How to tell if an article is original?

Discussion in 'Copywriting' started by namd3r, Mar 12, 2007.

  1. #1
    I have not purchased articles before. I was wondering how you would tell if an article was copied, or if it is original?
     
    namd3r, Mar 12, 2007 IP
  2. geegel

    geegel Well-Known Member

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    #2
    geegel, Mar 12, 2007 IP
  3. monsterclips

    monsterclips Banned

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    #3
    Copy and past a line of the article into google search engine.Read through the
    matching results to see how original your article is.
     
    monsterclips, Mar 12, 2007 IP
  4. namd3r

    namd3r Active Member

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    #4
    I've copied it into google and searched an article, the problem with that was that they added a single word to the beginning of a sentence. I took out that word and found it was taken from a site. The problem with that is it is hit or miss to find the one word.

    Does copyscape allow me to search text rather than just websites?
     
    namd3r, Mar 12, 2007 IP
  5. Your Content

    Your Content Banned

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    #5
    Copyscape, any search engine and several other websites allow you to do an exhaustive research for plagiarized content.

    Do a research inside this forum to find additional resources since this topic has been discussed previously at least once ;)
     
    Your Content, Mar 12, 2007 IP
  6. finspin

    finspin Peon

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    #6
    Select a few phrases (group of 3, 4, 5, 10 words) from the article, not only a single word and run it through Google. Select unique phrases and do do that with couple of phrases. You should find any copies that are out there.
     
    finspin, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  7. LastLevel

    LastLevel Guest

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    #7
    Yeh but as a fellow writer I have issues with that. I (currently) am writing about Panama related topics (Offshore banking) and knowing little about real estate, some words are impossible to replace like the following:

    real, estate, flipping, panama, chair, syndrome, corporation, etc

    So even if I put a sentence between and use some of the words from another site (that u need to) and my own words to connect them it shows up as its copied all of it...not that great in my eyes.
     
    LastLevel, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  8. DeniseJ

    DeniseJ Live, Laugh, Love

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    #8
    First of all, maybe you shouldn't be writing about something you know nothing about. But that's beside the point.

    You can't directly copy something from a website - it has to be changed enough to make it a unique article. If the article you wrote looks like you took text from another website and copied it verbatim, then you need to re-write it so it doesn't look like that!

    Or, stop taking jobs about subjects you're very unfamiliar with.
     
    DeniseJ, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  9. LastLevel

    LastLevel Guest

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    #9
    No but some articles I write are almost the same because they cant be reworded. You can't change a persons name a companies name or a countries name!
     
    LastLevel, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  10. DeniseJ

    DeniseJ Live, Laugh, Love

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    #10
    No, you can't. But if you're only using a few words like that, your article is not going to show up as if you copied it from another source.
     
    DeniseJ, Mar 13, 2007 IP
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  11. LastLevel

    LastLevel Guest

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    #11
    but the words are used a lot and it did happen...
     
    LastLevel, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  12. DeniseJ

    DeniseJ Live, Laugh, Love

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    #12
    I don't know what to tell you without seeing the actual article and comparing it to the source that it's supposedly copied from.

    If you're only using a few select words like that, you shouldn't have a problem - unless you are blatantly copying another source verbatim.
     
    DeniseJ, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  13. sundaybrew

    sundaybrew Numerati

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    #13
    Well... then you need to learn to write more " Unique " don't you.......
     
    sundaybrew, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  14. geegel

    geegel Well-Known Member

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    #14
    Hooray, another occasion to whore my blog.

    I have written quite a lengthy post on how to avoid plagiarizing, if you wish you can read it here

    Also if you decide to use Google as the anti plagiarism platform the best way is to select a random phrase, paste it in Google search box, put some quotes and hit enter. If you find any results then you've got some plagiarized content on your hands.

    Regards, George
     
    geegel, Mar 13, 2007 IP
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  15. LastLevel

    LastLevel Guest

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    #15
    k you wanna try...Panama real estate flipping in Panama - rewrite to: The real estate flipping that occurs in the country of Panama...for example...

    copyscape picks up the following highlighted out of the text "Panama real estate flipping in Panama".

    real, estate, flipping, in, panama

    see the problem? yeh...
     
    LastLevel, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  16. DeniseJ

    DeniseJ Live, Laugh, Love

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    #16
    The problem is that you are trying to write an article about a topic you know nothing about. If you actually had first-hand experience in the real estate industry, deciding how to write an article that doesn't look ripped off from other sources wouldn't be an issue.
     
    DeniseJ, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  17. sundaybrew

    sundaybrew Numerati

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    #17
    Something like that I am sure would work
     
    sundaybrew, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  18. LastLevel

    LastLevel Guest

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    #18
    Sunday out of that the following is highlighted in copyscape:

    real, estate, flipping, panama

    even if u seperate the words in between copyscape says its copying
     
    LastLevel, Mar 13, 2007 IP
  19. DeniseJ

    DeniseJ Live, Laugh, Love

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    #19
    Lastlevel, that's fine.

    As long as their aren't whole chunks of text that are highlighted YOU ARE NOT PLAGIARIZING. One or two words that are highlighted are of no consequence.
     
    DeniseJ, Mar 13, 2007 IP
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  20. LastLevel

    LastLevel Guest

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    #20
    k thats what happened to me but what im trying to figure out is in copyscape how to determine which is which?
     
    LastLevel, Mar 13, 2007 IP