. The ethical and legal standards issued to journalists are clear: Produce original, well-cited content or find another field.

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Let the writer edit affected pieces following your essay instructions while leaving unaffected parts intact. Order this service only if you are sure of your writing skills and the essay doesn't require a total rewrite.

The best option for all kinds of plagiarism issues includes proofreading and editing. Not only will the assigned writer eliminate plagiarism, but they will also do a complete overhaul, rewrite your essay, and restructure it up to your instructions.

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Choose this option if your needs are limited to just pointing out what has to be done to fix rare plagiarism occasions. Writers are very thorough with plagiarism and will provide possible solutions that best match your essay topic.

Free Online Plagiarism Checker with Percentage for Students

When students use online professional writing services, they expect to have original pieces written from scratch and according to their instructions. One of the most critical factors in using online writing services is that the pieces of writing they deliver to students are 0% plagiarism. Most writing companies check for plagiarism percentage but do not offer a free plagiarism checker online for a student to use when he asks, “check my paper for plagiarism.”

Sometimes students have written their essays and papers and want to use a plagiarism detector. They will not find an essay plagiarism checker to use on an online writing service – at least not the majority of them. When writing companies do offer additional resources, such as a free plagiarism checker, students come to trust that they are in the business of helping them rather than just making money. While knowing your plagiarism score is good, it is best to ask professionals " write my paper ," and there will be no plagiarism issues.

Plagiarism Checker for Students

Let’s face it. It’s easy to get a bit sloppy when doing research for a paper. An author’s words are paraphrased too closely to the real thing, a unique idea is not credited to its owner, and sometimes, even a direct quote is not cited correctly. All these things open a student up for charges of plagiarism, even if they write college papers from scratch with the best of intentions. Having a free online plagiarism checker for students, such as that offered by Trust My Paper, gives a student a neutral, objective source to ensure that no instructor will find plagiarized content in what he has submitted. And having a plagiarism detector that is a unique piece of software not used by anyone else is critical. More on that later.

There is also something called “self-plagiarism.” Most students are unaware of this issue, but it is accurate. Suppose a student has written a previous original piece and run through a common plagiarism detector used by many institutions. Now, he is writing a second piece on a similar topic and has decided to use a small percentage of content from that previous piece. Using that same common plagiarism detector will result in repeated content being flagged as plagiarized. Better to catch this with the Trust My Paper plagiarism checker before turning the paper in.

The consequences of plagiarism become more severe as students move through their schooling careers. A middle school student who writes his first research paper is a beginner and may not fully understand the “rules” of plagiarism. Rather than severe consequences, his teacher will probably re-teach those rules, point out what was plagiarized, and have him rewrite those parts. By high school, things get a little more serious, and students can face severely lowered grades on writing that contains plagiarism. Once in college, a student is expected to know the rules and to produce fully original work. Consequences for plagiarism are severe and can even include expulsion. If a student has any concerns about plagiarism, he must find an online plagiarism checking tool with percentage and clear his piece before submitting it. Trust My Paper has that tool.

Benefits of Free Online Plagiarism Checker by Trust My Paper

Let’s look at probably the most common online plagiarism detector – Turnitin. Most colleges use Turnitin campus-wide so that instructors will check papers for plagiarism through this software. And it’s a free plagiarism checker with percentage. Here is a typical scenario. A student finishes a paper and runs it through Turnitin. It gives him 95% originality, which is acceptable. He then submits that essay to his professor. That professor then runs it through Turnitin, and it comes back plagiarized. The student has some explaining to do, even though he did nothing wrong.

This is probably not your biggest worry when dealing with checking for plagiarism. You just want to ensure you have not goofed and plagiarized something by mistake. Often, these are failures to cite sources correctly or to paraphrase too closely. And if you use a good plagiarism checker with percentage, these issues will be identified so you can fix them.

You will not encounter undetected plagiarism issues when you use the free plagiarism checker on the Trust My Paper website. And there are some other significant benefits when you check a paper for plagiarism through our tool:

• We provide a 100% guarantee of the results
• We compare your piece with over 1,500,000 pieces of content on the web
• We support 150+ languages
• We use the latest, most sophisticated algorithms
• It’s super easy to use
• Shows originality in percentage

How Does Plagiarism Detection Work?

