How to Protect Your Articles from Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious concern for writers. Individuals have been copying articles word for word, often in very large batches, and republishing them all over the Internet for their own financial gain. Besides the ethical issues with this practice, it can also have a serious impact on your earnings, and even lead to you being accused of plagiarism and losing your entire account. To stop the problem before it starts, protect your articles from plagiarism.
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Instructions
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Warn thieves of your tactics. While tricks to stop thieves from being able to plagiarism your articles are all fallible, you can try to scare them off. Let them know that you take plagiarism seriously and that if they rip of your articles, you will pursue the issue, shut them down and get compensation. You can do this combining a couple of methods:
Add a copyright tag to the top or bottom of all of your articles. Adding them to the bottom is the norm, but placing it at the top may get better exposure amongst the advertisements all over the page. Copy and paste this example and make the appropriate changes to fit your needs:
© 2011 [Your Name]. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.
Add a banner from websites such as Copyscape, to let thieves know that if they try to swipe your work, you will find out and take action.
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Use online tools to catch plagiarism. There are a couple of different websites that offer free tools for catching suspected plagiarism. Using these tools on a regular basis will help you find plagiarism as soon as it happens, and take allow you to take the appropriate action sooner so that your earnings -- and your reputation -- aren't affected:
At ArticleChecker.com, =copy and paste your articles, one by one, into the search engine, and have the site check Google and Yahoo! for copies. ArticleChecker.com doesn't look for just the entire article, it checks for sections, so people who aren't using your entire article will still get caught. The results will tell you how many "phrases" in your article match other "phrases" found on other websites. Some of these won't be plagiarism, especially if you use common cliches or quotes in your articles, so you'll need to compare the results to your article to see if plagiarism really did take place.
With Copyscape, enter the URL to your article, and the website does the rest. Copyscape limits the number of times any user can search for a specific URL. You can purchase a premium account at a very affordable rate. For $.05 a search, you can keep track of all of your articles for just a couple of dollars a month. And with a premium account, Copyscape will alert you when suspected plagiarism pops up by e-mail, so you don't have to keep checking every couple of days.
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Take action as soon as you find plagiarism. Find the name and contact information of the website owner, and find out who hosts their site. Second, file a Digital Millennium Copyright Act removal request, and notify both the website owner and their host -- two separate notifications may produce quicker results. Third, contact the website owner's Internet Service Provider, if you can figure out who that is, and let them know of the fraudulent activities their customer is engaged in. Done properly, this will shut down the site while an investigation is initiated, get the individual dropped from their hosting contract, and hopefully, have their internet service revoked by their ISP.
Keep in mind that not all thieves will respond to or even acknowledge a DMCA request, and not all hosts will take immediate action. If you hit a dead end and nothing happens, press the issue further. Send a Cease and Desist letter, threaten to file legal action, and then actually file a legal complaint if all of your efforts prove fruitless. If you get so far as to file a lawsuit, this usually ends 95 percent of plagiarism the minute the individual is notified of the matter. And if it doesn't, you can always take the case in front of a judge to not only protect your articles from plagiarism but win the monetary compensation you deserve as a result.
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References
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