Why Is Plagiarism Checking Important?
Life is too short to drink bad coffee, read boring books, and waste time on plagiarized assignments. Respect and making efforts should go both ways: when students submit a copied assignment instead of honest work, it is unfair if the educator spends precious resources on checking it and providing feedback. In light of this, automation is everything; the faster the teachers can filter out copied essays, the more time and energy they can dedicate to authentic works, self-development, class planning, and rest! Here is when a reliable plagiarism checker becomes a game-changer.
What Is A Plagiarism Checker?
A plagiarism detector is a tool designed to accelerate the teacher’s assignment-checking routine. Instead of relying solely on intuition or manually comparing each essay to the books, the educator can detect traces of plagiarism with one button click and do it within their working environment, whether it is a Google Doc or a Learning Management System (LMS). How does it work?
- Behind each plagiarism checker is a sophisticated algorithm that analyses the submitted text. It compares the paper to the materials available online, as well as other resources that vary from checker to checker. Some rely solely on internet searches, whereas others have access to paid databases.
- Trustworthy plagiarism checkers are advanced enough to detect intricate attempts to conceal copying, such as paraphrasing, hidden symbols, or synonymisation.
- When the tool finds matches in the submitted text to the scanned resources, it flags the part with the detected similarities. It does not necessarily mean that the essay was plagiarized. However, it draws the teacher’s attention to the potentially problematic parts.
- Most checkers provide a report with the links to the resources where matches were found. This way, the teacher can compare the texts, analyse the content in question, and make a final verdict based on solid data instead of guessing.
What A Plagiarism Checker Can Reveal
First and foremost, a plagiarism detector can filter out copied works. However, with the help of an accurate tool, a seasoned educator can dig much deeper and reveal nuances to get a better understanding of potential blind spots and skills that need improvement.
Directly and indirectly, an advanced plagiarism checker will demonstrate:
- All matching sources. The tool compares the submitted assignment to all works published online, including the recently released pages. It scans millions of sources, from websites to essay mills and ghostwriting services samples. The educator can even upload their internal repository and compare the students’ work against their peers’ papers to reveal copying from each other. The report will show the similarities and provide links to the sources where they were detected.
- Extent of similarity. The report will show the percentage of a paper that overlaps with the sources. It is normal when the result is not 0% as scientific terms, quotations, common knowledge facts, and definitions inevitably cause some percentage of similarities. However, if more than 15–20% of the paper contains matches, it is a sign to pay attention to the flagged parts of the writing. Analyse the highlighted extracts, compare them to the sources, and decide whether the text violates academic integrity rules.
- Citation accuracy. An original work can include information from other sources as long as they are properly cited. A plagiarism checker will reveal the parts that lack attribution or need better referencing.
- Paraphrasing quality. When using data from other sources, students should reflect on it and include their own ideas and conclusions. Simple rewrite and synonymisation are not considered proper paraphrasing, and a detector will flag the text as plagiarized.
- Potential single-source overreliance. An objective and high-quality research requires analysing multiple sources and double-checking any information used in the text. A plagiarism checker will uncover if a student is referencing only one work, repeating the facts from there instead of studying and comparing various resources.
- Source integration. The checker’s analysis can be a good base to see how well outside material is blended into the student’s tone of voice and flow of thoughts.
- Problematic parts that require further discussion. Questionable information taken from unreliable sources, conclusions not rooted in real data, or AI misuse—the teacher can see it all in the checker’s sources analysis. Some plagiarism checkers are combined with an AI detection tool, and spotting parts of text that seem suspicious is a good reason to run them through this instrument as well.
- Language consistency. The checker will spot any abrupt shifts in tone or vocabulary that might indicate that the text was inserted from elsewhere, revealing the patchwork type of plagiarism.
How To Make The Most Of A Plagiarism Detector
- Choose a reliable plagiarism checker that covers your needs. Consider the databases it includes, the additional features, and the integrations it provides.
- If you consider the free detectors, pay attention to the security features. Oftentimes, free checkers do not guarantee data protection and can publish the submitted papers online, violating the students’ privacy.
- Integrate the chosen tool into your workflow. Being able to run the papers through the checker right in the browser, LMS, or Google Docs makes the whole working process a breeze!
- Analyze the links to the sources where matches have been found: this way, you can make a fact-based decision regarding the student’s work.
- Use a downloadable report to discuss the student’s essay and provide feedback.
Beyond Checking: How To Prevent Plagiarism
While a plagiarism checker is a powerful tool, it is important to address the root of the issue rather than revealing and punishing the symptoms. Here are some things to consider to prevent plagiarism in educational institutions and protect academic integrity in a constructive way.
- Be aware of accidental plagiarism. As odd as it sounds, unintentional plagiarism is a real phenomenon. Sometimes, students do not realize they take someone’s idea for a common knowledge fact or even their own reflection. They might also self-plagiarize or repeat someone’s thoughts by pure coincidence. While accidental plagiarism is still a violation of academic rules, understanding the reasons behind that is crucial.
- Educate the students on writing ethics. Students come from various backgrounds and have different levels of understanding of academic honesty and original efforts. It is essential to give them a solid foundation of working ethics and originality importance, explaining the concept of plagiarism and educating them on the consequences and ways to avoid it. Otherwise, sometimes students genuinely do not see the difference between poorly paraphrased copying and authentic reflection.
- Encourage critical thinking and self-expression. Sometimes students plagiarize not out of malicious intent; they just do not see the point in producing original work. Providing a safe space for genuine opinions, relevant and thought-provoking topics, and giving them time and motivation to complete authentic work can spark inspiration and deepen the level of understanding of the subject.
- Beware of AI-giarism. AI tools are here to stay, and it is crucial to teach young people to incorporate them in an ethical way. One of the problems AI chatbots cause is AI plagiarism, when the generated text takes data from various resources without referencing the author. Students should be aware of this phenomenon and encouraged to use AI tools responsibly and honestly, for brainstorming and research instead of academic cheating.
- Teach proper referencing. Citation done wrong is also plagiarism! At the same time, attributing the source properly solves most of the plagiarism-related problems. Nowadays, one can even cite ChatGPT when taking information from there. Therefore, the importance of proper citation should be emphasized to students along with the tools and resources assisting with it.
Unpopular Opinion
A plagiarism checking tool can become a friend rather than a case of stress for students. Some might consider using a checker before submitting the work as a way to avoid cheating detection. However, if introduced correctly, the tool can provide students with a chance to work on mistakes even before getting a teacher’s feedback. Running the paper before submission can help avoid unintentional plagiarism, educate the learners on plagiarism issues, and teach them proper source referencing.
Bottom Line
- A plagiarism detection tool makes assignment-checking more accurate, elevating the whole learning process.
- The plagiarism checker compares the writing to the sources and reveals the parts that match the existing content. As a result, the report shows the similarity percentage.
- A trustworthy plagiarism checker will include access to vast databases and develop advanced algorithms to guarantee accuracy.
- Besides plagiarism detection, an advanced checker can show room for improvement, hinting at improper citation and paraphrasing, single-source overreliance, language inconsistency, AI misuse, and other nuances.
- An advanced checker can be seamlessly introduced into the convenient environment via API access, extensions, and integrations.
- Students can also benefit from using a plagiarism checker by learning from their mistakes and avoiding accidental plagiarism.
- A reliable checker protects academic integrity and guards educational institutions’ reputation.
