I'm an Author. How Do I Use Plagiarism Checker?

Plagiarism Checker can help you find out whether someone has plagiarized your work and posted it to the Internet.
Follow these steps:

Enter Phrases From Your Own Work

Click in the Search box. The search box should become blank and look like this:

If the search box still contains text after you click in it, click the Clear Search Box button. You can also use the keyboard shortcut defined in your Preferences page. The default keyboard shortcut for the Clear Search Box button is Alt-Shift-A.

Enter one or more phrases from different parts of a paper you've written.¹

You may either type the phrases in or copy and paste them from a computer file. The second method is especially useful if you publish your work to a Web site.¹

Click the Search button

You can either click the Search button or use the keyboard shortcut defined in your Preferences page. The default keyboard shortcut for the Search button is Alt-Shift-S.

Plagiarism Checker will automatically screen the phrases you typed in and eliminate any that are shorter than six words. Phrases with more words are less likely to generate false matches in the search results.

Plagiarism Checker will also edit your search phrases if they are too long. Google has a limit of 32 words, and Yahoo's limit is 50 words.

If your search phrases need to be automatically edited, Plagiarism Checker will pop up a box letting you know and asking you whether you wish to continue with the search.

Review the Search Results

The Google search results will show a list of Web pages that contain any of the phrases you entered into the search box. You can ignore any results that show up from pages on your own Web site or other sites that have permission to publish your work.

Use the Back Button

Use your browser's Back button to return to Plagiarism Checker and do another search. You can also hold down the Alt key and tap the left arrow key to go Back.

Click Here to Check for Plagiarism Now.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts are a convenient way to receive instant e-mail notifications when plagiarized content shows up in the Google search engine.

Enter some phrases into Plagiarism Checker's search box the same way you would to conduct a search. Instead of clicking on the Search button, click the Google Alerts button on the right-hand side of the form. This automatically takes you to the Google Alerts page and pre-fills the form for you. If you've entered an e-mail address in Plagiarism Checker's Preferences page, your e-mail address will also be pre-filled in the Google Alerts form. All you need to do is click the Create Alert button.²

References

1. The plagiarism-checking examples on this page were based on content from the Web site at
   Science Fair Projects - Science Experiment - Human Battery. 28 Jan 2006 <http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects/29/350/3f7eba0c64799f37d56fe612e0dd0a55.html>.
2. Google Alerts. 28 Jan 2006 <http://www.google.com/alerts>.