In this day and age, we are exposed to a copious amount of information courtesy of the Internet. This makes writing anything from articles to thesis papers a breeze. Gone are the days spent pouring over books at your local library.
However, with the convenience of information at our fingertips, the lines between referencing and plagiarising we’re undoubtedly blurred.
How do you know if you’re referencing a source enough for it to become plagiarism? Or if you’re someone who frequently employs the help of freelance or ghostwriters, how do you know if their work is authentic and original?
Are there services that can detect plagiarism? Better yet, are there free services than can detect plagiarism?
We are pleased to tell you that yes, these services do exist. Here we’ve listed our favourite five plagiarism-checkers.
1. Grammarly.com
While grammarly.com will gladly check your content for free, you do need to purchase a plan if you want to see exactly where the plagiarism is detected.
However, as a student, you should probably already be aware of where you may have referenced a source too heavily. On the other hand, as someone employing the work of a writer, evidence of plagiarism alone should suffice.
Grammarly.com is also a super useful free tool for when you want to check your work for any careless mistakes. Writing a thesis probably means that you’re 10 pages into a topic. While we’re sure you’ve checked for factual inconsistencies, small grammatical errors are easy to miss!
A grammar-checking tool like grammarly is perfect and you don’t have to spend a cent on this function.
2. SmallSEOTools.com
Perhaps you’re looking for a free plagiarism checker that highlights where you or your writer went wrong.
SmallSEOTools.com is just the thing for you. Simply paste, upload or link the content you need to have tested on their site, sit back and let it work its magic.
Why we love smallSEOtools.com is that you have the option of choosing to view any instances of plagiarism detected in your article from a sentence view or as an entire document. This makes editing your copy easy and stress-free.
Our only issue with smallSEOtools.com is that it has a 1000-word limit. Meaning that if you are checking a university paper, that often runs to at least a few 1000 words, you’re going to have to break your article into segments.
3. EduBirdie.com
Third on our list is EduBirdie.com, this plagiarism checker allows you to select what type of content you are looking to have checked. Additionally, you can either paste your content or choose to upload a file to be checked.
EduBirdie.com also offers additional help if you require editing or rewriting for a fee. However, we advise you to stick to original content if you are a student. As an employer, these extra features could go a long way in helping you churn out quality content within a tight deadline.
4. Bibme.org
This particular plagiarism checker is probably one you’re familiar with as it is recommended by several universities. Unfortunately, bibme.org only checks for plagiarism if you have a paid account.
The good news is that a paid account goes for just $9.95 a month. A small price to pay to avoid making some dire mistakes.
Otherwise, feel free to use it as a grammar-checking tool. Bibme.org also provides suggestions on how to better structure and phrase sentences.
If you’re a student, bibme.org also allows you to add citations directly to your paper. We all know what a pain it can be trying to figure out the different citation formats!
5. Papersowl.com
Papersowl.com is easy enough to use. As with some of the aforementioned plagiarism checkers, you can choose to upload or paste your article directly on their site.
It then generates a percentage of how much plagiarism was detected or if your paper is 100% unique.
Additionally, papersowl.com is great for students as it teaches you how to avoid plagiarism by citing your sources in the correct format. They also provide a rewriting service for a small fee!
Papersowl.com also has citation generators, thesis generators, and conclusion generators. So this is definitely one for those of you who find yourselves drowning under a mountain of academic papers!
Conclusion…
Depending on what you’re writing for there are several plagiarism checkers and tools out there for you to take advantage of. Most of them are free and easy to use!
Alternatively, as a student most universities and institutions will usually have a plagiarism checker of their own, so do make sure you’ve asked before purchasing an account.
Feel free to leave us a comment if you have any other plagiarism checkers that you think are worth mentioning.