As a freelancer, it’s important to produce original and high-quality work to build a successful career. However, in this digital age, it’s becoming increasingly easy to copy and paste content from the internet, leading to the rise of plagiarism. Plagiarism not only violates ethical principles but can also have serious consequences for freelancers, including:
For freelance writers, writing content that is too similar to work that appears on other websites is simply not acceptable. Before you turn in your work to a client, you’ll want to run it through an online plagiarism checker to make sure that you haven’t inadvertently used phrases that appear elsewhere on the internet.
Freelance writing has been around for quite a while but writers – and clients – have always faced the same problem over the years: plagiarism, one of the unforgivable sins of creating content, freelance or otherwise.
The thing about ideas is that they are not conceived effortlessly. More often than not, you really need to work those brain cells to come up with something novel and fresh. It’s easier said than done in some cases, and certain tips to avoid plagiarism might be in order. [Read more…]
As freelance writers, we spend a great deal of time quickly researching topics we’re unfamiliar with and then producing articulate web content that makes it sound like you know what you’re talking about. A brief scan of several other informative websites often gives you background information and inspiration to write what your clients have asked for. You wind up putting together and submitting an article to your client and begin the process over again with a new topic and don’t think about it again. [Read more…]
According to the Center of Academic Integrity, almost 80% of college admitted to cheating at least once, while a study by the Psychological Record reveals that 36% of undergrads admitted to plagiarism.
Most of the statistics about plagiarism that is available relate to cheating in the academic realm, but as freelance writers, we know very well how prevalent and serious the issue of copying another’s work is.
Heck, these days, even speeches are being plagiarized! You know what I’m talking about. *Wink* *Wink*
On our part, we cannot take the issue lightly, especially if we’re doing client work. You might even have plagiarized someone else’s work (unwittingly or otherwise), or your work may have been used by others. [Read more…]
Having worked online for almost a decade, I do believe that there is such a thing as accidentally plagiarizing. After all, how many times and/or ways can a subject be written about? At some point, an online writer might find himself writing the same words and ideas that he has read somewhere else – without the intention of copying. But, the road to hell is paved with adverbs good intentions, right?
Then there’s the other side of the coin – other people copying your content. You may think that it won’t happen to you, but believe me, there are so many unscrupulous people out there who would go so low just to make a quick buck. Some may not care about other people copying their work, but I think that if it does happen to you, you just might not like it.
So how do you fight plagiarism – from both sides? Here are three “easy” ways to do so.
Some of you may already have this habit – good for you! It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your idea is 100 percent original, but we know that we get our inspiration from all sorts of places. For special pieces of content, especially, research is required, and the best way to ensure that you do not end up plagiarizing your sources is that you carefully take note of all of them and cite them in your work.
This is a very basic concept, but also very easily overlooked.
Once you’re done with your work, you can use anti-plagiarism software. There’s a host of them available, some for free, some for a fee. Obviously, the results that you will get will differ depending on the service and whether it is free or not. You can also try contentplagiarismchecker.com, which gives you one free check upon registration.
Whether you’re checking if your work is totally original or you’re checking if someone else has copied your content, these tools will give you a starting point to fight plagiarism.
This is by far the most important thing, as far as I am concerned. Sure, there may be occasional slips – everyone has them, even seasoned journalists. At the end of the day, however, if you are true to yourself and take pride in your work, creating original content is in your blood. You will not have to worry (for the most part) that you copy other people’s work simply because that is not you.
How do you fight plagiarism? Do you have experiences that you want to share?
Freelance writers run the risk of having their content used without permission or compensation. While it can be risky working as a freelance writer, if you’re aware of the possible pitfalls, you have much better chance of preventing plagiarism of your writing. Take a look at these suggestions for protecting your work:
Trust Your Gut
If you are contacted by a new client and they ask you to submit content without a contract, it’s a good idea to tread lightly. Sometimes freelance writers have to take risks to get work, but giving your work away for free shouldn’t be one of them.
