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Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL

Since 1976, the Writing Lab has supported writers on the West Lafayette campus through a variety of services and community engagement initiatives using student-centered best practices. The Online Writing Lab (OWL) has been an extension of the Writing Lab since 1993, and offers global support through online reference materials and services. The Writing Lab and OWL, both part of the Department of English, are informed by and engage in research within the discipline of Composition and Rhetoric, including the subfields of writing center studies, writing program administration, second language studies, and professional writing.

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Free plagiarism checker by EasyBib

Check for plagiarism, grammar errors, and more.

  • Expert Check

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Check for accidental plagiarism

Avoid unintentional plagiarism. Check your work against billions of sources to ensure complete originality.

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Find and fix grammar errors

Turn in your best work. Our smart proofreader catches even the smallest writing mistakes so you don't have to.

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Improve the quality of your paper. Receive feedback on your main idea, writing mechanics, structure, conclusion, and more.

What students are saying about us

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"Caught comma errors that I actually struggle with even after proofreading myself."

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- Catherine R.

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Check for unintentional plagiarism

Easily check your paper for missing citations and accidental plagiarism with the EasyBib plagiarism checker. The EasyBib plagiarism checker:

  • Scans your paper against billions of sources.
  • Identifies text that may be flagged for plagiarism.
  • Provides you with a plagiarism score.

You can submit your paper at any hour of the day and quickly receive a plagiarism report.

What is the EasyBib plagiarism checker? 

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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Why use a plagiarism checker? 

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 .

Catch missing citations before you turn it in

  • Check your paper up to 3x faster than before with the new CitationMachine® Plus

More writing help from start to finish

  • Expert Check

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Check for unintentional plagiarism

Scan your paper the way your teacher would to catch unintentional plagiarism. Then, easily add the right citation.

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Strengthen your writing

Give your paper an in-depth check. Receive feedback within 24 hours from writing experts on your paper's main idea, structure, conclusion, and more.

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Find and fix grammar errors

Don't give up sweet paper points for small mistakes. Our algorithms flag grammar and writing issues and provide smart suggestions.

What students are saying about us

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"The plagiarism checker is super helpful for finding the places where citations belong within a paper."

- Heather B.

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"The grammar checker is definitely better than any program I have used."

- Melissa D.

How we'll help you improve your paper

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All-in-One grammar and plagiarism checker

The only thing harder than writing a paper is editing it. Nobody’s perfect, and grammatical errors are all too easy to make. But a grammar checker could help! That’s where Citation Machine Plus comes in: a one-stop shop that pairs a top-notch plagiarism checker with a complete grammar check. It’s the perfect companion for any student. Whether you’re an expert writer who just needs a second look or could use a full-fledged crash course on brushing up your writing, we’ve got it covered.

We offer smart technology you can access day or night, for all your last-minute deadlines. Citation Machine Plus’s built-in tools can help ensure you didn’t accidentally use someone else’s words without referencing them. If it does find an issue, you can use its citing tools to quickly create a citation for it.

To power up your paper even more, our tools offer an easy spelling check and the best grammar checker we’ve ever built. Our powerful software will run a quick grammar check and spell check to catch big and little mistakes on your paper.

We think Citation Machine Plus is the best grammar checker for a fast grammar analysis and spell check to catch things you may have missed! Whether it’s an issue with subject-verb agreement, a fragmented sentence, a dangling modifier, incorrect usage of an interjection or adverb , or just a grievously misused comma, our software hunts down and points out those easy-to-correct mistakes. Plus, our program includes a reliable spell checker to help catch and correct any typos.

The only question is: What are you waiting for?

Try Citation Machine Plus and get a free grammar check for your paper, scan your paper for text that may need a citation, and rest easier knowing your paper’s had an extra review before your teacher sees it.

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Plagiarism matters more than you think

You might define plagiarism as copying someone else’s work , whether by copying another student’s paper or taking passages directly from research sources and passing them off as your own work. But did you know that it’s not just about literal copying, but about making sure you credit your sources.

Think about it: would you want someone to take your hard work without crediting you? Of course not! So it’s important to make sure that you don’t accidentally use the work and research of someone else without giving them the credit they deserve and that formatting requires. A plagiarism check provides you with peace of mind that you haven’t forgotten to cite sources.

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A paper check for peace of mind

Plagiarizing the works of another writer is a big deal in school and in life. Even if it’s a mistake, it’s the sort of mistake that no one wants to make because it’s a pretty serious issue. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to avoid if you have the right tools at your disposal! The first step to avoiding it is knowing what it is.

