Plagiarism is using someone else’s idea, words, or excerpts and passing them off as your own. It is when you don’t give credit and cite the proper source. Not only is it unethically questionable and can erode online trust amongst your readers, it can also have legal consequences.
Now, before we begin, you might be thinking: Can words and/or ideas truly be stolen?
Can Words And/Or Ideas Truly Be Stolen?
Yes. Writing and expressing one’s own ideas on any platform can be copyrighted and is considered intellectual property. There are laws against plagiarizing like there are for other inventions. If it is recorded (no matter in what form), it can be plagiarized.
This also includes images, videos, and other forms of multimedia. The way to use someone else’s work is by quoting and citing them correctly.
Yes, even forms of multimedia can be plagiarized. Doing any of this counts as plagiarism:
- Copying images from others’ websites on your own website or content
- Using copyrighted soundtrack in your podcast/video
- Using someone else’s video footage in your own video
But even if there were no legal repercussions, you should not plagiarize. Here’s why.
Why Should You Not Plagiarize?
Plagiarism is ethically questionable and can put your online presence into jeopardy. It is an ever-present issue not only professionally, but in an academic setting as well. Here is why it is problematic:
- It’s intellectual theft: Stealing someone else’s idea and presenting it as your own is considered a form of intellectual theft.
- You lose online trust: In today’s world, online trust is everything. Compromising integrity through plagiarizing can erode the trust of your readers, peers, and potential clients. It can literally put your career to a halt.
- Duplicacy tanks search rankings:. If you are a content creator, ranking on Google is important for you. Google’s algorithm does not prefer duplicate content because it is unable to identify which is more relevant to the search query. This might cost you many $$$ and impact your visibility in the industry.
Now that you have decided that you shouldn’t plagiarize, here are some more articles to help you with plagiarism
All Plagiarism Articles
This is a complete list of articles written on plagiarism. You can find everything you need about plagiarism here!