Once you have typed in Google “Trustmypaper.com check my paper for plagiarism,” you simply access it here, on the Trust My Paper website. The rest is self-explanatory:

• Enter the title of the piece/document.
• Paste/upload your piece.
• Check the box that you agree with the “terms and conditions” and then click the “check for plagiarism” box.
• Let the software do its work and provide you with a full report. That report will include the percentage of originality and point out any and all parts with similarities, along with the sources of those similarities.
• If you need to fix some things, you can run the piece through the checker again until you have the desired results.
• Once you have the results you want, you can download your report and turn it in with your work.

Once you have used it, you will believe ours is the best plagiarism checker you will find.

Advantages of Plagiarism Checker by Trust My Paper

Using Trust My Paper online plagiarism checker has several advantages that make it the preferred checker of most clients. These include the following:

• You get a full report that will let you fix any issues quickly and be confident that you can turn in your work without worry.
• You can check your paper for plagiarism as many times as necessary.
• Our free plagiarism checker is free, no matter how many times you want to use it.
• Your use of our plagiarism checker is confidential, and it is fast. You will get your report, usually within minutes, unless the piece is lengthy.
• Accuracy is guaranteed because we use the latest software and algorithms.
• You can drag and drop any type of file you have - .doc, .docx, .txt, .rtf, .pdf, .odt.
• Our checker is super simple to use. Once you try it, you’ll want to use it for every piece you write.

Can I check my essay for plagiarism for free online?

Yes, you can find an online plagiarism checker in a lot of places online. Quality can vary, though. Scanners that use the most current technology and algorithms will give you a good result. But there is no way to always know if those are in place when you choose a checker and to get the accuracy and completeness you really need. When you decide to use Trust My Paper’s plagiarism, you will get the accuracy and the comprehensiveness you need. You’ll have an overall percentage of originality and a highlighting of any text that is a problem.

As a student, is it free for me to use Trust My Paper plagiarism checker?

Absolutely. No matter what your grade level, no matter where your institution is located, you can access our plagiarism checker for free, as often as you need, 24 hours a day. It supports a number of foreign languages, is fast and easy, and will even scan a large number of sources to ensure accuracy. Our plagiarism checker is one of several free resources we offer to students because we are committed to your success. Helping you make sure your writing work is 100% plagiarism-free is important.

Can I scan my research paper for plagiarism for free?

Yes, of course. Our plagiarism checker will scan, analyze, and report on any piece of writing in any document format. Once the scan is complete, you can then download the full report or have it emailed to you, so you can attach it to your work when you turn it in.

Will your plagiarism report be the same as the one used by my university?

Online plagiarism checkers from different types of programs/scanners will not “look” exactly the same. But the information they all provide will be the same. There will be a percentage of originality, and for most instructors and institutions, it must be 90% or higher. It will point out pieces of content that are too similar to existing content, found on huge databases or elsewhere on the web. The “meat” of any plagiarism checker for students will be the same, just in different sequencing.

Can I be punished for plagiarism?

You bet you can. Younger students who are new to writing essays, papers, book reports, and such will not face the consequences. Their teachers will point out plagiarism and explain why it is wrong. As students get older, punishments will be in place for plagiarism. By the time students are in college, consequences can be mild to severe, depending upon the instructor and the institution’s policies. Our advice? Take no chances. Run everything you write through the Trust My Paper free checker, and submit your work with confidence.

What does a free plagiarism checker with percentage mean?

Many free plagiarism checkers only tell you if your content is original or not. That can be misleading. In truth, almost no content is 100% original. Commonly used phrases, quotes, and other similar content will count as content that isn’t completely original. Don’t forget about self-plagiarism! This is when a student uses their own previous work, but doesn’t cite it. In addition to this, different schools and organizations allow different thresholds of originality.

A free plagiarism checker with percentage doesn’t just showcase spots where there may be issues with originality. It shows you exactly how much of your paper is completely original. This lets you determine if you need to change anything.

All of these are clear reasons why you need a plagiarism checker that provides an accurate percentage. This will allow you to verify that your content is as original as it needs to be.

What percentage of plagiarism is considered bad?

That depends on the standards set by your instructor or school. It also depends on how you are presenting any information you have lifted from other sources. For example, a paragraph-long quote that is properly sourced and attributed is not plagiarism. However, it may show up as content that isn’t original. On the other hand, if you steal a shorter quote, and pass it off as your own thought, without giving credit, that is plagiarism.

In many cases, you can find out what the expectations are. Sometimes, your instructor will publish the percentage of originality they expect in the assignment rubric. In other cases, it will be with the course rules.

