Do you know why?
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Plagiarism is a word that Steemians are all too familiar with.
We see posts from the Steemit team mentioning plagiarism. We see ”No plagiarism” in the rules of contests that we participate in daily. We see moderators using “avoid plagiarism” in their tips and verification and we see it as a clear mention from curators that "0% plagiarism" will be allowed. We also see it in posts from Steemians.
Yet, I’m seeing Steemians using plagiarism regularly. Call me inquisitive, I just had to find out why Steemians are doing it.
After reading so many posts I’ve concluded that there are three basic types of plagiarism on Steemit.
1. Deliberate plagiarism – Where the author is out to copy somebody else’s work
2. Accidental plagiarism – Where it is not the author's intention to copy somebody else’s work
3. Self-plagiarism – Where the author copies from his own previous posts
That brings me to the million STEEM question;
Why do Steemians use plagiarism?
1. They run out of ideas for their post |
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If you copy the work of others because you don’t know what to write about you are on the wrong platform. There is so much we can write about every day. I often tell Steemians that all they must do is look around them and use all their senses and they will quickly find something to write about. The laughter of their children, the smell of the cup of coffee next to them, or the beauty of nature.
Steemit introduced us to three wonderful initiatives;
• “The Diary Game”- If you don’t know what to write about on a specific day tell us about any day of your life.
• “Engagement challenges” - There are seven topics each week that you can choose from. A topic for each day.
• “Contests” – There are ample contests to participate in daily. Best of all, you don’t even have to look for them. Our friend @disconnect is so good at finding these contests for us.
List your ideas. If you make a list of possible posts that you can write about at the beginning of a week you will not run out of ideas. I can guarantee you that during the week that list will grow.
2. They are pressed for time to write a post |
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Time is a big culprit when it comes to plagiarism. Steemians get busy during the day and when it is already late in the evening they get all stressed out and take the easy way out. We all know by now that a good quality post not only takes time to write but also time to check and finish off.
It is when you are pressed for time that you make mistakes. You think you can get away with deliberately copying from someone else and changing a few words so that a plagiarism tool won’t pick it up, or you accidentally forget to paraphrase or reference the information that you have used.
Even worse, you commit self-plagiarism by copying some of your previous work and think you can get away with it. Yes, there are times that we might write about the same topic. If you have written 365 posts in one year the chances that you are going to duplicate content is there however it is writing about the same topic and not copying the post.
You have to plan and organize your posts, break down your posts, prioritize, and don’t leave writing your post to the last minute. I often start the layout of my post early in the morning and as I get a chance during the day I fill in the gaps just to check and finish it at night before bedtime.
3. They believe they must write a post every day |
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Guess what? You don’t have to write a post every day. If you think you “have to” or you “must” you are going to make mistakes and plagiarism is going to slip in.
It is often also when you have this belief that your post doesn’t qualify as a quality post and we all know that quality is key on Steemit. A post that is creative, informative, eye-catching, read easily, and that is trustworthy.
The best post is often written the day after you have taken a break.
Don’t exhaust yourself, take that break and reward yourself!
4. They may not know that it is wrong to copy from someone else |
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This can only be your excuse if you are a newbie on Steemit. It is Steemit’s first and greatest rule, NO plagiarism.
Plagiarism is also clearly explained in Achievement 3 - Content Etiquette by @cryptokannon
If you search Google to find the definition of plagiarism in a simple term you get the following answer;
“Plagiarism is presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement.” By the University of Oxford.
There are wonderful plagiarism tools for moderators and curators to use to pick up plagiarism content. One small mistake and they will know exactly where what and how. You might get away with it once but not the second time around.
There are consequences for breaking the rule of plagiarism on Steemit. You will be reported and you will damage your reputation which will harm your Steemit journey. Steemians will lose confidence in you.
For me it is an ethical issue;
• My work is my own!
• I am proud of my work!
There is nothing nicer than to do your research, write a quality post, and then to be rewarded for it by comments from your fellow Steemians.
Be proud of your work. If you carry pride in what you write you will not commit plagiarism. Lastly, make sure that you understand what plagiarism is to avoid sitting with a red face.
5. They don’t know what paraphrasing is |
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Believe it or not but Steemians don’t know paraphrasing. It is not copying an article, changing a few words, and then posting it.
No, it is rewriting of specific content from someone else.
This you have to do by;
• Not changing the original meaning
• Not removing specific information
• Rewriting the content in your own words
• Mentioning the source
Steemians are often guilty of paraphrasing a whole article. This I found mainly happens when they write about something that they are not familiar with, when something is academic, or when statistics are used. It is when they copy the full original article that mistakes slip in like keeping the content in the exact order.
The best is to rephrase or rewrite the content in your own words after you have done your research and to add your own meaning. Your content will now be;
This you can only get if you have read the article several times, taken notice of the key concepts, and compared the piece you have written with the original piece.
Another mistake I’ve seen is the use of quotation marks when paraphrasing is used. Quotation marks are used for quoting someone, for highlighting, when you want to support your statement, or when words in the paraphrasing stayed the same.
Only use part of an article in your post and when you do rewrite it starting from a different point than the original text. It is also important to change the sentence structure and use synonyms.
6. They lack the skills of citation (reference) |
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Citation is when you acknowledge the source in the text you are writing. In other words, you tell the reader that the piece is not your work but that of someone else. You give credit to the author. I hardly see Steemians doing this.
We are all often guilty of mentioning a fact but fail to mention where the fact comes from.
By citation of ideas, theories, words, facts, and even figures or stats you will make sure that your post past the plagiarism test.
There are also other advantages of citation;
• Through the use of citations, readers can search for more information
• Readers and especially moderators and curators can quickly get a clear indication that you did your research and found some great sources
Part of planning your post is to keep track of sources so that you can correctly cite the source.
7. They are just not honest |
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Steemians know it is wrong to copy work from someone else yet they just go ahead and do it anyway.
In closure, let me summarize and leave you with 10 tips that can help your posts to get past being marked as plagiarism.
Tips for keeping your posts plagiarism free
- Plan your post
- Make time for your post. There are no shortcuts for posting quality content
- Do your research and make the post your own
- Make sure that you always mention the correct sources
- Use direct quotes as it is the safest
- Rewrite the phrase in your own words and add your own thoughts
- Be careful when you copy and paste
- If you quote make sure you quote the exact words
- Use a plagiarism checker and check your post not once but twice
- Be true to yourself
A valuable suggestion from one of the readers, @aparajitoalamin - Write in your own language instead of trying to copy from another language.
I hope to read more posts on Steemit that don’t include deliberate plagiarism, not accidental plagiarism, and for sure not self-plagiarism.
“Plagiarism is one of the great academic sins. It has the power to destroy a scholar or writer and turn a lifetime's work to dust.” By Miranda Devine
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