Achievement 3 By @afrimate: Task: Content Etiquette===

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Frank learnt of opportunities available in freelance writing and quickly signed up. He's such an amazing young, but naive writer. But then, he wanted an easy way, everyone does that. Who won't like to work less and earn greatly.

He knew little or nothing about intellectual theft. With that mindset, he jumped into the industry. And you know what, your guess is as good as mine. He soon got the axe, then he returned to seek solution from a much knowledgeable person.

Begging to know more about this strange word he hears among writers. I was obliged to explain to him to the best of my knowledge, in this simple way.

What Is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism simply put, is the duplication of other people's intellectual creation by an individual and posing as the owner. This is how Cambridge dictionary defined it:

Plagiarism is the process or practice of using another person's ideas or work and pretending that it is your own.
plagiarism

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Many people do not know that borrowing other people ideas without doing the needful is a crime. You should seek the consent of the original creators or give them credit. If you are caught not doing that, it may land you in jail.

That's why you must strive at all times to be original in whatever you do, especially when you're in the digital space. You can easily be caught, given the level of technology like machine learning or artificial intelligence.

Types Of Plagiarism

There are four types of plagiarism. These are:

Self-Plagiarism

Self-plagiarism refers to occasions where the original creator of a written work duplicates his work. This is most common in the setting where text is presented in handwritten form. It is a practice peculiar in an academic environment where students would rather duplicate their projects to reduce workload. Although the individual may be the originator, he still needs to have the consent of the teacher, if he must borrow a word from the idea therein.

This type of plagiarism may be a crime like the others, however, it has lesser punishment as the owner will not take legal measures against himself.

Accidental Plagiarism

The following may mean accidental plagiarism: When an individual uses someone's ideas but ran into some errors or neglect some details while trying to cite the source. He may cite the source but make some mistakes like not presenting the author or even mentioning another author instead.

It's also accidental plagiarism when he ignores details like not stating the exact text of the work copied.

Mosaic Plagiarism

Mosaic Plagiarism refers to an individual making reference to a source he borrowed an idea from, but didn't use quotation marks. Writers should be careful and honest enough to use quotation marks where they copy verbatim.

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Direct Plagiarism

I intentionally kept this for the last, so that we can digest it very well. Direct plagiarism is the act of lifting another person idea word to word. The writer who does this knows what he's doing. It's not that he can't create great ideas, but he's lazy to create something or simply want to reap where didn't sow.

An individual who engages in direct plagiarism neglects everything, the law, the originator of the idea he copied, etc. That's why he lifts any content he needs and present it as his own without courtesy.

How Best To Write Plagiarism-Free Content

You can avoid plagiarism by obeying the simple principles we are going to list below:

You can borrow ideas, but write in your natural tone and style.

If you must copy word to word, don't neglect certain details like using quotation marks, citing the author properly, stating the exact text you are quoting, and don't misquote an author.

Use a plagiarism checker to vet your work.

I have read and understood the Steemit Etiquette on Steemit Community and will do my best to embrace them.