Many students want to make sure they’ve written an original text and no issues will prevent them from getting an excellent grade. That’s why such learners need to get a plagiarize check and look for free tools on the web. Sometimes, the results can surprise them because the software might identify the most generic phrases as “stolen,” although all in-text citations are correct. You’ll need a lot of patience and dedication to understand what’s wrong and how to fix the problem. Even the software can be wrong and there may in fact be no real plagiarism in the text it highlights. Let’s see how exactly that happens and what you can do to study efficiently using plagiarism checkers.
How plagiarism checkers work
It’s always a wise decision to dive into the details about how something functions before starting to use that thing. That’s exactly why so many people ask, “how does a plagarize software work?” The good news is that it utilizes understandable mechanisms. Still, those algorithms are more complex than they look.
The main principle behind a plagiarism checker is that this program accesses a database and scans it, comparing the texts it “knows” to your work. The similarity index you get is based on how many phrases and sentences are identical to what other people have written. Still, such software never looks for separate words because that wouldn’t make sense. Instead, it analyzes the phrases and sentences, taking at least three vocabulary items at a time. That way, the copied sequences become visible in no time at all.
As strict as that system is, the anti-plagiarism software engineers went even further and created a way to identify paraphrasing when it’s used to mask stolen ideas. The “fingerprinting” technology used by reliable plagiarism checkers like PlagiarismCheck.org analyzes word order and the patterns in which specific phrases match. This technique also benefits from excluding the lexical items that everybody uses, such as articles or prepositions. After all, those small words are essential but they can’t add originality to the text. That’s how plagiarism checkers prevent dishonest people from stealing content.
Why plagiarism is unacceptable for universities
What do universities use to check for plagiarism? Why do instructors care so much about the originality of every single paper? These are some of the most common questions many students ask about this phenomenon. Let’s see what answers we can offer.
- Higher education institutions look at the level of the plagiarism checker rather than the name. We’ve mentioned Turnitin before, and that’s the perfect example of the comprehensive approach that most instructors dream about. After all, some learners are ready to use multiple strategies to deceive the system, so the educators want to enforce their policies with the best tools accessible.
- Originality guarantees fairness. It goes without saying that everybody who wants a degree has to rely on their own efforts. If someone else does the work for you, that’s cheating, and the same goes for stolen ideas. Still, this system is so strict for a good reason.
- The quality of education depends on how original the works of every student are. Everyone wants to be lazy sometimes, but you won’t gain the necessary qualifications if you refuse to create original research. That’s why you can be sure that the instructors think about your own good when they use plagiarism checkers.
What you should remember while using a plagiarism checker
Most free plagiarism checkers online are primarily about word-for-word matches, so they can sometimes be wrong about your work. Still, any tool that identifies how similar your text is to the other ones out there can be useful. Let’s see what you should keep in mind to make them beneficial for your individual needs.
Proofread your text before checking it. That seems like an obvious thing, but many users actually forget to do it. That may result in the program missing some important elements, and you might turn in the work with accidental plagiarism that didn’t get identified. That would be terrible, considering all the time and effort people put into their plagiarism checks.
Not all similarities are 100% legit. Anti-plagiarism apps can highlight the phrases like “first and foremost” or “after many years of research.” That doesn’t mean those word combinations are stolen, unless some quote begins with these words, of course. In most cases, it’s about the expressions that are commonly used by researchers and journalists. That’s the kind of similarities you don’t really have to worry about.
There’s such a thing as accidental plagiarism. That can happen to inattentive people who forget to use quotation marks and in-text citations to fully acknowledge the author. That’s why you should check if you’ve forgotten to format the quote correctly before doing anything else if a whole sentence matches some source.
Learning more effectively with a plagiarism checker
Let’s face it — we all want to be calm while using the plagiarism checker for professors. These tips will help you achieve that and also improve your writing using that software.
- If your plagiarism checker highlighted general phrases, inspect them. These expressions are often wordy and have no significance for the text overall. Deleting what your anti-plagiarism tool marked can make your work more focused and pleasant to read.
- Use a plagiarism checker to identify insufficiently paraphrased quotes. Sometimes learners forget to change the structure of the quote, only altering some words, which may look like a plagiarism attempt. The right software will help you avoid that.
- A plagiarism checker can lead you to add some more citations. Look through the works your text has similarities with to see whether you’ve forgotten to google some of your ideas. If Aristotle said it first, it’s better to be on the safe side and cite that thought.
- Successful plagiarism checks will boost your confidence. With practice, your originality will grow, and so will your self-esteem as a student. You’ll understand the writing principles better and feel more secure.
Bottom line
These tips are sure to make you feel safe while submitting your work to be verified by the plagiarism checker used by professors. It’s important to run multiple scans on every text you create and note the takeaways for future reference. The editing process might appear very complex and time-consuming at first, but you’ll do it faster as your writing improves. You can also show the results to your friend or mentor to get additional advice and guidance. Just remember that nobody is born with all the needed skills, and it’s always rewarding to acquire them.