7 Tips For Bloggers To Avoid Plagiarism While Writing Articles

The internet is a resource that is primarily used to get answers to all sorts of questions. The search engine provides this assistance by providing quick answers through featured snippets and the most relevant blog posts.

But what kind of results get to show up as featured snippets, or even find a spot on the first page is controlled by ranking factors. Nobody knows what all the ranking factors are, but some have made educated guesses, while some search engine companies have revealed theirs.

One such factor is the uniqueness of an article. If the content of an article is plagiarized, its ranking is lowered to punish it. This means it will not show up as a featured snippet or even the first few pages. So how can one avoid plagiarism while writing articles?

The best practice to avoid plagiarism in article writing is practicing paraphrasing. Paraphrasing helps writers and bloggers to write unique content in different writing styles and tones.

But that’s not all. There is more to writing unique blog posts and articles that can secure higher rankings. In this article, we will share 7 tips for bloggers to avoid plagiarism in article writing.

1.     Find a Less Competitive Niche

The first step to avoiding plagiarism is targeting a niche with less published content. Finding the keyword and topic difficulty is a big challenge as it makes things difficult for beginners. The found topic should align with the knowledge and interest of the writer.

There are many tools like Ubersuggest that can provide you with detailed information on keyword difficulty. In this way, you can analyze your online competition before writing an article or blog post.

In addition, it is recommended to choose a niche about which you have prior knowledge. For example, if you’re a student of medical sciences, writing unique blogs about healthcare and lifestyle would be relatively easier.

2.     Perform In-Depth Research

One of the most common reasons for plagiarism in an article is insufficient research. When a writer does not have enough information about the topic they have to expound on, they tend to plagiarism others. After all, it seems so effortless, to read someone else’s work and copy from it.

The only way to deal with this is to conduct thorough research. That way the writer will get enough information to be confident and not resort to plagiarism.

Here are a few tips for conducting detailed research.

• Always read about the topic from many different sources. This prevents any bias from seeping into your work and causing accidental plagiarism.
• Try to read from different types of sources as well. Don’t just stick to books, or research papers, try blogs, and articles as well.

When you do both of the above, you will get a better idea of the subject and have the least problems when writing about it yourself.

3.     Choose a Unique Title

After choosing the right niche and completing your research, the next step is to make the correct title. Your blog post’s title should portray something different from pre-published online content.

Many writers and bloggers make the mistake of writing articles with a similar title, which ruins the unique element of the article. Moreover, using generic titles for the content can make things difficult in terms of competition, and it can lead you to commit unintentional plagiarism.

While writing the title, make sure to feature the primary keyword in it. In addition, you have to keep the character limit in mind to fulfill the optimization factor.

4.     Paraphrase

The paraphrasing technique is the best remedy to avoid plagiarism in articles or blogs. This technique helps you to write credible information in your own words without plagiarizing. The goal is to maintain the original meaning of the context but in a new set of words.

For accurate paraphrasing, you can change the meaning of specific terms with their relevant synonyms. But make sure to choose the set of words that aligns with the nature of the context. For example, if you’re writing in a friendly or creative tone, it’s not wise to mention formal vocabulary.

However, beware that improper paraphrasing can lead to self-plagiarism or unintentional plagiarism. Search engine algorithms can also scan poorly paraphrased content to label it plagiarized.

5.     Add References

Referencing helps to maintain uniqueness by giving a supporting citation for the material you feature in the content. Referencing is like giving the due credit to the author or creator of the initial written content. This way, you can maintain the word count and simultaneously avoid plagiarism.

However, the writers should be familiar with the proper citation method and referencing styles to avoid plagiarism. Some of the most famous referencing styles are Chicago, Harvard, and APA.

If you cannot find the proper referencing method, try the Google Scholar platform, which gives you access to multiple referencing styles with just a click.

6.     Change the Structure

Another thing that you can modify is the structure of your content. If you follow the same pattern as another writer, chances are that it can result in accidental plagiarism. This is especially true when you use other blogs and articles for research.

You may not realize it, but you may be copying them unconsciously. So, you need to make a conscious effort to avoid this. An easy way is to change the structure. If they discussed something at the start, you should move it to the middle or the end.

Another way of changing the structure is to write things in different forms. Let’s say there was a table that you wanted to use from a different source. Instead of writing it as a table, just take the parts that you need and write them in plain text. Try changing numbers to text, and portray percentages in different wording e.g., write 7 as “seven”, and 25% as “a quarter”. Small structural changes like these can make a lot of difference.

7.     Check for Plagiarism

The final and far-important tip is to check for plagiarism with the help of a plagiarism detecting tool. The similarity of information can be a common concern as blog writers collect information from online resources to write an article.

With the help of a plagiarism detector, writers can identify and rewrite the plagiarized sections. The plagiarism report presents the complete summary of links or sources similar to your content. Such convenience makes it easier to learn about the extent of duplication in your content.

Conclusion

Avoiding plagiarism should be the prime priority of article writers. Blog writing aims to secure better leads in search engine results and gain organic traffic to make conversions.

The leading search engine ranking criteria is to maintain uniqueness in content. The search engine may penalize the content if it contains plagiarism. This article featured a range of tips and steps to avoid plagiarism.

Each tip applies to any blog post or article, no matter the category or niche it represents. We hope this article provided helpful information and tips to enhance your blog writing.