Content writing is not an easy job. Creating original content is difficult, especially when writing on topics other authors have already discussed. If your work gets accused of content duplication, it can have serious consequences. Your website content can get penalized by the search engine, and your site can also lose its position in the search results because of plagiarism. Moreover, if your content gets accused of duplication, you will lose credibility as a content writer.
If you want to save yourself from the accusations of content duplication, then we urge you to read this post. This article discusses some of the tried and tested tips that can help you avoid plagiarism in your content.
How can you avoid plagiarism in your content?
Out of dozens of tips and tricks, we have listed the most effective and helpful ones in this section:
Start your work well in time
The first tip to help you avoid plagiarism is starting your work early. Often plagiarism appears in your content when you have written it in a rush. You must give yourself enough time for proper research and understanding, after which you can write the content. When you don’t have time to write properly, there is always a chance that your content will be full of human errors and plagiarism.
Use ideas and not the words of other writers
One of the common reasons your work might have plagiarism is because you have used direct words/phrases/sentences of another author instead of the core idea. The best way to avoid plagiarism in your work is by reading the reference sources and understanding their main idea. You must write what you understand from the main idea of the reference post. Writing content in your style would reduce the chances of content duplication.
Always cite sources properly
Citation is very important if you want to get rid of content duplication. Citation is the procedure of providing credits to the source from where you have derived information. When you cite sources, you have to ensure that they are accurate; if the citation is wrong, then it would have more adverse consequences than making sure you know the standards for citation and apply them correctly to the document. You must pay attributes to the original author or source.
Must Ensure Uniqueness of your content
One of the best ways to avoid duplication is by simply checking your content before submission. Now it is quite impossible to check plagiarism manually, so we suggest you use an online plagiarism checker. The plagiarism detector would highlight the duplicate content. You can either remove the duplicate notes, or you can spin it with the help of paraphrasing tools.
Use paraphrasing techniques and tools
A way to avoid duplication is by using the paraphrasing technique. Paraphrasing is the technique that refers to the rewriting of already written content in a unique way. In simple words, explaining the ideas of another writer in your own words is known as paraphrasing. You can remove 100% plagiarism from the content using this technique. If you don’t know how to paraphrase manually, you can get help from an online paraphrasing tool. A paraphraser can help you create new versions of the content you have entered as input. You can create as many versions of a single article with the help of this technique.
Add personal value to the draft
You must never rely on information that you get from one source. If you only use information and ideas from a single source, it will result in plagiarism. You have to make sure that you consult different resources when you are collecting data. Your content should contain information from multiple references. Moreover, you should also provide your insights on the topic. Adding a personal valve to the content would decrease the chances of plagiarism.
Use quotation marks where required
Another easy way to avoid plagiarism is by using quotation marks where needed. There can come situations where paraphrasing the words or sentences of the original author might disturb the core idea. In these situations, instead of using direct sentences in your version, you must add quotes around the borrowed sentence. Adding quotes would help you highlight the idea in front of your readers. When quoting something, make sure you add references to them in the end.
End words
Today you have free paraphrasing tools available on the web to help remove duplication from content. But you must ensure that citation is still important even if you are paraphrasing content. Without citing the reference sources, you can be held accountable for plagiarism.