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Why You Should Check Your Blog for Plagiarism

Reflection Why You Should Check Your Blog for Plagiarism

If you've been around Active Rain very long, you probably know all about plagiarism. This is when someone copies your blog and then puts it out as a new blog like they wrote it.

There are several excellent free Plagiarism checkers you can use now to check your blog. All you have to do is to search Google for Plagiarism Checker. I usually use The Plagiarism Checker by the University of Maryland because it is simple and fast.

Now, why should you be checking your blogs for Plagiarism? Several reasons!

1. Because you OWN your blog. Nobody has the right to use what you wrote and to claim it as their own. Checking for plagiarism will show you various places on the Internet where your blog or pieces of your blog are being used. And that brings us to reason number two.

2. Your blog might have been picked up and reblogged without you knowing it. When you use a good plagiarism checker, you will see places where your blog can be found on the web. This brings up the discussion we recently had in regards to using your digital signature in order to attach your name to your blog. Click here to read the blog, "Why You Should be Using Your AR Automatic Digital Signature."

3. Reason number three is similar to reason number two, but in a different way. Do you push your blog out to various places on the Internet for broader exposure? If so, you can use a plagiarism checker to find out if the blog is showing up where you want it to show up! It's like being able to check and see if your efforts are working or not. How cool is that!

Here's a screenshot for my recent Speechless Sunday blog...

Plagiarism Results for Bob Haywood

I'm not sure who morgit.com is, but they're reblogging a lot of my stuff. Since my signature is attached to my blog, it gives me further exposure. If they're picking up my blogs, odds are that they may be picking up yours too.

I don't spend hours and hours checking each and every blog for plagiarism, but when I've got a few minutes, I'll run through several to see where they are and who is picking them up. I've found that it is well worth my time. I think you'll find that it is well worth your time to check your blogs too.

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Posted by Bob Haywood, www.BobHaywood.com on 09/08/2010 10:41 AM

Comments (94)

Plagiarism Checking in the ActiveRain Channel

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Originally posted at: The BobHaywood.com Blog: Why You Should Check Your Blog for Plagiarism

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94 Comments on Why You Should Check Your Blog for Plagiarism

SEP

2010

Bob, good advice and important information to KNOW who is reblogging our posts and where they are on the net. ~ Susan

Interesting, Bob, and something I hadn't thought of doing. Bookmarked.

Bob, great recommendation! I have had content stolen before from another agent...and it ended up in my mailbox (a neighborhood newsletter ad)! Plagiarism probably is more rampant than we realize.

Reblogging with attribution and backlinks to our sites is one thing, stealing content with no attribution is a different matter.

Great Blog Bob,

As an instructor, finding my stuff re-posted is annoying at the least and usually results in the guilty party getting a nice letter telling them to cease and desist.

On the other hand, it is kind of flattering, so when people ask, I am quick to allow a repost as long as credit is given where it is deserved.

Thanks for taking the time to put this information out.

Hercel Spears

Hi Bob,

Some good information....it's good to verify Thanks

Bob, My Good Friend Bill Gassett (in a blog he wrote) once gave me a great way to check to see if I'm being copied word for word...Take a full paragraph cut and paste it in to a Google search and see if it matches (closely) with any thing else posted on the web.

Great advice, bob! I never mind the reblogs within AR, of course, but I have caught a few outside people reblogging without permission. I called them and they took them down - playing nice for now.

Wake Forest NC House Chick

Good post. I wish you would have put in a link to the software.

Bob - Thank you for sharing...I had no idea these programs were out there! I'm with you, as long as my info is attached to the blog, anyone is free to use it. If they are claiming it as their own, then no way! Have a great Wednesday!

Bob good one - I hadn't thought about this aspect. My first thought was - man - more time which isn't going to happen so I was glad to see you address this. I don't mind re-blog as long as credit is given. I will do some checking.

Thanks Bob - I haven't thought about this - as always I learn daily from AR!