One plagiarism definition — probably the most commonly discussed one — is to directly steal somebody else’s words and pretend they are yours, or, alternately, to use someone else’s words and not give them credit. These actions are deliberate attempts to deceive, and they do happen in real life. More often, however, issues arise from not from intentional misconduct, but from innocent or careless mistakes that simply give an impression of copying because sources haven’t been credited as they should.

Most teachers ask you to cite the works of others so you learn to be an ethical researcher who does not plagiarize . In many cases, teachers will use a plagiarism tool to make sure students are following guidelines. However, with so many assignments, chores, friends, and other parts of life going on, it can be difficult to keep track of everything.

That’s why getting a plagiarism check — like the one from Citation Machine — can save you from forgetting to cite sources. It’s simple to use, catching missed citations and other errors. Finding and correcting these problems before you turn in your paper can make the difference between a stellar grade and a failing one.

Still not sure about it? Try our essay checker with Citation Machine Plus for free. Simply copy and paste or upload a paper into our tool and immediately get a grammar check!

Snag an intelligent paper check

Personalized writing suggestions at your fingertips? Yes, the dream is real, and it’s right here at your fingertips, thanks to the easy-to-use Citation Machine Plus paper checker. But that’s far from the only thing it can help you with.

Why wear out your own tired eyes after you’ve already researched, written, and proofread that long essay or term paper? Even the most attentive student might miss a minor detail or in-text citation when reviewing their own paper. Instead, use our software to check your paper and catch missed citations or accidentally copied passages of text before you turn it in. With Citation Machine Plus, a smart plagiarism check is only a few clicks away, allowing you to catch missed citations or accidentally copied text.

So why not try it out? It’s free to scan a paper and can help catch those pesky errors hiding in your text, even if it’s as simple as a quick fix of a  pronoun or a missing preposition . And with an affordable subscription plan, you can upgrade and unlock all of our powerful writing and citing tools.

How a plagiarism check helps you

We often think of citing sources to avoid plagiarizing as something that helps other people, because it’s focused on correctly crediting the work done by others and not passing it off as your own or accidentally implying that it’s your own by failing to cite sources. But using a plagiarism checker to do this actually benefits you, the student, too!

When you submit your paper to be double-checked and to make sure that you haven’t plagiarized in any way, you’re also protecting yourself. How does that work? It’s all based on the way these tools function in the first place. Most of them are built around algorithms that compare uploaded papers to a vast database of existing work. This may include research databases of published works (think papers in academic journals, books, newspapers, and other print and digital sources), as well as information found online on websites.

So when you submit to a free plagiarism checker — or a subscription-based one — you’re comparing your own writing to other writings online. Your essay is checked using algorithms. How does this help you? In short, it protects you from accidentally getting a reputation as a plagiarist. Once you’ve uploaded a paper, the checker will scan your writing to make sure that your writing is wholly your own, saving you plenty of headaches and ensuring that your original ideas are shining through clearly with support from sources, rather than borrowing too heavily from other research.

If that’s not reason enough to use a checker, then remember this: if you’re in any sort of formal writing class, whether in high school or in college, your teacher is very likely to have access to a checker through their department. “Check paper for plagiarism” is at the top of the to-do list when teachers sit down to grade papers — in fact, many have a rubric that has a section for academic honesty and proper citations.

Since your teachers are already using this kind of software, wouldn’t it be great if you could too? The great news is you can! A Citation Machine Plus subscription gives you access to a set of tools built specifically for students, allowing you to check your paper on your own, before even submitting your work for grading. The more you check on your own, the more you learn, which can help you avoid making mistakes in the future.

But that’s not all.

So, what is plagiarism?

Let’s start with the basics. You might be surprised about what really counts in the overall plagiarism definition. For instance, have you ever heard of incremental plagiarism? Also called “patchwork,”  this happens when you take bits and pieces from multiple sources, without citing, and pass it off as your own work. This is common with specific turns of phrase or ideas, but it’s also what can happen if you aren’t careful with citing all sources. A paper-checking service can help catch these issues before they get to your teacher’s desk.

When we talk about plagiarism, we’re talking about a wide variety of issues. It can mean deliberately copying from another source, whether it’s a book, an academic paper, or the work of a classmate or previous student. Using services that do work on behalf of a student, then put the student’s name on it, also falls into this category. As described above, deliberate incremental plagiarism — usually plagiarizing multiple sources and combining them to avoid detection — is also a major problem.

