Tips on Avoiding Internet Plagiarism

Put It in Your Own Words

If you want to use some information from the Web, you probably can do it legitimately if you convey the information in your own words. However, be careful. If you are using some figures or are stating an opinion that is not general knowledge, provide attribution. For example, you can use the capital of a country on your website, blog or in your paper even if you read it elsewhere -- the author of the content didn't invent the capitals. However, if you want to use a rating of Asian capitals according to their standard of living, you should show where you got the information from.

Employ Proper Quotations

It is not plagiarism if you put the information you want to use from an Internet source in quotation marks. Again, attribution is important. However, do not use too many quotes in your work. Ideally, quotes should not make up more than five to ten percent of your content, though there can be exceptions. For example, if you are writing criticism of a certain article, you may need extensive quotes to back up your points. Also, give the URL of the webpage where you found the information and the date when you looked it up.

Use Plagiarism-Detecting Software

There are many online applications that allow users to check whether content is plagiarized or not. The applications use complex algorithms to detect repetition of words. You can choose either free or commercial plagiarism checkers. Free plagiarism-detecting applications include CopyTracker, Plagium, eTBLAST, Chimpsky and Plagiarism-Detect. Copyscape, Plagiarismdetect, Plagiarismscanner and Turnitin provide commercial products.

Use Discretion

Even if your work passes the scrutiny of a plagiarism-detecting application, there is no guarantee that the text or some parts of it can be considered plagiarism-free. Use discretion. If you are getting too close to an existing material available on the Internet, rewrite or clearly indicate where you got the information from.