Plagiarism – or taking credit for someone else’s ideas, words, or pictures – can escape the eyes of a student if it has been a paraphrase of another person’s words. Since quotation marks are not used when something is paraphrased, it can easily escape the grasp of a proofread and go on into the final draft. However, it’s not entirely impossible to catch the paraphrasing.
#1. Comparing To The Source
One way to detect paraphrasing is to look at the source material and the paper. Does a passage sound familiar from the paper and there’s a passage in the source very similar to it? Add a citation if this is the case – too many citations is better than not enough. This method is used quite widely among teachers.
#2. Comparing The Style
Another way to detect paraphrasing is to have the content read by another person – preferably someone who knows you well. They can detect when your phrasing sounds too unlike the usual phrasing. This, in turn, offers the student the ability to change the placing of the paraphrase or to simply add a citation. Making sure that the full reference is available somewhere in the work – possibly the works cited or the bibliography – is another way to make sure that there is a citation. Note, that teachers easily distinguish paragraphs with different styles so paraphrasing can make you a lot of harm.
However, simply having the works cited does not mean the work is correctly credited. The in-text citations are what matter in terms of catching paraphrasing.
However, simply having the works cited does not mean the work is correctly credited. The in-text citations are what matters in terms of catching paraphrasing. If there is a citation in the works cited, there should be at least one corresponding in-text citation. If there is no corresponding in-text citation, there’s a good chance that a paraphrase escaped citation, unless the source was deemed unable to be used and it was not taken out of the works cited pages.
#3. Using The Plagiarism Checker
The best way to detect paraphrasing plagiarism is to run the paper – or the area under suspicion – through a plagiarism detector, such as our plagramme.com. Our detector detects paraphrasing and highlights areas suspected of plagiarism in red. Links to original documents are given, and the option to revise in the checker is given. Citations can be added in if that is the desire, or the plagiarized content can be taken out – possibly to be replaced in the article where there is already a citation for that document.
Figuring out where a paraphrased plagiarism happened can be tricky. These tips are designed to prevent plagiarism and to keep the paper’s integrity intact. After all, plagiarism can destroy a paper’s grade or integrity.