10 Facts You Might Not Know About Plagiarism

#1. Your paper can be plagiarized even if the Turnitin reports, or any other plagiarism report shows 0% plagiarism

I know it sounds strange, but this is very true. It happens very often. It can happen in two known scenarios.

First, there is a type of plagiarism that happens when you paraphrase your entire research paper or maybe your essay from one source. Let’s say you are given an essay topic then you go online you find exactly the same essay or research paper already written by one person on the website. Since you are afraid of plagiarism, you will be tempted to paraphrase the document from the introduction to the body to conclusion.

Sometimes it may not be possible for the plagiarism checkers to detect plagiarism from a well paraphrased document. However, there is what we call manual plagiarism checking.

Manual plagiarism checking does not involve the use of software. It simply entails your teacher searching the same topic online then compare what other people have done online in relation to your work.

It can easily be seen physically from your introduction, your thesis statement, your objectives, your diagrams, and your references that you simply relied on one source for your work. Reliance on one source is plagiarism because you have not used any effort for research and critical thinking but has used another person’s energy and creativity.

Secondly, your paper can show 0% or no plagiarism in plagiarism software (other than Turnitin) if you submit a report that had already been submitted earlier. Turnitin has a paper repository, and it will detect this type of plagiarism. However, other plagiarism checkers does not have this type of paper repository and would thus not detect this type of plagiarism.

#2. There are more than 10 types or sources of plagiarism

Plagiarism is a broad term that does not just involve copy pasting of another person’s ideas. Actually, most people think that plagiarism is a matter of copy pasting ideas and making them your own.

A good number of people do not know that even relying on one source for your research is plagiarism. A good number of students also are not aware that submitting a previously submitted assignment is plagiarism.

The same persons are also not aware that writing a full research paper with no or minimal references is also plagiarism. We have extensively discussed these many types of plagiarism and how to avoid them so that you get a good grasp of the true meaning of plagiarism.

#3. Paraphrasing from one single source is still plagiarism

This is one of the most misunderstood forms of plagiarism. Nowadays, websites such as Chegg and Course Hero have most of the prewritten essays and research papers that students are looking for.

You may find exactly the same question with the same right answers already answered in those websites. You should never use those answers to write your paper. If at all you have to use them, then their usage should just be limited to referencing material.

You can just borrow the concepts and the style then use them to write your own original answers or paper. Paraphrasing from one source is one of the serious sources of plagiarism that should be avoided at all costs.

#4. Plagiarism is not just about the text

Lack of full understanding of plagiarism can often lead to serious misunderstanding of where and how you have plagiarized. If you revisit the definition of plagiarism, you will learn that it is the use of someone’s ideas, concepts, thoughts, language, and expressions and making them appear to be your own.

From that definition, it means that even using a famous quote from a historical figure without proper acknowledgment is plagiarism.

From that definition, you can also realize that using someone’s figure or illustration without proper acknowledgment is also considered plagiarism. 

Even if you take a song from one person then submit it as your own them it becomes plagiarism. Therefore, plagiarism is not just about the written text. It goes beyond the written text to represent anything that or not originally yours.

#5. Cheating during and exam or quiz is still plagiarism

Cheating during exams is a type of plagiarism that many people rarely talk about. During the examinations, it is easy to see a student trying as much as possible to steal the answer from his neighbor.

You will be caught very easily because it is the same teacher who does the marking, and he will see the similar flow of answers and ideas for each and every question. Cheating is plagiarism because just as we have defined plagiarism above, it involves representing someone’s answers, ideas and concepts as your own. 

#6. It is not always easy to achieve a 0% plagiarism

 It is never easy to achieve a 100% original work or a 0% plagiarism. Generally, the tutors expect that your work should have as low plagiarism levels as possible but not that it must be 0% plagiarism free.

Even if your work is 10% plagiarism, you should not be worried because it falls within the acceptable and the safe plagiarism limits. The things that sometimes makes it impossible to achieve a 0% plagiarism percentage are things such as references, quotes, tables, figures, and illustrations.

Some of these things cannot be changed while writing so that are likely to be plagiarized. The good thing is that such areas only form a small percentage of plagiarism and this you are not likely to be penalized.

#7. The AI plagiarism removal tools do not remove plagiarism

I already told you the way the AI plagiarism removal tools work. These are not plagiarism removal tools but are tools that work to cheat the plagiarism software.

You really need to understand that there is a difference between removing the plagiarism and cheating the plagiarism removal software so that you are not caught.

Most students know that the surest way of being caught if they plagiarized is through the use of plagiarism removal tools. However, it is worth noting that not all plagiarism is checked with the software.

I have already mentioned above in this article that we have what we call manual plagiarism checking. It does not involve the use of a software. Therefore, the use of AI plagiarism removal tool is also another risk.

If you find a professor who is smart enough, he will just check how the words are arranged and notice that every work has been replaced by a synonym. In other words, you will be caught, and it will be worse for you.

My advice is that do not take a plagiarized work then run it through the AI plagiarism removal tools with the intention of removing the plagiarism.

#8. Plagiarism can cost you billions of dollars

Read The Multi-Billion Dollar Plagiarism Scandal – Plagiarism Today: Plagiarism is very expensive act. Plagiarism negatively affected an organization known as TRX to lose its value and crypto currency business.

The plagiarism story was unique in that it did not even undergo the legal process like litigation in the courts, but it just ended in the online media and the billions of dollars were wiped out just like that.

From this story, it is evident that plagiarism can destroy a public trust. When the company was accused of plagiarism, the users lost confidence in it and that is how its value depreciated within hours. The company tried but there was no way they could rebuild their trust.

From this case, it is evident that plagiarism not just a matter of copying things, it also affects the reputation of a person, an entity or a business. When you us another person’s work that you did not create, it sends a strong message that you or your business is a lie, and it badly hurts the character and the ability of the people and the customer to trust you.

Trust is extremely important in today’s business because investors are not sure whether they will get their money back. Any form of cheating is a serious red flag that can cost the business.

#9. Plagiarism can lead to your dismissal from the university

I know of a person who currently hates seeing the gates of any university because he was caught plagiarizing and dismissed. What happened is that he simply went to the internet and downloaded a full document of a previous dissertation then tweaked the tittle a little and also tweaked some paragraph a little then claimed that he is done with the dissertation.

He was caught and taken to the disciplinary committee where he was found guilty of plagiarizing another person’s dissertation. The committee recommended that he be dismissed from the university with immediate effect. He lost all the time and the resources he already invested in the university. It was a very expensive venture. It was a lesson to all the remaining students on the possible effects of plagiarism.

 

#10. The only true plagiarism checker is Turnitin

There are several plagiarism checkers out there that use complicated algorithm to check plagiarism. All of them claim to have the best plagiarism checking system. Of course, everybody wants to stand out in the crowd. However, we believe that Turnitin is the best plagiarism checker for a number of reasons.

First, Turnitin plagiarism check is very accurate and first.

Secondly, Turnitin is the only plagiarism check with the paper repository, to mean it has the capacity to check the repository plagiarism. 

Finally, Turnitin is the only plagiarism checker recommended by most universities, to mean that the same plagiarism percentage you will get as a student is the same plagiarism percentage your tutor will get.

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