Don’t forget to learn what will happen if you should turn in a paper that isn’t completely original. In some cases, the consequences could be failure or expulsion. In other instances, your instructor may simply wish to review your paper to ensure that you have given proper credit.

I cited my sources, is it considered plagiarism?

In some instances, the answer is yes. For example, if you use someone’s exact words, but fail to use quotes, that may be considered to be plagiarism. You can avoid this by properly attributing words using quotes, in addition to citing your source. Sometimes, it is best to paraphrase or reword the statement.

Can you detect plagiarism without a plag checker?

There may be a few things you can do to look for plagiarism in your writing. For example, you can:

• Do a Google search on passages of your writing to see if it finds matching content.
• Double-check that all of your writing uses quotations and citations properly.
• Look for visual cues in your paper. For example, a passage that uses a different font may be something you copied in, then forgot to paraphrase or quote.

You may also ask someone you trust to review your paper.

Unfortunately, while these actions may help, none of them are a decent substitute for a reliable plagiarism detector. Remember that online, plagiarism detection software can quickly access and review more than a million papers, articles, and other content. You simply cannot match that using any other tool or technique. That is why it is best to rely on a high-quality plagiarism checker that gives you an originality percentage.

Is it safe to check for plagiarism online?

Absolutely! In fact, this is the safest, most convenient method there is. Did you know your instructor or employer will likely use an online checker to ensure your work is original? It only makes sense that you would gain peace of mind by having your writing double-checked for plagiarism by a company that is established in the field of academic writing. Here are some things to consider as you look for a plag checker online:

• Does the service have connections with reputable academic databases?
• Have students been satisfied with their experiences with this service?
• Is it easy to use the plagiarism checking tool?
• Does the company that offers the service have an excellent track record in the field of academic writing?
• Will the tool check for self-plagiarism?
• Can the student expect to receive an accurate number that reflects their originality?
• Is there multiple language support?
• Is it free?
• Can you use the plagiarism checker multiple times for a single paper?

Our plagiarism checker has all of these features. Further, you may drag and drop files, or use copy and paste. All standard file formats are supported.

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Amanda Hoover

Students Are Likely Writing Millions of Papers With AI

Students have submitted more than 22 million papers that may have used generative AI in the past year, new data released by plagiarism detection company Turnitin shows.

A year ago, Turnitin rolled out an AI writing detection tool that was trained on its trove of papers written by students as well as other AI-generated texts. Since then, more than 200 million papers have been reviewed by the detector, predominantly written by high school and college students. Turnitin found that 11 percent may contain AI-written language in 20 percent of its content, with 3 percent of the total papers reviewed getting flagged for having 80 percent or more AI writing. (Turnitin is owned by Advance, which also owns Condé Nast, publisher of WIRED.) Turnitin says its detector has a false positive rate of less than 1 percent when analyzing full documents.

ChatGPT’s launch was met with knee-jerk fears that the English class essay would die . The chatbot can synthesize information and distill it near-instantly—but that doesn’t mean it always gets it right. Generative AI has been known to hallucinate , creating its own facts and citing academic references that don’t actually exist. Generative AI chatbots have also been caught spitting out biased text on gender and race . Despite those flaws, students have used chatbots for research, organizing ideas, and as a ghostwriter . Traces of chatbots have even been found in peer-reviewed, published academic writing .

Teachers understandably want to hold students accountable for using generative AI without permission or disclosure. But that requires a reliable way to prove AI was used in a given assignment. Instructors have tried at times to find their own solutions to detecting AI in writing, using messy, untested methods to enforce rules , and distressing students. Further complicating the issue, some teachers are even using generative AI in their grading processes.

Detecting the use of gen AI is tricky. It’s not as easy as flagging plagiarism, because generated text is still original text. Plus, there’s nuance to how students use gen AI; some may ask chatbots to write their papers for them in large chunks or in full, while others may use the tools as an aid or a brainstorm partner.

Students also aren't tempted by only ChatGPT and similar large language models. So-called word spinners are another type of AI software that rewrites text, and may make it less obvious to a teacher that work was plagiarized or generated by AI. Turnitin’s AI detector has also been updated to detect word spinners, says Annie Chechitelli, the company’s chief product officer. It can also flag work that was rewritten by services like spell checker Grammarly, which now has its own generative AI tool . As familiar software increasingly adds generative AI components, what students can and can’t use becomes more muddled.

