These free websites will run your papers against online sources to check for plagiarism.
Portions of this libguide were borrowed from the Plagiarism libguide at the University of Arkansas.
pla·gia·rism
"taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own"
• Click below to view Otterbein's Judicial Policies and check the Plagiarism, Cheating, and Dishonesty section. There are serious consequences for these acts.
• Here are some example consequences of plagiarism in the real world.
"Most current discussions of plagiarism fail to distinguish between:
Such discussions confuse plagiarism with the misuse of sources." For the student: it is better to be marked down for inadequate citations than to be accused of cheating. Citing incorrectly is better than not citing at all.
Type 1: Copy and Paste Plagiarism or Direct Plagiarism
When you copy a sentence, phrase, or paragraph word for word, but do not quote your source.
Type 2: Word Switch Plagiarism
When you rephrase a person's work and insert it into your own work without acknowledging its original source. If you take a sentence from a source and change a few words without acknowledging your source, it is still plagiarism.
This is not paraphrasing. For information on how to correctly paraphrase, see When To Cite.
Type 3: Mosaic or Blending Plagiarism
When you: mix words or ideas from an unacknowledged source in with your own words or ideas; mix together uncited words and ideas from several sources into a single work; or mix together properly cited uses of a source with uncited uses.
Type 4: Insufficient Acknowledgement
When you correctly cite your source once, but continue to use the author's work with out giving additional proper citation.
Type 5: Self-Plagiarism
When you use a paper or assignment completed for one class to satisfy the assignment for a different class. Even if you modify a previous paper or assignment, you must get permission from your professor/ instructor and correctly cite your previous paper.
Source: University of South Alabama