Be it content writing, blog writing, or essay or paper writing, plagiarism is not tolerated in any case. There are many cases of journalists who plagiarized and were fired because of this. There are cases of students who have been expelled or suspended because they plagiarized. And besides these consequences, there are many more. In every case, be you a journalist, content writer, or student, you lose the trust of the people around you.
Plagiarism means stealing someone else’s ideas and presenting them as your own. In many cases, this happens accidentally, which is somehow normal considering the amount of information you may read in your research. However, you need to make sure you deliver unique article content. So, how can you avoid plagiarism in your articles, and ensure 100% uniqueness, and top-notch quality?
Use Plagiarism Checkers
You can apply many techniques and strategies when writing articles, many of which we will detail in the following lines. However, even with these strategies, it is always wise to use a plagiarism checker. You can avoid plagiarism by using a plagiarism checker online that can check your text. It compares your article with all the information that exists online and highlights the parts that are identical to other articles. You can check online for a plagiarism fixer, as this is one of the tips when it comes to blogging writing and copywriting. Many of them have grammar and spelling checkers integrated, so you will be sure your grammar is correct too. Others analyze your tone and style too and give suggestions to improve your academic writing or analytical writing.
Do Thorough Research
Another way you can create unique article content and avoid plagiarism is to do thorough research. You may wonder what is the connection between this and plagiarism. This is the moment when accidental plagiarism might start happening. Many content writers and students do not take proper notes when they research. This means that you may note down all the ideas or information you want to cite in your article, but do not note the sources. Which are so essential and help you avoid plagiarism. Thorough research and careful note-taking are the keys to avoiding plagiarism in your content.
Cite Your Sources
As mentioned briefly above, another way to avoid plagiarism in your content is to cite your sources properly. Not citing the sources you used means you basically present information that is not yours. This means you do not give credit for the idea to the person that coined it, so you may lose the audience’s trust as an author. There are many ways you can cite. If you write an academic paper, for sure you have in the requirements paper the citation style you have to use. If you are into content writing for websites and blogs, you can use in-text citations.
Depending on what you write, you can also use endnotes or footnotes. However, you should know that in this case, you need to have a bibliography too. It is like the collection of all the sources you have used in your article. This helps you gain the trust of the audience as you are honest with the information you use. But to also help the people who are interested in delving deeper into a topic to start with what you have found in your research.
Be Creative
Many writers think that there is a specific recipe for successfully avoiding plagiarism. Even though there are some strategies you can indeed use to steer away from it, there is also a simpler one. Being creative is part of your work, but sometimes you may forget about it when you delve so deeply into research.
Well, trying to create everything from scratch is an easy and effective way of avoiding plagiarism. Taking the time you need to understand the topic you have to write about will help you express yourself through writing in a unique way.
Paraphrase Properly
Last but not least, knowing how to paraphrase properly is essential. You may not want to use the exact words when mentioning the idea, so you can restate it using your own words. However, it is essential to still cite the author as it is their idea, not yours. Avoid replacing some words with their synonyms, as this is not working. Use your own words to explain the information in a way that reaches your audience.
Final Thoughts
Wondering how to create unique article content and avoid plagiarism? There are many ways you can do this. Use a plagiarism checker to make completely sure you do not have accidental plagiarism in your text. Many of them have artificial intelligence and act as a proof detector. Do thorough research and note the sources. Cite them properly even when you paraphrase. Last but not least, be creative and try creating everything from scratch.
Bio lines: Cory Shilling is a content writer and blogger. His passion is writing and now he is learning more about storytelling and fiction writing. Cory is inspired by music, nature, and his friends.