The above examples are probably the first answers that come to mind in response to the question “what is plagiarism?”, but there’s actually a lot more to it than that. Most of us wouldn’t intentionally plagiarize, but there are plenty of instances where you might do so without even realizing that you’ve done something wrong!

For instance, forgetting to cite a quoted source might result in the quoted passage tripping the algorithms when your teacher runs it through a paper checker. Or perhaps you’ve synthesized the information from your research, but you’ve inadvertently reused some particularly distinctive language from one of the original sources, making it appear like intentionally copied text even though it’s really not. Citation Machine Plus tools can help you avoid these accidents by proofreading your paper to catch any instances that could count against you and helping you fix the issues.

Here’s a detailed article if you’d like to learn more about avoiding plagiarism .

Why we cite

What do teachers want to see in your papers? When it comes to writing style, teachers will pretty much always understand that every student will have a different voice, but they’ll still be looking for certain elements that every paper should have — like citations. Essentially, the idea is to make sure that an essay has original ideas and arguments and cites sources where it uses existing information .

Remember the Golden Rule? Do unto others as they would do unto you? Most of us would not want others to take credit for our ideas, so we don’t intentionally steal someone else’s words. But with so much information in the world, it can easily occur by accident.

Unfortunately, it happens both intentionally and unintentionally enough that teachers often take student work and run it through a scan to make sure the content is original. That’s right, even teachers sometimes use online tools from a subscription-based or free plagiarism checker. It’s even a required step for many writing classes at any level, so make sure that your paper is prepared for these kinds of checks.

That being said, no teacher really wants to flag any student’s paper, and no student wants to be flagged. That’s one reason citations are so important and a vital part of ethical research and writing. When you cite your sources correctly, you’re giving credit to the originators of the ideas or quotes, which means that there’s no plagiarizing going on — just good old-fashioned research .

When you first start learning to cite your sources, you probably learned just one overall style guide. In college and in the real world, though, the style guide you’ll need to use will depend on what field you’re in. For instance, academia often sticks with Chicago citation style , while the arts and humanities tend to prefer MLA, and APA is favored by the social and behavioral sciences.

So you need MLA format help? We got you covered! How about APA format instead? No problem! We’re all over that, too! In fact, we have many more citation styles . Our classic citation tools are available for all your formatting needs.

Here’s the best part: using our tools could help you expand your knowledge for the future! Our citation formatting tools can help you become more familiar with the most popular style guides — which will make your life easier when you go to write more essays in the future! Curious about these benefits and how it works? Here’s a great place to

Citation Machine Plus: More than a plagiarism tool

Citation Machine Plus is much, much more than just a way to check plagiarism — you can scan for grammar errors, too!

Unsure if you could benefit from a Citation Machine Plus subscription? Submit your paper for a grammar and spell check with up to 5 suggestion cards for free. A simple copy and paste or paper upload, a few clicks, and it’ll start reviewing your paper. Is an adjective used incorrectly? Is a determiner in the wrong spot?

That’s where the all-in-one Citation Machine grammar checker and spell checker comes in! With this simple but powerful software, writing can be scanned for grammar mistakes. Some of the most common errors are actually some of the simplest to fix. Even better: as you learn, you’ll make fewer and fewer of them.

The tool will highlight any errors, plus more! In fact, the tool can sometimes even tell you why your mistakes are mistakes and help you correct them. That’s why we think our grammar check is the perfect helper for your papers: it doesn’t just help to catch your errors, it also helps you learn from them so that you can improve your writing over time.

Hypothetical situation (or is it?): You have just finished writing a paper for class. Maybe you spent hours writing it, maybe you only spent an hour on it. Either way, wouldn’t you feel better turning in your paper if it was proofread and reviewed?

Everybody wants an A+. The only way to get there is through practice, hard work, and learning. Citation Machine Plus writing tools can help you develop your skills by identifying potential errors in your paper. That way you can improve your paper and learn what grammatical points to focus on in the future.

Help with formatting

As it’s more than just an essay checker, the Citation Machine Plus suite of tools has a few more tricks up its sleeve! As the name implies, these tools are built for equipping you with simple, easy-to-use citation tools to help you build a bibliography for your paper.

Citation Machine Plus: Your go-to writing source

So now’s the time to stop stressing over writing errors, accidentally plagiarizing others, and citation concerns. Let Citation Machine Plus help you write well! It’s the writing companion that can help to take your academic writing to the next level, and it will give you tools you need to become a better  writer both in and out of academic contexts.