Excellent post! Thanks a lot for making us aware of this! I'll be sure to check out for any plagiarized blog of mine. If it has my name on it (which I have on my digital signature), they can take it anywhere!

Jane Pacheco

Bob, that's pretty cool. I'll have to look into the software. I think it's a great idea to check to see where it's going. You never know.

Certainly worth checking as Bob suggests. He is one smart and common sense kind of guy. But please do not become paranoid about it like some have let happen to them. Some believe that everyone is out there to copy them. Let's face it, most of our stuff is not worth copying (in my case anyway, no Hemingway here), so do not go looking for something that is not there. Of course, do all you can if you so see your work blatantly copied. No excuse for someone doing that. Same goes for copying material you have the right to copy, but then trying to pass it off here on AR as your own so you can get points. You can repost items with permission, but you have to click on the box that states you have permission but are blogging non-original work.

I once posted what I felt was an important post about Florida property taxes from the state association site. I had one slightly paranoid agent comment that she had published the article that morning, I had copied it without permission, and I had not attributed it to her.

This was an article posted on the Florida Association of Realtors site that allows me to reprint it as long as I put it the disclaimer from their site. All of which I did. The association staff wrote the article, yet this REALTOR claimed, in a public forum, that she had written it and I had plagiarized her work. Of course, when I spoke to FAR they agreed with me that I had behaved correctly and done nothing wrong. They also knew about this "lady". She had a reputation so perhaps had pulled this on others as well. Since she had falsely accused me of breaking the law in a public forum, I could have brought her up on ethics charges, but just let it go. If she does it again, I will not be so forgiving.

John, thank you for your insights. I agree that we don't need to get paranoid. And really, the thing I like the most about checking for plagarism is finding out if my blog is going to where I want it to go.

Bob: This is an excellent post -- as usual. I am so inept at these computer tools, so I appreciate very, very much being given information and direction by someone I know I can trust. Many thanks.

While I doubt anyone would copy my stuff, it would seriously irritate me if they did. When I think about the work I put into some of these . . . well, I'm just gonna go ahead and do the check!

Bob - I do this from time to time, but I probably should be more vigilant about it. Thanks for the reminder!

Great information Bob - I will check this out.. Looks like a great tool

Bob: This is an excellent post -- as usual. I am so inept at these computer tools, so I appreciate very, very much being given information and direction by someone I know I can trust. Many thanks. Forgot to Login earlier, sorry!

Good post. You can also use Google Alerts to set up a search for a specific headline or series of words.

Bob, great overview on this topic and I love your examples to help us all check on this. Eye opening at times isn't it?

Bob--It is hard for me to imagine anyone would plagiarize my rather boring material. The plight of the attorney; I have learned to live with it.

Like others, I had no idea this tool was out there, thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Bob,

Great info. I've never bothered to check to see if my blogs were being re-blogged without my permission or not. Now I will! Thanks!

Hi Bob -- I do this about once a year at best, but I'm not overly worried about it in general. If I created tons of really well written articles, with lots of data, community info that took me a long time to gather and present, I would probably be very diligent. Good to keep abreast of though as plagarism is just plain wrong.

Bob, great post. I've thought of copying some past posts that didn't get enough comments (in my opinion). But for someone else to do it. Horrible

You can also Google Copyscape to see if anyone is taking your content. Its free.

Would you find it "ironic" that morgit.com has "boosted" this very post?

Bob,....Thank you so much this is really great stuff. I love AR because everyday there's truly something new out there to learn.

Thanks for getting us out to us today.

Patricia

Bob - I have bucked using the auto signature feature but you bring up a great point on why you should, even if you're only referencing it here. I use MyFreeCopyright.com and only had to install it once in my flagship blog's code and it does the rest. Love it!

Bob,....Thank you so much this is really great stuff. I love AR because everyday there's truly something new out there to learn..

Bob- I'm bookmarking this and looking into the site you mentioned. I'm not paranoid about anyone lifting my stuff but would be curious about reblogs. I've received emails of some sort from Morgit.com.

