To understand what are these tools, you really don’t need to look further than the name itself. Plagiarism detectors are tools that check plagiarism.
Plagiarism Checkers for students are helpful tools, which create unique content. In the world of writing, plagiarism is an ongoing issue. Making use of these checkers tools, can and will allow students, teachers, and professors to consistently create original content which meets all requirements. Research shows that students often plagiarize, but there are few students that do not copy language, images, or content when completing assignments. Plagiarism is a serious issue, which every educator should be addressing and monitoring.
While we could get away with this sort of a definition, it wouldn’t really help you understand what they actually are.
That is why, in this post, we are going to be looking at what plagiarism finders are in detail and we are also going to be talking about why students need them.
Before we get to discussing, we should first clear up the concept itself.
Table of Contents
What is Plagiarism?
It is basically the practice of taking someone else’s content and using it as one’s own without giving the original author their due credit.
Types of Plagiarism
There are different types of plagiarism but they all have one thing in common: they are not ethical. Among the various types , some of the common ones are as follows:
- Direct plagiarism
- Mosaic plagiarism
- Source-based plagiarism
Direct plagiarism is when a person takes a whole swathe of content from a source and uses it as is.
Mosaic plagiarism, on the other hand, is when a person takes bits of content from a source and then uses them intermittently between their own content. The result of mosaic plagiarism is basically a piece of content that is plagiarized in some places and original in some places.
What are Plagiarism Checkers?
Plagiarism detectors are tools that take a piece of content and then check it against existing sources to see if there is any match between the two.
The purpose of these finders is essentially to enable people to determine if there is any part in their content that has a direct match with existing material on the internet. or in any sort of specific database.
Nowadays, plagiarism finders are usually employed to find if a piece of content has any matches on online resources such as an existing webpage or e-book etc.
How Do These tools Work?
They are basically work by checking the entered content against an existing database. In most cases, nowadays, this database pretty much contains the whole internet.
In other words, most tools scan the content against billions of online pages and sites to find a match.
However, while that is the normal and usual case, there can be some plagiarism finders that only work with a dedicated database.
For example, an institute or a company may have created a plagiarism detector that checks the content against a very specific database like old archives or documents etc.
Why do Students Need Plagiarism Checkers?
To understand the answer to this question, we can simply look at the consequences that plagiarism checkers can have for students and academics in general.
As we mentioned above, not ethical. But, apart from being unethical, it is particularly improper for students to perpetrate since it is antithetical to the very purpose of learning.
Just as cheating in exams is prohibited, and the perpetrator is liable for penalization, so too is plagiarism.
In short, plagiarism can be harmful for students since it can get them in trouble with their teachers. The consequences for students and academics can range from a mild grade reduction to complete expulsion, or as they say in Britain, rustication.
So, coming back to our question: why do students need plagiarism finders? Students need so that they can avoid submitting something that has a formidable percentage of plagiarism in it.
These can, contrary to what some people may think, also occur even if the writer has no intention of doing it. This is known as accidental plagiarism, and it is this type of plagiarism that can be avoided with the help of a viable these.
How Can Students Use Plagiarism Checkers to Avoid Plagiarism?
There is something that should be clarified at the outset. These tools don’t actually play a part in removing plagiarism. Rather, they can just spot it. Most plagiarism detectors online also provide the URLs of the matched sources.
Students can use plagiarism finders to avoid plagiarism in the following three ways (there can be others as well, but these three are quite easy to do):
1. Remove Plagiarized Parts
After the plagiarism checker does its job and finds out the plagiarism in the given content, students can just remove that part to make their write-up unique.
Doing this is plausible in cases where the plagiarized part is merely an additional or complementary piece of text. If it is something important or essential to the meaning of the content, then it won’t be possible to remove it. In that case, the other steps can be tried.
2. Paraphrase Plagiarized Parts
This is also a good technique that can be tried to fix the plagiarized bits of text in the content.
Paraphrasing basically means to rewrite something using different words and phrases, but without diverting from the original meaning.
Students can simply paraphrase the duplicated parts of their write-up to get rid of the plagiarism. This is a feasible solution in situations where removal of the plagiarized part is not possible.
3. Add Citations
If you cannot remove the plagiarized parts nor can you think of any way to paraphrase them, then you can simply use citations. Citations are basically used to show the original author of a particular piece of text.
Since plagiarism is defined as the practice of using someone else’s content without giving them their due credit, it won’t remain so if you simply give the credit in the form of the citation.
FAQ (plagiarism checker for students)
1. Should students use plagiarism checkers?
Yes, it is essential for university students and schools student and one should use it if one had taken some inspiration from the internet while writing an essay.
2. Is there a free plagiarism checker?
Yes, there are lots of free tools that are available on the internet which allows you to check plagiarism for free.
Conclusion
This was the introductory article on what are Plagiarism checker for students. So these are tools that are made to spot duplication in a piece of content. They are useful for different types of writers, and they are also very important for students.
Students can basically use plagiarism detectors to find if there are any plagiarized bits of text in their work. If there is any duplication in there, students can take the required steps to remove it.