Turning in essays for class can be stressful enough on its own, but that stress can just get compounded with worries about grammar and citations. There’s no need to stress when Citation Machine Plus is at your disposal! Its tools are easy to use, all-in-one platform that helps take the worry out of writing a paper when it comes to grammar and citations. Check for everything you need, all in one place, and learn more about how to make your writing truly shine.

Whether you need a quick check of your conjunction , noun , or verb usage, a complete grammar check, a thorough plagiarism tool, or reliable help citing sources, invest in a subscription to what we believe to be one of the most user-friendly citation tools online—Citation Machine Plus!

Easy citation creation

Let’s be honest, citations are a hassle. But the great thing about a paid or free online plagiarism checker is that you can pull double duty: when you check for plagiarism, you’re also checking to see if you’ve left out any citations! We wanted students and authors to have a one-stop shop when it comes to citing; a citation creation tool at your beck and call.

And now you do!

In addition to our paper checking tools, we have citation tools! Citing sources not only makes your work more professional, it is generally required for any formal papers or research projects. Any time you use the words or direct concepts of others, it’s vital to give credit where it’s due, and a proper citation is the means to do that. Remember: when we ask “what is plagiarism?” the answer includes improperly cited sources along with intentional copying! Teachers can often use a paper-checking service through their schools, so we’ve developed similar tools for students to use.

Our classic citation tools make it easy to create a correctly-formatted citation for APA format or MLA format citation styles. ** We have taken the hassle out of citing your sources, and — trust us — you will notice the difference.

** The APA and MLA are not associated with Citation Machine, but our citation services follow their styles.

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.

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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.

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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.

teacher

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.

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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.

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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

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

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

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.

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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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Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Here are some common proofreading issues that come up for many writers. For grammatical or spelling errors, try underlining or highlighting words that often trip you up. On a sentence level, take note of which errors you make frequently. Also make note of common sentence errors you have such as run-on sentences, comma splices, or sentence fragments—this will help you proofread more efficiently in the future.

  • Do not solely rely on your computer's spell-check—it will not get everything!
  • Trace a pencil carefully under each line of text to see words individually.
  • Be especially careful of words that have tricky letter combinations, like "ei/ie.”
  • Take special care of homonyms like your/you're, to/too/two, and there/their/they're, as spell check will not recognize these as errors.

Left-out and doubled words

Read the paper slowly aloud to make sure you haven't missed or repeated any words. Also, try reading your paper one sentence at a time in reverse—this will enable you to focus on the individual sentences.

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are sections of a sentence that are not grammatically whole sentences. For example, “Ate a sandwich” is a sentence fragment because it lacks a subject.

Make sure each sentence has a subject:

  • “Looked at the OWL website.” is a sentence fragment without a subject.
  • “The students looked at the OWL website.” Adding the subject “students” makes it a complete sentence.

Make sure each sentence has a complete verb.

  • “They trying to improve their writing skills.” is an incomplete sentence because “trying” is an incomplete verb.
  • “They were trying to improve their writing skills.” In this sentence, “were” is necessary to make “trying” a complete verb.

See that each sentence has an independent clause. Remember that a dependent clause cannot stand on its own. In the following examples, green highlighting indicates dependent clauses while yellow indicates independent clauses.

  • “ Which is why the students read all of the handouts carefully .” This is a dependent clause that needs an independent clause. As of right now, it is a sentence fragment.
  • “ Students knew they were going to be tested on the handouts, which is why they read all of the handouts carefully .” The first part of the sentence, “Students knew they were going to be tested,” is an independent clause. Pairing it with a dependent clause makes this example a complete sentence.

Run-on Sentences

  • Review each sentence to see whether it contains more than one independent clause.
  • If there is more than one independent clause, check to make sure the clauses are separated by the appropriate punctuation.
  • Sometimes, it is just as effective (or even more so) to simply break the sentence into two separate sentences instead of including punctuation to separate the clauses.
  • Run on: “ I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports all I know about the subject is that I'm interested in it. ” These are two independent clauses without any punctuation or conjunctions separating the two.
  • Edited version: " I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports, and all I know about the subject is that I'm interested in it ." The two highlighted portions are independent clauses. They are connected by the appropriate conjunction “and,” and a comma.
  • Another edited version: “ I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports. All I know about the subject is that I'm interested in it .” In this case, these two independent clauses are separated into individual sentences separated by a period and capitalization.

