Plagiarism Law: Everything You Need to Know!

 

Have you ever heard of plagiarism? It is kind of a nightmare for those people who steal other works. It’s a word that can send shivers down the spine of any student or writer. But what exactly is plagiarism, and why is it such a big deal? 

In simple terms, “plagiarism” is the act of taking someone else’s work and presenting it as your own without giving any credit to the real author.

This can include copying and pasting text from a website or book or submitting someone else’s work as your own. 

Plagiarism is not only unethical, but it’s also illegal in many cases. In different countries and counties, there is a law against plagiarism, and if any institute or online source finds it in your work, you will be in great danger. 

So, in this guide, we’ll talk about everything that you need to know about plagiarism and its law, including the different types of plagiarism, the consequences of plagiarizing, and how to check it and avoid it. 

Types of Plagiarism

Plagiarism also comes in different types, and each one is still dangerous for anyone who commits to using plagiarized work. There are 

Sure, here are some of the most common types of plagiarism:

Direct Plagiarism: This is the type of plagiarism in which you simply copy/paste other works word-to-word without giving credit to them. Direct plagiarism is most commonly found in students’ assignments and in published online blogs.

Self-Plagiarism: This type of plagiarism occurs when you’re assigned to the same task as the previous one and use the information from it in your current task. It is called self-plagiarism, and you must avoid doing that. 

Mosaic Plagiarism: It is a type of plagiarism when you use phrases or sentences from different sources and mix them with your sentences. Even if you’re using a sentence from other works, it will still count as plagiarism. Mosaic plagiarism is commonly found in academic papers. 

Accidental Plagiarism: This type of plagiarism occurs in very few moments. It occurs when you write content on your own, without copying/pasting from other sources, but still, some parts of the text are found plagiarized. It is called accidental plagiarism, and if it occurs in your content, you should also avoid it. The reason is that you only know it occurs accidentally, but the search engine or academic institutes will still consider it plagiarism. 

So, these are the types of plagiarism that can be found in any person’s content. Now, let’s talk about what are the plagiarism laws in different countries.

Plagiarism Laws in Different Countries

As you know, there are 195 different countries in the world, and if we separately talk about plagiarism law in each country, then it will take a very long time. So, to make it short, we will talk about some most common and large-population countries and their plagiarism law.

Plagiarism Law in the US

In the United States (US), plagiarism is not considered a crime, but it can result in civil lawsuits and academic consequences. Copyright law protects authors’ original works, i.e., literature, artistic, and musical works. 

If someone uses another person’s copyrighted work without permission or proper attribution, then the real author has the right to take legal action. Along with this, many academic institutions have strict policies against plagiarism and can impose penalties such as failing a course or expulsion.

Plagiarism Law in China

China is the world’s largest population county. Plagiarism, in China, is considered illegal and a violation. The country also allows the same copyright law as in the US, which protects authors’ original works from stealing. 

The plagiarism law of China doesn’t allow anyone to use other copyrighted work without their permission. And if someone breaks that law, he/she will face penalties for doing the illegal act.

Plagiarism Law in Australia

Australia is well-known for studying abroad. This country has a very strict law against plagiarism, and if somehow it’s found in students’ work, it can cause several issues. For instance, if someone is caught violating the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth) in Australia, it can lead to a penalty of up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to 600,000 dollars. A civil action can also arise in addition to this.

Besides the above three countries, other nations like India, the Philippines, Germany, France, Pakistan, Spain, and Indonesia have the same plagiarism law.

Consequences of Plagiarism

Some think that plagiarism is just a phrase and doesn’t have any consequences on our career, whether it is academic or professional. But they are wrong. Plagiarism is still considered the worst thing for anyone who commits to copying or stealing others’ works.

Here we will talk about the consequences of plagiarism for academics and professionals.

Academic Consequences

For students, plagiarism has the following consequences.

• If the institute finds plagiarism in your academic papers, then they have the right to fail you in your paper.
• If the institute finds out that you have copied others’ work, then they can revoke your degree.
• There might be chances that academic institutions will expel you due to an act of plagiarism.
• The most common consequence that academic students face is a penalty. The penalty charges can be from $1,000 to $100,000. 