This is something that could easily be added to the time when we check analytics. Definitely good to know how much reach our content has online.

Always something new to learn here on AR! I hope I can learn to write something that someone else would like to copy - LOL!

Bob, I wondered how to check this. Thanks for the tip. Now I've got something to keep me busy this weekend.

Great post -- and an even better idea! Thanks so much for reminding us!

Thanks, I had a blog copied almost word for word by another local AR person. Did they think I was not going to see it? Love being able to check where else it might be going too.

Alan May - Get out of town! Now that is ironic!

That's some really good information. I will have to check it out!

Bob. I never really even considered that someone might plagarize my work. Really... aside from it being wrong it's kind of flattering that someone would actually think my work was good enough to swipe.

Great advice and great comments - Thanks...

Bob: Thanks for the call this morning helping me to understand my "wandering post".

Typing in the title of my two day old post and getting linked to a CBS News regional website in New Jersey was quite a surprise! I wish I'd done a screen capture this morning because the entry is gone now.

Lesson learned, though.....blog posts can get picked up and displayed in places we never expected. I need to pay better attention to my Google alerts.

YEah, thanks for the heads up Alan! my post was also on that morbit.com place and it was a MEMBERS ONLY post! AND I had a big signature.

Hi Bob,

Very interesting, although I must admit that I am somewhat on the fence, likely because, I still think (partly) that when you put stuff out there on the web, it is for all to see and use, and in a way feel somewhat that it is a good thing if others use and or paraphrase our stuff.

Thanks Bob, and I need to spend time on this to get clear in my mind if it matters enough to me...

Happy selling

What is even more interesting to me is that there is a place to "check your child's homework assignment"! Wow! I guess I'm just too trusting to have thought to check my blog, much less a child's homework assignment. Call me Pollyanna!

Bog - great information. I did not realize you could check for plagarism this way. Thanks for the info....

SEP

2010

Very cool! Love this idea and plan on checking it out.

Hi Bob!
Congrats on the feature! This is a way cool site! You could also use it to figure out where a quote came from, a reference...a bazillion things! Thanks for the "Shortcut" that is now on my menu page!

Bob, You've provided great food for thought and another thing that I need to do! Thanks, I think.

Bob, Thanks for your post. It hits home as had occasion to point out un arrtibuted posts that were direct copies of news sources. just the other day. I'm probably too new at blogging to have developed my skills yet. However, I did try out the Google tool immediately and bookmarked it too.

I've read several of your posts and am subscribing. I appreciate your work.

If anyone actually happens to scroll down this far, here's the plagiarism checker that Bob references:

Plagiarism Checker by the University of Maryland

Thanks for all the info. You sure know how to keep a person busy on a rainy Thursday morning! I am going to check things out right now.

Good info I don't think anyone will reblog anything I write ;) Is your picture from Swan Lake in Tulsa?

Thanks for the heads up, Bob... I am gonna check to see if I've been re-blogged. I am all for the extra exposure...but would be upset if they used my material as their own. I have seen some of my stuff being used here...but more in a sneaky way. Meaning...I will blog and about an hour later I will see my same topic and content written in a blog only rearranged. I don't know if that makes sense...but there's no question that it's my material...the words have just been moved around to make it look like it's theirs. What's worse is that one time...their blog was featured and mine wasn't.

Awesome!! I do like to pass on great and useful information to my clients, but NEVER EVER passing off as my own. Credit is due to those who do great work.

Wow. That was eye opening! Thanks for the tip.

Bob, great post and great reminder. Although it could be flattering, it is annoying. I think what is worse is when somebody scrapes on of your listings... I've had that happen. Hit back and hit hard.

Want to hear something really strange about copy rights? You know all the versions of the Bible have a copy right. Did you also know, to obtain a copy right on a similar book, you have to drastically change the words, ideas, and thoughts behind the book? Think about that.

Enjoyable and informative post....thank you Bob

The blood pressure of every college student just went up when copy checkers came out. Copy & paste in College, is a very attractive option for those that are inundated and just do not want to dig deep and contribute. I remember when the first software came out for plagiarism in college. Nearly every-ones paper was late getting in because they had to do the work....

