With the increased use of personal computers and online access, plagiarism software is a useful tool to make sure students and content writers are not guilty of stealing intellectual property and calling it their own.
What is Plagiarism?
If you copy another person's words and pass them off as your own, that's plagiarism and a form of stealing. The term "copy" doesn't sound too serious, but plagiarism is a form of literary theft. It's is considered an act of fraud. This use of other people's words without permission used to be a problem commonly linked with students, but in this information age it is no longer an issue limited to educational institutions. Today the problem includes cyberplagiarism and it is more serious than many people realize. In fact, those in violation of copyright can be prosecuted or fined up to $250,000.
What Does Plagiarism Software Cost?
Checking people's work for plagiarism is easier than ever with today's technology and the software designed specifically to spot this form of theft. Software resources available are designed to help identify even slight attempts to use others' intellectual property whether it is intentional or not. Different software packages and services run a gambit of prices so you should be able to find something to fit your pocketbook. The range can be as low as $40 or run as much as almost $1000.
Software to Buy
What software you decide to purchase will depend on how you intend to use it. The following resources provide an overview of the types of plagiarism software available and what it has to offer:
Essay Verification Engine (EVE)
If you're in the market for software to help you spot plagiarism, this plagiarism detection system is one of the most reasonable. It processes essays using plain text format (TXT) and generates a report containing relevant web links to sites from which material may have been plagiarized. To purchase this software, you must register with the site, but once you buy it, it's yours; no monthly fees or hidden charges. CaNexus.com offers a 10 day trial money back guarantee just in case you are not satisfied their product.
Originality Checking
Originality Checking by Turnitin WriteCycle, provides a way for educators to take a closer look at students' work for potential plagiarism. This is done by comparing the students work against databases which are regularly updated. This software provides a side-by-side comparison against:
- More than 10 billion web pages (crawled and archived)
- More than 10,000 magazine, journals and major newspapers
- Thousands of books
- More than 70 million student papers
Free Software and Resources to Detect Plagiarism
A number of free plagiarism detection products can be found online, too:
- Raptor: A new online scanner designed specifically to detect plagiarism. This software is more efficient that its predecessor Viper, and is still free. It searches thousands of resources for plagiarism in less than five minutes. An online platform is available for use, or it can be downloaded onto your computer.
Online Resources
- Copyscape: This totally free program scans billions of documents as well as web pages and other sources.
- Plagium: This program is free, but asks for donations to help maintain and develop the site. Tools allow you to search in a variety of languages.
- The Plagiarism Checker: This program is really easy-to-use. It lets you cut and past text into a window to be checked with the click of a button.
Plagiarism is plagiarism whether you intend it to be or not. Steps should be taken in the drafting process to avoid the risk of using others' words. When you write your first draft, be sure to highlight words you've lifted or borrowed. Acknowledge your sources and be sure to document them.