So, these are some consequences of plagiarism if the institute finds it in your papers. Now, let’s take a look at the consequences for a professional.

Professional Consequences

If your profession is writing and somehow you also take information from other sources and use it, then you can also face the consequences of plagiarism, which are mentioned below.

• If you’re a blog writer and used someone else works, then search engines have the authority to low your search ranking.
• If the search engine finds plagiarism in your content, then it can even delete your site domain.
• If the real author finds that you have copied his/her work, he/she has the right to report and get all the profits you have generated using his/her work.

Thus, these are the consequences of plagiarism for a writer.

Moving on, let’s see how you can check plagiarism in your work so that you can make sure to cite it or fully remove it.

How to Check Plagiarism in Your Work?

The easiest way to check the plagiarism in your work is to take online help. As you know, on the internet, there is almost a solution to every problem that a person faces in their daily life. 

Similarly, there are also several plagiarism check tools and software developed that can help you check any instance of plagiarism in your writing.

For those who know how to use an online plagiarism-checking tool, it’s good. But for those who don’t know how they can check their work for plagiarism and see which part of the text is plagiarized, then here is a quick step-by-step guide for how to use online plagiarism check tools.

• To use the tool, you simply have to open (any tool you want), and you will see the same (not exact) interface as shown below.

• Every plagiarism checker has an input box in which you have to paste your written work, just like shown in the below image.

• Then you have to click on the button “Check Plagiarism” or any type of button with similar text. And you’re done.

• The tool will automatically scan your text over a billion of webpages, eBooks, and journals, and if there is any text that matches with any source, it will highlight it.

• After the scanning process is complete, the tool will give a report of how much plagiarism is in your content.

• You can also check the source links (the tool provided) from where your text is matched, and you can use it for citation purposes (we will discuss this next).

This is how you can check plagiarism in your work, and if the tool provides you with any percentage of plagiarism, you should remove it.

How to Remove Plagiarism from Your Work?

So, after you’re done checking plagiarism in your work, now is the time you should remove it. There are several ways to remove plagiarism from your writing.

Cite the Information

Citation is the type of reference in which you mention the real author’s name and the work from where you have taken the information. It is the best way to eliminate any instance of plagiarism from the content.

They come in different styles/formats, but the most widely used ones are APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian. In academic writing, APA citation style is used, and in blog writing, you can use MLA and Chicago/Turabian style.

Quote the Information

Quoting is also similar to the citation, but we used quotation marks (“ ”) instead of using different citing styles. This is also considered as you are permitted to use the author’s work and give him/her credit.

It is important to note that, when quoting a source, you must include the author’s name, title of the work, publication date, and page number(s) where the quote can be found. But if you’re quoting the information in a blog or article, you can simply use the author’s name and hyperlink it with the source where the information can be found.

Paraphrase the Information

Another way to get rid of plagiarism is paraphrasing. It is the process of repurposing someone else work in your words without disturbing the real meaning, and this entire process is used to remove plagiarism.

To paraphrase your content, you can do it manually (on your own) or with the help of an online tool. To paraphrase your content manually, you have to change specific words with the best appropriate synonyms and also change the sentence structure. But the good thing is online paraphrasing tools can do all of these automatically.

So, we’ll prefer you to choose online paraphrasing instead of doing it on your own.

So… is Removing Plagiarism from Work Still Counting as Breaking the Law?

The simple answer is no. When you have removed plagiarism from your work, there is no chance that you’re breaking the law. In fact, it is like you’re showing responsibility for your work, and you have made your writing plagiarism-free ethically. 

Always keep in mind plagiarism is a serious offense that can have negative consequences, such as loss of credibility, legal action, etc. So, it is important to remove any instances of plagiarism from your work to ensure that it is unique.

Conclusion

So, this guide was all about what is plagiarism law and what you should know about it. In different countries, there are different laws for stealing and using someone else work without his/her permission. You don’t have to break those laws. Otherwise, it can cause several consequences (already discussed above). 

You must check your work at least one time using an online plagiarism check tool. And if the tool finds any part of your work plagiarized, make sure to remove it. We have also discussed above how you can remove duplication from your content. You can also check our blog for more informative content.