Comma Splices

  • Look closely at sentences that have commas.
  • See if the sentence contains two independent clauses. Independent clauses are complete sentences.
  • If there are two independent clauses, they should be connected with a comma and a conjunction (and, but, for, or, so, yet, nor). Commas are not needed for some subordinating conjunctions (because, for, since, while, etc.) because these conjunctions are used to combine dependent and independent clauses.
  • Another option is to take out the comma and insert a semicolon instead.
  • Comma Splice: “ I would like to write my paper about basketball , it's a topic I can talk about at length .” The highlighted portions are independent clauses. A comma alone is not enough to connect them.
  • Edited version: “ I would like to write my paper about basketball because it's a topic I can talk about at length .” Here, the yellow highlighted portion is an independent clause while the green highlighted portion is a dependent clause. The subordinating conjunction “because” connects these two clauses.
  • Edited version, using a semicolon: “ I would like to write my paper about basketball ; it’s a topic I can talk about at length .” Here, a semicolon connects two similar independent clauses.

Subject/Verb Agreement

  • Find the subject of each sentence.
  • Find the verb that goes with the subject.
  • The subject and verb should match in number, meaning that if the subject is plural, the verb should be as well.
  • An easy way to do this is to underline all subjects. Then, circle or highlight the verbs one at a time and see if they match.
  • Incorrect subject verb agreement: “ Students at the university level usually is very busy.” Here, the subject “students” is plural, and the verb “is” is singular, so they don’t match.
  • Edited version: “ Students at the university level usually are very busy.” “Are” is a plural verb that matches the plural noun, “students.”

Mixed Construction

Read through your sentences carefully to make sure that they do not start with one sentence structure and shift to another. A sentence that does this is called a mixed construction.

  • “ Since I have a lot of work to do is why I can't go out tonight .” Both green highlighted sections of the sentence are dependent clauses. Two dependent clauses do not make a complete sentence.
  • Edited version: “ Since I have a lot of work to do , I can't go out tonight .” The green highlighted portion is a dependent clause while the yellow is an independent clause. Thus, this example is a complete sentence.

Parallelism

Look through your paper for series of items, usually separated by commas. Also, make sure these items are in parallel form, meaning they all use a similar form.

  • Example: “Being a good friend involves listening , to be considerate, and that you know how to have fun.” In this example, “listening” is in present tense, “to be” is in the infinitive form, and “that you know how to have fun” is a sentence fragment. These items in the series do not match up.
  • Edited version: “Being a good friend involves listening , being considerate, and having fun.” In this example, “listening,” “being,” and “having” are all in the present continuous (-ing endings) tense. They are in parallel form.

Pronoun Reference/Agreement

  • Skim your paper, searching for pronouns.
  • Search for the noun that the pronoun replaces.
  • If you can't find any nouns, insert one beforehand or change the pronoun to a noun.
  • If you can find a noun, be sure it agrees in number and person with your pronoun.
  • “ Sam had three waffles for breakfast. He wasn’t hungry again until lunch.” Here, it is clear that Sam is the “he” referred to in the second sentence. Thus, the singular third person pronoun, “he,” matches with Sam.
  • “ Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. The dog bit her .” In this case, it is unclear who the dog bit because the pronoun, “her,” could refer to either Teresa or Ariel.
  • “ Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. Later, it bit them .” Here, the third person plural pronoun, “them,” matches the nouns that precede it. It’s clear that the dog bit both people.
  • “Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. Teresa unhooked the leash, and the dog bit her .” In these sentences, it is assumed that Teresa is the “her” in the second sentence because her name directly precedes the singular pronoun, “her.”

Apostrophes

  • Skim your paper, stopping only at those words which end in "s." If the "s" is used to indicate possession, there should be an apostrophe, as in “Mary's book.”
  • Look over the contractions, like “you're” for “you are,” “it's” for “it is,” etc. Each of these should include an apostrophe.
  • Remember that apostrophes are not used to make words plural. When making a word plural, only an "s" is added, not an apostrophe and an "s."
  • “ It’s a good day for a walk.” This sentence is correct because “it’s” can be replaced with “it is.”
  • “A bird nests on that tree. See its eggs?” In this case, “its” is a pronoun describing the noun, “bird.” Because it is a pronoun, no apostrophe is needed.
  • “Classes are cancelled today” is a correct sentence whereas “Class’s are cancelled today” is incorrect because the plural form of class simply adds an “-es” to the end of the word.
  • “ Sandra’s markers don’t work.” Here, Sandra needs an apostrophe because the noun is a possessive one. The apostrophe tells the reader that Sandra owns the markers.

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