Detection tools themselves have a risk of bias. English language learners may be more likely to set them off; a 2023 study found a 61.3 percent false positive rate when evaluating Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exams with seven different AI detectors. The study did not examine Turnitin’s version. The company says it has trained its detector on writing from English language learners as well as native English speakers. A study published in October found that Turnitin was among the most accurate of 16 AI language detectors in a test that had the tool examine undergraduate papers and AI-generated papers.

Reece Rogers

David Gilbert

Scott Gilbertson

Andy Greenberg

Schools that use Turnitin had access to the AI detection software for a free pilot period, which ended at the start of this year. Chechitelli says a majority of the service’s clients have opted to purchase the AI detection. But the risks of false positives and bias against English learners have led some universities to ditch the tools for now. Montclair State University in New Jersey announced in November that it would pause use of Turnitin’s AI detector. Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University did the same last summer.

“This is hard. I understand why people want a tool,” says Emily Isaacs, executive director of the Office of Faculty Excellence at Montclair State. But Isaacs says the university is concerned about potentially biased results from AI detectors, as well as the fact that the tools can’t provide confirmation the way they can with plagiarism. Plus, Montclair State doesn’t want to put a blanket ban on AI, which will have some place in academia. With time and more trust in the tools, the policies could change. “It’s not a forever decision, it’s a now decision,” Isaacs says.

Chechitelli says the Turnitin tool shouldn’t be the only consideration in passing or failing a student. Instead, it’s a chance for teachers to start conversations with students that touch on all of the nuance in using generative AI. “People don’t really know where that line should be,” she says.

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Acceptable Plagiarism Percentage in the UK

Ashley Merit

Content writer and editor for Netus.AI

Acceptable Plagiarism Percentage in the UK. Plagiarism has been a long-standing issue in the world of academia, with instances of copied content in academic papers. Although cheating among students has always been present, the rise of the internet has made copying content much easier. It is essential for students and scholars to be aware of the acceptable plagiarism percentages in the UK, especially in their respective institutions.

Despite the availability of vast amounts of information found online, not all writers resort to copying content. Sometimes, unintentional plagiarism might seep into their work. It makes understanding the acceptable percentage of plagiarism in the UK and developing good practices for producing original content particularly important.

Key Takeaways

• Plagiarism is a pervasive issue in academic institutions, and the internet has made cheating more accessible.
• While some writers may unknowingly include copied content, it is crucial to be aware of acceptable plagiarism percentages.
• Understanding what constitutes plagiarism and developing good practices are essential to maintain academic integrity.

How are Online Plagiarism Checkers Beneficial for People?

Online plagiarism checkers generate similarity reports which reveal the presence of copied content in a document. These reports provide a plagiarism percentage , which represents the total amount of duplicated content in the document. A higher percentage typically signals the presence of unoriginal material.

Plagiarism levels of about 10 to 15% are commonly deemed acceptable, but even a 10% score may not guarantee a document’s originality. For instance, this percentage could represent a whole paragraph copied without proper citation. As such, solely relying on plagiarism percentages isn’t foolproof in determining a document’s authenticity.

Nonetheless, online plagiarism checkers are beneficial for the following reasons:

• They promote the understanding of proper citation practices.
• They provide valuable feedback to improve the writing process.
• They guide users in avoiding failure due to unintentional plagiarism.

It’s important to note that sometimes, high plagiarism percentages might result from cited passages being mistaken for plagiarized content. Hence, it’s crucial to carefully assess the generated similarity report and recognize the reasons behind the indicated level of plagiarism.

To Curb Plagiarism, Write a Plagiarism-Free Document

To effectively minimize plagiarism in academic writing, students should concentrate on crafting unique content, diligently citing appropriate references, and making sure those sources are relevant to their assignments.

In the modern age, countless online resources cover a wide array of topics. However, it is crucial to choose the most suitable references for one’s paper instead of relying solely on external information. Incorporating individual perspectives, insights, and conclusions contributes to a well-rounded essay, reducing the risk of accidental or patchwork plagiarism.

For educators, emphasizing the importance of original thought and providing a clear understanding of self-plagiarism, assessments, and academic integrity within their field of study, would help students grasp the significance of honest work in their education. In turn, this may discourage practices such as commissioning papers or paying for model essays.

Process of Avoiding Plagiarism

To effectively avoid plagiarism, adhere to these steps:

• Create a unique write-up : Focus on writing the paper without integrating any sources at first. This allows for individual ideas and conclusions to form.
• Organize and document sources : Record each source immediately to prevent forgetfulness and ensure proper citation.
• Incorporate notes : Clarify the relevance of reference passages used within the paper by explaining their significance in the notes section.
• Consistent citation format : Always use a single, institution-prescribed citation style for listing cited works.

