Should You Repurpose Content?

An old saying is “There is nothing new under the sun.”  This saying is true however care must be taken to not intentionally or unintentionally copy someone else’s work without giving them credit. 

How to Make Sure That You Don’t Plagiarize

Whenever you are spinning an article make sure that the original article is your own or that you have permission from the author of the article to use it.  The reason is that the thoughts of someone else is considered intellectual property not just the words.  So you can spin an article and replace the words 100% with synonyms and it could still be considered plagiarized because the spun synonyms are in the same order as the words in the original copy.

Wiki How at http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Plagiarism gives the following seven steps to use to avoid plagiarizing.

1.        Understand what plagiarism is.  Wiki uses the American Heritage Definition of the word plagiarism to give an idea of what plagiarism is.  The definition is as follows:  “The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.”

2.       Be familiar of the area that you are talking about.  Wiki points out that if you are familiar with the topic that you are talking about you are more likely to use your own words.

3.       Restate the subject to yourself a couple of times.  It is easier to come up with your own words if you understand the subject. 

4.       Reference your quotes and sources.  Wiki reminds us that we should always use a works cited or bibliography in our papers (this would include online works).  Also, all quotes should be cited properly.

5.       When in doubt give credit. Wiki suggests that you mention the author inside the quotes of the paraphrase.   If you come across a phrase that could be considered as copied, Wiki suggests that you put it in quotes.

6.       Understand some basics about copyright.  Wiki points out that copyright infringement can be a violation of the law.  It further states that “facts cannot be copyrighted” but the words used to express facts can be. 

7.       Understand what does not need to be cited.  Wiki states that the following does not need to be cited:

a.       Common sense observations, folklore, urban legends, and well known historical events, such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor

b.      Your own experiences, insights, Creations, and musings

c.       Your own videos, presentations, music, and other media created and originated by you.

d.      The scientific evidence you gather after performing your own tests, polls, etc.

Why Not Use Article Spinners?

What is the big deal about using article spinners?  Google bots are usually not able to detect that a spun article is a duplicate.  Plagiarism software also has a hard time detecting that a spun article is a duplicate because the words are replaced with synonyms.  Many readers who read the spun article will consider the article to be an original work because they will not know any better.  So what is the big deal?  The big deal is that there may be the one reader who has searched the internet for the topic that your article falls under and has read the article that you spun yours from.  Being an intelligent being, the reader will be able to identify that he/she is reading an exact duplicate of another article just in difference words.   In light of making such a discovery this reader may decide to never revisit your site or even worse contact the other author and bring it to their attention that their work has been duplicated without proper citation.  You have to ask yourself “Are the possible ramifications worth it? 

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