How to Remove Plagiarism: Tips & Ways

Have you ever spent hours writing an article, essay, or blog post only to find that some of its portions are plagiarized? Maybe you haven’t, but we know this is a common problem among students and beginner writers.

Whether it’s an academic document or a professional piece, the risk of unintentionally copying someone else’s words haunts everyone, even the most diligent writers. But that’s not even the real issue. The actual problem is most people don’t even realize how plagiarism occurs and how to remove it. If you are one of them, we’ve got the solution here.

In this blog, we’ll guide you about eliminating the traces of plagiarism from your work. For that, we’ll take assistance from various tried and tested tips of experts. But first, we’ll look at the most common ways plagiarism sneaks into different types of content. So, let’s jump right into this discussion.

How Does Plagiarism Occur? — The Many Forms of Plagiarism

Plagiarism happens when you present someone else’s text as your own without giving them the necessary credit. This is the simplest way plagiarism sneaks into many forms of textual content, be it an article, blog post, essay, or something else. It also goes by the name of direct plagiarism.

Read more about How to Write Article, Paper, & Essay Without Plagiarizing?

In addition to the scenario mentioned above, this problem also occurs when one or all of the below-specified conditions are met:

• Rephrasing someone else’s text without offering the proper acknowledgment. (Patchwriting)
• Discreetly reusing chunks of text from your previous work. (Self-plagiarism)
• Combining text copied from different resources with your own work to create something new (Mosaic plagiarism).

Tried and Tested Tips for Removing Plagiarism — The Many Ways

Now you have understood how plagiarism makes its way into textual content, let’s discuss the elephant in the room—how to remove it. Since you want to eliminate the traces of plagiarism from your content, it means you’ve already identified the copied or duplicated portions of your content. If so, here is how you can turn them towards originality and uniqueness: 

Expand Your Research

One of the major reasons people face the issue of plagiarism is that they don’t conduct enough research on the topic. This may seem like minor ignorance, but it has a significant impact because the research phase shapes a content piece’s originality and uniqueness. So, if your work (article, blog post, essay, etc.) has been flagged with plagiarism, we recommend doing more research on your topic.

For instance, if you previously restricted your research phase to web pages, you can expand it by exploring one or all of the following resources:

• Books and ebooks.
• Case studies and white papers.
• Industry reports.
• Peer-reviewed journals. 
• Podcast and webinars.
• Social media platforms.
• Surveys and polls.
• Video platforms.

Doing so will help you collect more relevant data for your work. By replacing the plagiarized portions with the newly gathered information, you can eliminate the threat of content duplication from your work.

Focus More on Your Own Insights

Exploring a wide range of resources is an effective technique for creating unique and original content. However, if you continue to deliver the existing material as it currently exists, all of your efforts will be in vain. So, the best way to incorporate the researched data is to prioritize your own insights or perspective.

For instance, you can include your own analysis or interpretation of the researched data to create something entirely unique. You can even expand on your content’s existing information by providing examples. Doing so will make your content original and add value to your overall write-up. 

Implement Paraphrasing Effectively

Some elements of a content piece may not become plagiarism-free even after following the first two suggestions. So, if that’s your situation, it’s time for you to start rewriting the plagiarized section without affecting the original meaning. This strategy also goes by the names of paraphrasing or rephrasing (in more technical terms). But what’s the correct way to implement it?

(Note: You can rephrase your plagiarized content section with our online paraphrasing tool.)

Well, for starters, you need to understand the content you want to rephrase thoroughly. We recommend reviewing the source text until you comprehend it well enough to explain it without referencing it. Once you are successful in doing so, you can move to writing the paraphrased version by using the combination of the following techniques:

• Replace words with their contextually appropriate synonyms.
• Modify the sentence structure without changing the core meaning.
• Switch between active and passive voice and different grammatical forms (adjective, noun, and verb).
• Break down or combine the information.
• Reorder the information.
• Use idioms to deliver the same meaning where applicable.
• Convert a generic statement into a more specific one or vice versa.

Quote the Information Where Necessary

The art of paraphrasing or rephrasing is undoubtedly powerful enough to eliminate all the traces of plagiarism. But sometimes, rewriting the content ruins its essence. So, if this happens to a text section that is essential to your topic, you can’t just eliminate the plagiarized section altogether. Instead, you can get assistance from quoting or double quotes.

Like paraphrasing or rephrasing, quoting is another effective way to eliminate plagiarism from work. However, it can only successfully achieve its aim if you implement it correctly. So, the right way to quote the information in your content is to:

• Use double quotes “ ”.
• Then, enclose the information inside double quotes without changing a single word.

However, experts recommend using the double quote technique on short chunks of text instead of lengthy passages.

Don’t Forget to Use a Plagiarism Checker

Plagiarism generally sneaks into a textual content piece accidentally. But a lot of people are unaware of it. As a result, they make the mistake of finalizing their content pieces without performing a final check. This approach puts all of their efforts in vain. So, if you don’t want the same fate, we recommend performing a final check on your text with the help of an online plagiarism checker.

A plagiarism detector uses advanced technologies, like deep search, AI, and a large database, to quickly and accurately find plagiarism. Some versions of such tools are advanced enough to work correctly for all types of textual content, be it articles, blog posts, essays, or others. So, once you’ve finalized everything, you should run your text using a plagiarism checker. This way, you can quickly locate all the hidden plagiarized sections in your content and take action accordingly before moving forward.

Cite Sources Properly and Maintain a Bibliography

Paraphrasing and double-quoting will be useless in removing plagiarism if you don’t give credit to the original sources. So, to prevent the effectiveness of both these strategies, we recommend correctly specifying the sources of rephrased and quoted information. But what’s the correct way of doing that?

Well, to begin with, make sure you mention the in-text citation using a proper format (APA, MLA, etc.) after double-quoting or paraphrasing the information. Here are two examples that showcase how to specify in-text citations in APA and MLA styles:

APA Style Example: “Technology has significantly reshaped educational methodologies by enhancing access to information and fostering interactive learning environments (Doe, 2021).”

MLA Style Example: “Technology has revolutionized education, providing better access to learning materials and fostering collaboration in the classroom (Doe 24).”

After specifying the in-text citation, you must also mention the complete reference of the paraphrased or quoted information in a bibliography. Since the bibliography usually comes at the end, here is what the full form of the aforementioned in-text citations will look like:

APA Style Bibliography Example: Doe, J. (2021). The Impact of Technology on Modern Education. EdTech Press.

MLA Style Bibliography Example: Doe, John. The Impact of Technology on Modern Education. EdTech Press, 2021.

(Note: You can create APA and MLA citations using our citation generator.)

Concluding Remarks — Summing Up

In conclusion, plagiarism is a serious offense in academic and professional settings. No matter what type of content you write, it is essential to submit it by removing all traces of plagiarism. To do so effectively, you can employ techniques such as double quotations,  paraphrasing, proper citation, and using a plagiarism checker. But all of this will be useless if you don’t know what constitutes plagiarism. So, make sure you understand the many forms of plagiarism before moving towards its removal