Why You Should Use a Plagiarism Tool Before Publishing New Content

Although plagiarism tools serve one primary function (to check content for plagiarism, obviously) they are used to serve a very large variety of purposes.

• Teachers will use a plagiarism tool to prevent cheating.
• When hiring a new writer, employers will use a tool to check for plagiarism (if they are smart) and prevent hiring an unethical “copy-and-paste” writer.
• Plagiarism tools are also used to ensure originality when manually spinning content, sometimes to run an A/B test.
• Website owners will occasionally run tests on their existing web page content and articles (if they are smart) to discover if they have been stolen from.

Do you really need a reason to check for plagiarism?

For some, it is second nature to use a plagiarism tool as part of the editing and review process before publishing new content online.
However, the thought might not occur to some publishers or writers, especially if you know that the content you wrote is 100% original… heck, you wrote it yourself!. Unfortunately… plagiarism can happen by accident. Maybe you were up late reading an article, and a few days later you put the same thoughts or words on paper, thinking they were your own. Or perhaps it was just dumb luck that somebody, somewhere, has already used the exact same words before you got around to it. If you’ve ever had a brilliant idea, then found out it already existed… you’ll get it. So before you publish new content on the web, be sure to check and make sure you aren’t copying anybody.

Just in case, here are 3 very good reasons why you should use a plagiarism checker:

• Originality is what sets one brand apart from the rest. If your brand can be viewed as “kind of like XXX, but slightly different” then you’re doing it wrong. This is why it’s not recommended to spin content from a competitor, because even if the new page passes a plagiarism tool… the original is always going to be the better option.
• For that same reason, you want to protect your own brand. Plagiarism tools aren’t just to avoid making a mistake… they are used to protect your hard work. Nothing is worse than having somebody lazy take your experience and expertise and try to pass it off as their own. Just ask RedHeadWriting (http://erikanapoletano.com/blog/on-stealing-shit) or Matthew Inman(http://theoatmeal.com/blog/funnyjunk)!
• The DMCA is nothing to mess around with! Copyright infringement is a very serious crime. The bottom line is simple really. Even if you are pretty sure that what you just wrote came entirely from your own mind, it only takes a few seconds to run that content through a plagiarism checker tool and protect yourself from a crippling lawsuit. Better play it safe than sorry.

Don’t take any chances!

It’s easy, fast, and free to use an online plagiarism checker. So there is also absolutely no excuse why you shouldn’t be using one before publishing new content. If you own a website, it might do you some good to check your existing pages—once a year is sufficient—and protect your brand from identity theft.