google docs plagiarism checker

google docs plagiarism checker

The Importance of Using a Plagiarism Checker in Google Docs

1. Introduction

Throughout history, scholars and writers have engaged in a dialogue with one another, and with their readers. The great conversations in literature and philosophy depend upon showing one’s work – the sources and the steps, the give and take between various voices with their differing views and emphases. Those who enter the conversation make free use of others’ work and this use, in turn, takes many forms. Too often, however, the conversation becomes a series of monologues to which no one responds. What is meant to be an exchange of views becomes a contest, or a sermon, or a lecture. At this point, it is difficult to determine who is saying what to whom, who holds what view, or whether any are thinking critically or independently. When this happens, the only voice one hears is an echo of the prevailing conventional wisdom. Original thought is stifled, and individual thinkers are lost in the shuffle. At its best, scholarship is an ongoing give and take among scholars who are pursuing truth. Unfortunately, in the age of Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V, the direct use of other people’s work has fallen to an all-time low. A recent study has shown that the percentage of students who admitted to some form of cheating – whether it was on a test, plagiarism, or working with others without permission – is a staggering 70 percent. This is a disconcerting revelation, but it need not be regarded as a static fact. By utilizing modern technology, we can arm students with the skills and practices necessary to avoid plagiarism. By using a plagiarism checker, specifically the DupliChecker, in Google Docs, students can compare their own work with their cited sources, locate and correct errors in acknowledging sources, and discourage deceitful practices in papers and other academic assignments. This is a significant step towards reclaiming the lost art of original thought.

2. Benefits of Using a Plagiarism Checker

We need to use a plagiarism checker to avoid plagiarism in our work. This was an issue that I needed to address, and that is why I created the Add-on. My students need to paraphrase information that they find. They were taking information and just putting it into their own words. This is still considered plagiarism. When you paraphrase information, you need to read a piece of information, close the resource, and then write it in your own words. You shouldn’t write the sentence word for word, which is what many of my students were doing. I had my 7th-grade students use the plagiarism checker after they took notes on a particular topic. I wanted them to get into the habit of making sure they were not copying information. Many students were upset when they found out that their paraphrased notes were considered plagiarized. This was still a success in my eyes because the students were forced to learn what it means to copy work and to avoid doing so. They had the chance to rewrite the notes and are now more cautious with how they take notes from a resource.

3. How to Use the Google Docs Plagiarism Checker

Overview The Google Docs plagiarism checker is a free and easy way to detect instances of plagiarism in student papers. I have to admit I used to be a bit skeptical about the existence of a viable plagiarism checker. After all, nothing in life is “free,” right? Then, when I set out to write an entire unit on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, I revisited the age-old “plagiarism checkers” search. I’m sure it was Google’s divine intervention that led me to this one. It was user-friendly and certainly the price was right – unlike those annoying sites with the pop-up ads and/or subscription fees. The instructions were clear and concise and I was able to check for plagiarism in less than ten minutes – that’s paper-saving for an amateur like me! As for its detection capabilities, I was quite impressed. It checks your paper against billions of web pages and millions of academic articles. It will also compare your text to the content in its own database. At first, I felt inclined to “test” the system integrity by inserting an excerpt from a published article; however, upon doing so, I noticed a warning label advising me that plagiarism is a violation of intellectual property and is not just penalized as a student act, but a legal one. The literature in the warning label was linked to a brief synopsis of plagiarism. This demonstrated to me that the plagiarism checker is not only an instrument of detection but is also a learning tool to make students aware of the seriousness of plagiarism. I was sold on the idea and I decided to take the checker to the classroom, instructing students to submit their thought journals and rough drafts to ensure that they were free of plagiarism before the final submission.

4. Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism in Google Docs

Create an Outline – and Fill it In! Creating an outline of your document and its key points is a bulletproof way to write an original document. In the case of adding content from a source, finding the main idea of the topic and the content that you are going to need will help you search specific information. By having a clear idea of what you need and where it’s going, you are likely to provide the content in your own words. A common practice is to simply change a few words of an article hoping that it is not considered plagiarism. However, it is usually not too hard to identify a stolen piece of writing. Changing words is not enough – reword content only when you are sure you understand it fully.

Use Quotations: If you are pulling content from a source, be sure to put the text in quotes. By doing this, you are conveying that it is not your own words. After inputting the quote, it is always important to follow up with an analysis or summary of the quote. This is a key strategy that can drastically reduce the chances of accidental plagiarism.

Use Google Research: Using the research feature in Google Docs is a great way of adding content to your document. At the bottom of each result in the research window, there is an option to cite the source by clicking on the quotation marks. This will automatically add a footnote to the bottom of the document with a citation, which will also help you avoid a plagiarism mishap.

Here are some helpful tips to ensure originality in your writing while using Google Docs.

5. Conclusion

Google Docs is a highly efficient document creator that can be accessed and edited by multiple people at one time. This feature is useful, but it is sometimes possible for users to place their own personal work as their editing choice, which means it can be edited and ultimately stolen. The ability to access millions of documents and perform plagiarism detection on it has become significantly useful for professional researchers, writers, students, and various other professionals. Services like Google Docs serve as a gateway for people to write and edit their work, but sometimes it can be a little too easy to just copy and paste something and try to claim it as your own. Teachers can even use Google Docs to give an assignment and check if their students are trying to copy work from other students or the internet by using a plagiarism check. Lastly, for those who write documents for a living, it has become more and more important to run plagiarism checks on your work as clients will usually run this on the work that you submit to them. Failure to produce original content could result in some dire consequences in terms of credibility and employment.