How do I check my research paper for plagiarism?

There are several ways in which you can check your paper for plagiarism. The most common way is to do a preliminary online check using readily available free softwares. However, these would have several limitations such as a limited word count (usually around 1000 words), limited access to databases etc. Next you have paid plagiarism check softwares such as iThenticate and Grammarly Plagiarism Checker. These softwares are more advanced, have access to advanced databases and can therefore do a more thorough check of your document.

A note of caution would be that there are several types of plagiarism that exist and these softwares are limited in their abilities to detect any other type of plagiarism other than direct plagiarism detected through text matching.

You also have plagiarism check services such as Enago’s Plagiarism Check to help you with submitting plagiarism free research manuscripts. This service comes with a benefit of clear and easy to understand reports.

However, as someone has rightly said ‘prevention is better that cure’. Therefore, you need to ensure at the manuscript drafting stage that you and not indulging in any form of plagiarism. The following tips can help you effectively avoid plagiarism:

• Avoid copy-pasting of content, explain the idea in your own words
• Use quotation marks wherever necessary, in such cases ensure that the quote is word-to-word and you are not modifying it in any way.
• Take permissions and attribute credit for images when sources from another piece of published work.
• Cite content from another book or paper even if it is your own work
• Cite appropriately. Use a systematic way of maintaining your references such as reference management softwares. Avoid citing review papers, cite papers where the work was reported in the first instance.
• Lastly, avoid patchwriting. Patchwriting is the use of text that is similar in format and words to the original work.