I understand your point but would say again intent is key. If I use someone else's piece, credit the source, but then break it down and publish/justify my opposing views, is that plagiarism? I don't think so.
I don't believe any writer can produce a completely original piece of work (unless s/he is the one who started the new trend or is at least in close allegiance with the one that did). For example when Google announced Hummingbird, it was only the first writeup about it that was completely original. All the others were simply different variations on the same theme: "Hummingbird & its effects". Now, does that mean all the others apart from the first are plagiarised versions? The question that should be asked is how much did the writer add to the theme, by means of new angles, new arguments, etc. And as far as the law is concerned, everyone associated with SEO in even the slightest manner knows that there is only one law in SEO -- Mr. Google! (sorry, couldn't resist it! )
Actually it should not be just a restructuring. New unexplored reasons should definitely be explored.
Yes, that is true. I should have said, '... add something valuable or worthy to it by ...... and inquiring into the matter differently.'
No plagiarism is just copying word for word and just changing a few things, rewriting a article is what news reporters and journalists do with everything, cause unless you have invented somthing you are taking it from somewhere else and rewriting it basically.
If you take one article and rewrite it, then it's plagiarism, even if it 80% unique according to some tool checking duplication. But this check is only for words and words combinations. They may be different but carrying the same idea. So what is it for? You'd better choose a topic to write on and make a research. You can find a few articles, read them carefully, understand and share your thoughts on this topic. That's no plagiarism
What a sad and boring place the world must be for so many of you. Nothing out there but rewritten information. No new thoughts, ideas or stories to be had. Do you truly believe that or are you just using it as a convenient excuse to not have to write your own stuff? Reporters use syndicated content - it is licensed to be reused. It is a totally different issue than plagiarism or rewriting someone else's words without their permission.
Finally - someone posts some sensible information on this abortion of a thread. No new information... nothing under the sun is original.. blah blah... don't want to write my own content so therefore it's OK to 'repurpose' someone else's without permission... While the world's existing IP laws may be seriously worthless in the modern digital age, the age old question remains. All that needs to be answered is 'did you steal it'. The best person to answer that question, of course, is YOU. If you know you stole it, you're a thief, and you either have to live with that or get caught and punished. Either way, as YMC so eloquently pointed out, the piper gets paid.
Copying is Bad! That is all you have to know. If you believe in God: copying is a sin, whoever does it goes to Hell! BAHAHAHA!
There are many opinions - in a way it is rehashing old opinions with new text. It could be an either/or situation, but it truly depends on the situation.
I would love to hear how many things you have invented and didn't learn from someone or somewhere else..I said rewritten, meaning in their own words, you have missed the question as the OP asked what is plagiarism. I just mentioned that reporters and journalist rewrite things, syndicated or not they are exposed to things and rewrite and essentially copy and report on the same thing some other reporter or journalist has said. I rarely watch a movie or read a book that hasn't based their story in some way using ideas from others. When I say rewrite, I mean rewrite with your own spin, not rewrite it word for word.
I am totally in agreement with the majority here. So, here's my question, what if it's your own content that your re-writing? It might not be considered plagarism to you and I, but to Google it apparently is, hope I'm not "straying off the beaten path" here. Just need some reassurance that we all have full rights to our own works.
Rewriting is a fast way to have content for niche website, but it should be 100% unique and meaningful, recently, the GG updates panda that affect "thin content" websites, it means the content is too short or just copied from other places, especially those pages hit the dmca reported.
I would say it depends on the content. If it is something that could be very useful to the people, and people`s lifes could change for the better because of the content, then no. In that case, I wouldn`t say it is plagiarism. But, if the content is used only for making money and becoming famous, then yes. It is definitely plagiarism.
There is no concept like rewriting a content because it is either producing a new and unique content or just spin the existing ones through the tools that already exist. The content if not borne out of your own ideas and brains it is not worthy to go for the techniques related to content marketing. It is to take into consideration that the content has to go in the original form always.
The value of the information or the motive for stealing does not somehow provide an excuse or free pass to plagiarize.
Rewriting content, as in writing an existing content in your wording (paraphrasing) is technically a plagiarism and copyright infringement. Instead of rewriting the whole content, it is better to take ideas from one or more existing content and produce something else with little contribution from yourself. You can write the content on the same topic. This will neither be a copyright infringement nor it will be a plagiarism. This is what mostly happens in research field, thesis and dissertations. A research writer may take an existing topic, study literature on that topic and write report based on the existing research but with some contribution from himself.