3 Types of Plagiarism We May Forget About

Plagiarism is much beyond direct duplication of someone else’s work. It can be categorized into several types, with each being considered a serious breach of copyright. Regardlesss of the degree of severity, most acts of plagiarism are unlawful and come with legal consequences. However, many of us might not be aware of what exactly constitutes plagiarism. Further, students and freelance writers might not know the subtle nuances between genuine and copied work.

So, it is critical to learn about the different types of plagiarism. It can keep you from literary theft, protect your professional reputation and help you produce original content. Besides being careful not to misquote the sources or forget the citations, here’s what you should know about a few kinds of uncommon plagiarisms.

1. Mosaic Plagiarism

This form of plagiarism is also known as patch writing. In this, you might use someone else’s work without applying quotation marks. The language, structure and words are also close to the original. Different passages, phrases and ideas are copied from multiple sources and woven together to create a new paper. So, the whole article has duplicate content in patches.

Although you might include citations and references, a plagiarism checker can detect this as plagiarized content. A comprehensive report is produced by the plagiarism scanner, where problematic areas are highlighted in red. It gives an impression of you having tried to pass off someone’s work as your own. So, be careful while sourcing information from the web.

2. Self Plagiarism

If you have looming deadlines, chances are, you are rushing through your paper. Under such pressure, you might find it easier to recycle your previous work than come up with something new. Academicians and students are under the illusion that self-created papers can be reused. However, you can only do so with the explicit permission of your publisher. Otherwise, reworking old ideas and passing it off as new is a serious offence. An online plagiarism checker will identify this within seconds, in case it is already present on the internet.

But if at all you need to use previously submitted papers, consider some additions. Research well and include new data. Change the information structure and reword the article well. Lastly, consult your mentors before submitting to avoid any problems later.

3. Incorrect Citation

This is another of the common types of plagiarism. The easiest ways to steer clear of allegations is to add citations in the end. However, in case you are unable to provide the details, the work might be deemed as duplicated content. So, it is important to know how to acknowledge the author and present suitable source information in the paper. There are two types of formats: MLA and APA. While MLA is mainly used in language, cultural and art studies, APA is used for social sciences, like psychology and anthropology. Learn the techniques well and verify before submission to protect against disciplinary actions.

An AI and machine learning based plagiarism detector can easily identify duplicate content. So, make sure to integrate your system with their open-source API, which can smoothly work with the read-to-use code. Rest assured, even if you have made unintentional mistakes, the tool will give you a chance to correct them on time.