Busting 5 Myths About Plagiarism Checkers

Official records from top UK universities like Cambridge and Oxford show how academic misconduct is on the rise. Between 2014-15 and 2016-17, there was a 40% spike in cheating, including plagiarism. Students submit fake work without much inhibition since there are several myths surrounding content theft. They do not realize the risk they are taking in terms of their reputation and career.

Whether you are a student, a university or an SEO agency, it’s important to understand these misconceptions. It will prevent you from adversely impacting the quality of your work.

1. Plagiarism Checkers Can be Duped

This is one the biggest myths most students and professionals fall for. They believe that plagiarism checkers can be easily manipulated just by changing from US to UK spellings. But this is not true at any level. Whether the words have been altered or a particular portion has been paraphrased, a plagiarism scanner can detect the changes within seconds. The search mechanism wades through 60 trillion webpages leaving no stones unturned to detect plagiarized content. The software is updated from time to time with artificial intelligence and advanced technologies to work most efficiently.

2. Checkers are Only for Plagiarists

Plagiarism checkers are not solely designed to detect copied content. Most tools are powered with a plethora of features to help professionals in all fields. They are able to compare two internal documents to detect any similar content. Many are also equipped with grading tools that can assign an accurate score to student essays. Additionally, most reputed bloggers and authors run their work through a checker before submission. This is done to check for grammar and spelling errors too. It also checks whether citations and quotations have been marked properly while paraphrasing.

3. Scanners Lack Accuracy

Not all plagiarism tools are built the same. Some use sophisticated algorithms based on artificial intelligence. These are extremely accurate, fast and automated. Multi-layered extensive search capabilities make sure the result delivered is comprehensive and customized. They are also integrated with multiple platforms like Moodle, MS Word and Google Docs. Their open source APIs seamlessly integrate with the system and start working with the ready-to-use code.

4. Highlighted Content is Definitely Plagiarized

While it’s possible to set plagiarism checkers to validate UK or US language styles, the highlighted portions are not always plagiarized. When a piece of content is very similar to any text on a webpage, the checker will render it as plagiarized. Once identified, you can change the highlighted sections, so that your text is no longer infringing on someone else’s work. At times, common knowledge written in the same manner, idioms or technical terms can be flagged as plagiarism. You can check the highlighted sections to know whether it can be termed as theft of intellectual property.

5. All Tools Are the Same

While one tool may have a huge database and detect the minutest content similarity, others can have a small base and overlook most instances of plagiarism. The type of tool you choose will determine the extent to which the text is checked. A low-end tool will compromise the quality of report delivered. Personal archives, science journals, conference proceedings and manuscripts must be accessed with a powerful tool for plagiarism.

Plagiarism checkers are the best ways to detect academic cheaters and thieves. Trust them to perform extensive searches to help you prevent copyright infringement.