Plagiarism is indefensible – don’t reword, or rewrite

As a freelance writer, you must be very aware of exactly what plagiarism is. Essentially it’s taking someone else’s words and ideas and passing them off as your own.

WritersWeekly.com :: View topic – COMPLAINT about JM Writing & Editing / Jessica Mousseau reports on a long saga:

“I have already told [EK] that the client found plagiarism in her work and
he isn’t paying, she also copied and pasted the same sentences for a large
section of the project which asked for keyword use with different locations.
She found it to be acceptable to copy/paste sentences that were the same and
just change the location word (one word in the entire paragraph). “

Plagiarism is a no-no. It’s never acceptable, and there’s no defense against it… Don’t, for the love of heaven, ever plagiarize.

Always cite your sources, whether in print or on the Web.

As Plagiarism.org says:

But can words and ideas really be stolen?

According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property, and is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).

If your writing is published in a magazine or a book and you’re accused of plagiarism, at the very least you will never write for that publisher again. You may even be sued for infringement of copyright by the publication from which you stole.

On the Web, if the plagiarized material is published on your own site, expect that the person/ site from whom you stole will use the DMCA against you, and will report you to the search engines, so your site is removed from the indices. Of course, you may also be sued.

How to avoid plagiarism

* Keep your research and your own notes completely separate;

* Keep a list of the resources you used for the fact checkers at magazines and publishing houses;

* Be very clear in your own mind about what constitutes plagiarism;

* Avoid anyone online who hires you and suggests that you “reword” or “rewrite” someone else’s writing. Any idiot who asks you to “reword” anything is a menace. (“Rewriting” jobs are very prevalent on the out-sourcing sites. Report any of these projects you find to the site, and ask that they be removed – these projects are illegal.)

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