I have met several freelance writers who submitted samples of their work for a job opening only to find their samples published without being compensated. If you do send a writing sample, send content that has already been published elsewhere. Be clear with the client that the sample is already published, but provides an example of your writing. If the client continues to push you for a new sample without an agreement about compensation, trust your gut and do what you think is right for the situation.
Secure a Contract
A few clients may want to work with you in the short term or just for one project, but be careful about writing anything without a contract. There’s nothing wrong with requesting a written agreement that states the client will not use your content without paying for it.
If a client insists on hiring you without an agreement in place, share your concerns. Get as much information as you can in an email about use of your content so you have documentation in case they publish your work without payment and you have to go after them for compensation.
Understand Ownership
If you give up ownership of your writing after it has been submitted, make sure you understand the ramifications of this decision. If you have a byline, determine if you will be able to retain that byline once you stop working for the client. The last thing you want to do is write hundreds of articles only to find your byline has been stripped from your work once you part ways with the client.
Come to Terms on Editing
Few things are more frustrating as a freelance writer than pouring yourself into an article only to discover your words have been warped by a heavy-handed editor. Ensure an editor can’t drastically reword your content so the meaning of what you originally wrote is lost. Ask to be in charge of major revisions to your work and have a last say on final edits. If the writing is in your name, you don’t want a poor or inexperienced editor to make you look like a bad writer.
Keep Copies
The main way to keep your work from being plagiarized is to keep a copy of everything you write. When submitting content to new or potential clients, cc yourself on the email for your records. It’s a good idea to purchase a subscription to Copyscape, an online plagiarism detection tool that searches the Internet for similar text published on the web.
Have you ever had your writing stolen or misused; if so, how did you handle it and what would you recommend to your fellow freelance writers?
Sarah is the Content Manager and a Writer at Virtual Vocations, the one-stop shop for telecommuters looking for legit jobs. With several years of marketing and writing experience, Sarah managed a group of freelance writers for a marketing firm before venturing out into the telecommute world. Follow Sarah on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.
Ever since I started writing at Plagiarism Today and especially since I started this column, I’ve been hearing a lot from freelance writers who have been scammed or otherwise victimized by unscrupulous clients. Though the good news is that such bad clients are very rare in the big scheme of things, they are common enough that almost every freelancer, if they remain active long enough, will run into one or two over the course of their career.
So how do you avoid being taken advantage of as a freelance writer. As we discussed previously, clients have the playing field tilted to their advantage on most legal issues. As such, litigation isn’t often practical in these matters.
This means that the best way to protect yourself from these scams is to learn what they are and not step into them in the first place. [Read more…]
Turning in an assignment is the goal of pretty much every freelancer. It’s the moment where they can send their invoice, collect payment and, generally make a living. If you don’t reach this point regularly, you’ll likely soon find yourself looking for another career.
That being said, the moment you turn in your assignment is also something of a point of no return. Once you send the email, share the Google Doc or otherwise turn in what you have completed, you’ve not only submitted that work for revenue, you’ve also distributed it to a third party, an important step legally and it is generally the final step before the work is sent out to the much broader public.
As such, before you click “submit”, it’s worthwhile to take a moment, evaluate your work and make sure that you don’t find yourself in any legal trouble for your work.
After all, the last thing you want is for something you submit to come back and bite you and/or your client after it’s published online. With that in mind, here are five questions you should ask every time you get ready to submit a new article, just to make sure you’re on the right side of the law. [Read more…]
In an ideal universe, the law is there to protect both parties in a contract equally. The freelancer and the client would both have guards to prevent the other from doing something unscrupulous or somehow taking advantage of the other.
Of course, in an ideal universe, justice would be free, it would be immediate and it would never make any mistakes.
Unfortunately though, we don’t live in a perfect world and, in many regards, that legal playing field is very much tilted against the freelancer. Not only do clients, typically, have more money but the global nature of the Web and, at times, the laws themselves only serve to make things worse.
On that note though, here are just some of the grim realities that our imperfect system has created and what they mean for you as you try to earn a living selling your writing. [Read more…]