Another helpful post from an ActiveRain member. Thanks for sharing your knowledege with us.

Craig #55, thank you, I scrolled down to get EXACTLY that! Great post, bob.

I love this! I learned another new thing via Active Rain again, and all before my morning coffee. I ran several of mine just for the heck of it - I appreciate the heads up. Off for coffee now!

Great information, Bob - I'm wondering if there isn't an automatic plugin or something similar out there. A take on Google Alerts, maybe. I suppose you could create alerts for every title or catch phrase as well. Definitely good food for thought!

Great blog, thanks! Besides the people that copy you word for word, the ones that really get me are those who steal your ideas, rephrase stuff just enough to make it sound a bit different and call it their own ...

Great Post Bob! Thanks for the helpful links too!

I thought it would be kinda funny to add this based on some of your comments above - From Answers.com:

Who said To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research?

Answer: "The quote "If you copy from one author, it's plagiarism. If you copy from two, it's research." has been attributed to playwright, raconteur and entrepreneur Wilson Mizner. The exact wording to which you allude has been widely attributed to comedian Steven Wright. Did he plagiarize Mizner?" Now my question is, is it plagarism to post this comment?

Thanks for the reminder to check my blog today!

Bob, great post with some helpful hints. I didn't know about the plagiarism checker. Pretty cool.

Interesting! I will check that out. Being a photographer as well as a Realtor, I actually have more issues with my photos being stolen, reused, sold as new by derivative, etc. Thanks!

Another point: Those who Plagiarize won't ever learn to be very good bloggers. Nor will they have a clue when a client wants to talk about their blog in more detail. Stealing is not a good life strategy!

Thank you Bob. Good Information to remember

Hi Bob, Add my name to those offering thanks for a really helpful post ! Good selling to you !

Thank you for bring this to our attention. I am going to bookmark this post so I can follow up on it.

Thanks Bob, I am just starting to write and never would have thought about plagiarism. Thanks for the tip.

Great post and thanks for sharing that information. I have a question. What can we do if we see that someone has plagiarized us? Are there any legal remedies?

Hi Bob,

Two questions:

So how do you feel about reblogs? I have only used that feature once. There are so many good blogs on Active Rain I would like to do that again.

How would you feel about your blog copied with your information but just posted elsewhere because it was such a good blog?

As far as photos go I try to use only free-to-use or I contact the owner of the image and ask if I may use.

I don't have much to add to the comments, but I would like to thank you for posting such great advice. Have an awesome day!

Similar to that of those who don't understand copyright laws. Great blog.

Bob: Good to know. Thanks for the heads up. Carrie

Thanks for the post, Bob! i just found another stager who copied an entire portion of my website word-for-word!

Very intersting. Now I'm wondering why my Active Rain postings don't show up when I enter the exact title of a blog entry...

Bob, do you have a link to the blog checker that you use?

Bob,

Good post but I have one question. How do you use the automatic signature feature on AR?

Tempted to reblog this just for irony's sake :) But on activerain they kind of skirt the issue by having people consent to reblogging with a checkbox.

I've found that the University website of your choice is more accurate than Copyscape. You can't really trust the search qualities in Copyscape which I've written about before.

SEP

2010

I have no idea what Morgit.com is either. However, I probably need to take the step and get a plagiarism checker.

Yes, indeed, I have found my blogs reblogged by other people without my consent or permission. The main question is what do you do? Is it worth to fight? I use Google alerts and that is how I know, but I will try your approach, thank you.

Antonio

Antonio - most people contact the offender and tell them to remove the blog immediately. Usually this is all you need to do.

Damon # 86 -

Plagiarism Checker - the University of Maryland

SEP

2010

Thanks for sharing this. I've often wondered about a way to check for unauthorized copying of my works.

SEP

2010

Bob, time spent with you and your blogs is always time well spent!!! Thanks for everything you do for us all!

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Owasso, OK

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