Additionally, it is crucial to check the paper for plagiarism using a high-quality plagiarism checker. Utilize the results from the plagiarism scanner to rectify any unintentional mistakes within the paper. By following these guidelines and paying attention to the referencing process , writers can prevent plagiarism while creating well-researched, original work with proper acknowledgement of sources such as direct quotations, images, and in-text citations .

Online Services for Checking Plagiarism in Academic Papers

Manually identifying plagiarism in text files can be challenging, especially when recalling all the sources utilized while writing the paper. Unintentionally incorporating ideas from previous lessons also poses a risk for unplagiarized content.

Ensuring proper citation for influenced passages or paraphrased content is crucial; however, incomplete citations or mistakes in the works cited page might cause plagiarism issues. Errors in attributions or spelling can further aggravate these problems.

Manually checking a paper for every small error leading to plagiarism is often unfeasible. Thankfully, online tools can effectively detect plagiarism and correct grammatical or spelling mistakes. Some popular tools include:

• Grammar checkers : These tools assess the grammatical correctness of the paper.
• Plagiarism checkers : By scanning the uploaded document for copied content, these tools compare the text with multiple internet sources to identify plagiarism.

One well-known plagiarism checker is Turnitin , which is widely used in academic settings.

Upon completion of the scanning process, the duplicated sections are highlighted, and sources of the copied text are displayed. A comprehensive plagiarism report is generated, providing valuable insights into the paper’s quality.

By using these online services, writers can significantly improve the originality and quality of their academic papers, ensuring they comply with integrity standards in their respective fields.

Use Plagiarism Detector Tool

In today’s digitally connected world, finding a reliable plagiarism detection tool can be challenging. Many checkers employ basic scanning methods that may not catch intellectual theft that has been purposefully modified to evade detection. However, utilizing an AI-powered online plagiarism scanner can help identify even the most cunningly altered content^[1^].

These advanced tools are capable of identifying various types of plagiarism and are particularly beneficial in the academic sphere. By understanding the significance of plagiarism, users can work towards eliminating duplicate content in scholarly papers. Tools like plagiarism detectors simplify the process and yield similarity reports after scanning, making it easier to remove copied content.

Some effective formatting techniques for your articles include:

• Tables : Organize data in an easy-to-read format
• Bullet points : Compile lists and key points concisely
• Bold text : Emphasize important information

Adopting these strategies can help deliver information in a clear and concise manner while avoiding exaggeration or falsehoods. By using an appropriate plagiarism detection tool, users can confidently ensure the originality of their work and maintain academic integrity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Maximum threshold for plagiarism in university assignments.

Different universities and academic institutions may have varying policies regarding acceptable plagiarism levels in assignments. Generally, it is best to strive for a plagiarism percentage of 0% to ensure originality and proper citation of sources in your work.

Determining Acceptable Plagiarism Percentages in Theses

The acceptable percentage of plagiarism in a thesis varies depending on the institution, department, or the specific guidelines provided by your university. Some universities may accept a plagiarism threshold of around 10%, but it is recommended to check with your institution for specific guidelines.

Acceptable Similarity Levels in Research Papers

In research papers, the acceptable similarity percentage may depend on the publisher. For instance, Springer specifies that up to 15% similarity is permitted . It is crucial to familiarize yourself with the guidelines of the publisher or the academic institution you are submitting your research to, as different organizations may have different policies in place.

Identifying Plagiarism through Turnitin Similarity Percentage

Turnitin’s similarity percentage indicates the level of similarity in content between your submitted work and other sources. However, a high similarity percentage does not automatically indicate plagiarism. It is crucial to investigate each similar passage to determine whether it constitutes plagiarism or is a correctly cited reference.

Allowable Plagiarism Limit in a Master’s Thesis

The allowable limit of plagiarism in a master’s thesis may vary among academic institutions and departments. Nevertheless, less than 10% is generally considered an acceptable limit . Always consult your university’s specific guidelines to ensure compliance with their requirements.

Acceptable Plagiarism Levels in the University of London’s Academic Submissions

The University of London follows strict plagiarism guidelines , defining plagiarism as presenting someone else’s thoughts, words, or other output in a way that may be assumed as your own. Plagiarism in any form is considered an assessment offence, and students must adhere to the university’s policies and guidelines to avoid academic penalties.

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