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Paraphrasing, Re-Wording, Copying, Stealing


Seriously, there are times when I wish I weren't so jaded about the state of what happens on the internet.
Here are the results when you run that sentence through Google: https://www.google.com/search?q=I+wish+I+weren%27t+so+jaded+about+the+state+of+what+happens+on+the+internet.&oq=I+wish+I+weren%27t+so+jaded+about+the+state+of+what+happens+on+the+internet

I ran that same sentence through several FREE online plagiarism detectors. Thankfully, Quetext did not find a copy. Searchenginereports was 100% clean. Even NoPlag.com came back ok.

Why do I ramble about this? Because I have found yet one more example of "re-worded" plagiarism of one "business consultant" of another's work. 

I won't tell you where I found these examples, but based on the dates of the sites, this paragraph came out first in 2015: 
"The definition of success is a very personal one. It’s unique to each individual and only they can know if they’ve reached it. Unfortunately, most people say they haven’t attained it. A final word from Mr. Twain, “There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.”

The second one is recently published online within the last month:
"The definition of success is a personal one. It is unique to each of us and only we can say if we have reached it. Unfortunately, most people say they have not attained it. As the saying goes, “There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.” (Mark Twain)"

Now, I don't know about you, but I was taught in school that this kind of copying was wrong. You might call it a paraphrase. There is even a paraphrasing tool, http://paraphrasing-tool.com/, that gave me this interesting re-do of Mr. Twain.

"The meaning of achievement is an individual one. It is one of a kind to each of us and no one but we would say be able to on the off chance that we have achieved it. Sadly, the vast majority say they have not accomplished it. As the truism goes, "There are essentially two sorts of individuals. Individuals who achieve things, and individuals who claim to have fulfilled things. The principal bunch is less swarmed." (Mark Twain)"

That might be the literal definition of paraphrase, but essentially- it is still copying. Thankfully, a recent article from LegalBeagle clarifies: 
"If you do any of the following, you have committed plagiarism: copy what someone has written or take someone's expressed idea and pass it off as your own without giving the owner credit, fail to put a quotation in quotes, change words but copy the sentence structure without giving credit, and use so many words or ideas from someone else's writing that it makes up most of your work."

Sadly, we can only protect ourselves, because it does not appear that others will look out for us in this regard. But hey, just for you... don't copy and it's not a problem.

Original post can be found here.

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