How to Check for Copied Content

So how do you determine whether the content is copied or copied with minimal alteration? How do you identify the original source of the content? This can be difficult, but please follow these steps.

• Copy a sentence or a series of several words in the text. It may be necessary to try a few sentences or phrases just to be sure. When deciding what sentence or phrase to copy, try to find a sentence or series of several words without punctuation, unusual characters, or suspicious words that may have replaced the original text.

• Search using Google by putting the entire sentence or phrase within quotation marks inside the search box.

For example, try searching for the sentence ["Many details are omitted or altered while many of the perils that Dorothy encountered in the novel are not at all mentioned in the feature film"] or the phrase ["timid Munchkins come out of hiding to celebrate the demise"]. Sometimes, it is helpful to try the same search without the quotes, e.g. [timid Munchkins come out of hiding to celebrate the demise].

• Compare the pages you find that match the sentence or phrase. Is most of their MC the same? If so, does one clearly come from a highly authoritative source which is known for original content creation (newspaper, magazine, medical foundation, etc)? Does one source appear to have the earliest publication date? Does one source seem to reasonably be the original?
Use your best judgment. Sometimes it is clear that the content is copied from somewhere, but you cannot tell what the original source is. Or sometimes the content found on the original source has changed enough that searches for sentences or phrases may no longer match the original source. For example, Wikipedia articles can change dramatically over time. Old copies may not match the current content. If you strongly suspect the page you are evaluating is not the original source, go ahead and use the Low quality MC rating.
Sometimes content is intentionally revised to make it difficult to determine that the content has been copied. Content may even be put through a translator to revise it. For example, if the original content is in English, it may be put through a translator twice: first to change it to a foreign language and second to translate it back to English. Text that has been changed in this way will often sound nonsensical.

Any time you find copied content or suspect the page has copied content, please explain in the comment box. Please include the original source (URL or description) if you are able to find it.
We will now walk you through two examples to determine if the content is copied.

Example 1 - No clear original source
Example 2 - Clear original source


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