Unique Text vs. Unique Content

[Ed]

Hi Writers,

The difference between unique content and unique text needs to be discussed. Recently, an author was suspended for simply rewriting articles published by others. Comparison of the original text and the rewritten text made it obvious what had occurred. This is not the first time an author has been suspended for such practice. As Jeff wrote in a recent blog entry:

"In some cases, unique text is produced by just taking an existing article and applying a thesaurus to the words and doing some minor sentence structure reorganization. While this is unique text, it is tantamount to plagiarism. The article may not be identified as duplicate content by search engines, but from a readers perspective there is no value that has been added to the article. In cases where we get submissions that are just rewrites of previously published articles we consider this a form of plagiarism, with all the associated consequences (see Professionalism and Plagiarism in the Writer Guidelines)."

http://www.constant-content.com/blog/?p=126

Thanks,
Ed

[DSWaltenburg]

Here's my question:

How do you discern between something that has just been 'rewritten', and an occurrence where two completely different authors simply have written in a very similar style, or have interpreted information in the same way, so that it 'appears' to have been copied in one direction or the other?

Case in point is actually one that I wrote (COMPLETELY my own creation, no copying....). I did hours of research, and pulled together 'facts' about the location, and then interpreted those facts and created the paragraphs with my own style. Then, about a month later, I saw an article about the same topic, written in such a way that I actually had to go into my files, and open up the article I had written, to compare, because it sounded so much like what I had written, and thusly I was befuddled. However, I know that I did no rewriting or plagiaristic actions, and I'm fairly certain that the author of the other article did not, either. It's just that certain topics probably lend themselves toward certain styles and voices in writing......and are purely coincidental.

I think I would probably faint if I were to be accused of that form of plagiarism in an instance like what I've described!! I take pride in NOT copying and NOT rewriting......so that thought scares the shibbit out of me!!

Deborah

[Ed]

I would say that I have enough experience with this to be able to know when this is happening. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration. If you know you aren't doing this, then you're okay.

[DSWaltenburg]

That's cool. Just kind of freaked me out, because if I myself had to compare articles to make sure what I was seeing, I didn't know if things like that showed up in whatever programs you use to detect plagiarism....EEEEEEEEEEE.

Clearly I need more caffeine so I can be just a little MORE on edge!

[Celeste Stewart]

Sure, it's all been written before but there's a difference when you add your own unique self to the topic. Be it voice, perspective, opinion, way of wording, experience, etc...

While Ed can't possibly read all of the articles out there on a given topic, he does have tools including common sense and Copyscape. In addition, there are ways you can dig into a document and see the copy and paste histories, revisions etc...

[DSWaltenburg]

I only have that one example to base my fears upon.....and clearly they're baseless fears since when I first submitted that article way back, nothing came up thru Copyscape.

More frightening is the fact that someone somewhere out there sees things the way I do, and uses an eerily similar tone to relay their thoughts to 'paper'! I'm just used to being in my own lil bubble of thought, rarely finding anyone else relates! :)

[Ed]

Well, thanks, Celeste, for giving me credit in regards to common sense. Hah! ;)

The keys to writing unique content include doing the research, not relying on someone else to say something for you, and answering your own questions you have about the topic along the way, rather than just rehashing the information someone else has given. You get your inspiration from a variety of sources even when you aren't looking for it. You dig deeper into a topic that another writer only touched upon. And, as Celeste said, you can add style and a unique perspective and convey information as only you can.

Being not incurious is important to writing unique content. If you *want* to know about the topic on which you're writing, you're going to hunt down the information you feel should be included in the article. It seems to me that most of the writers on the forums are information hounds who find both the background work and the writing process enjoyable. Honestly wanting to provide useful information to a reader in such a way that she wants to keep reading your article to see what else you have to say about the subject will also make writing unique content easier.

You may have a writerly doppelganger out there. Just like you may see the face of a sibling or a close friend on a street in a foreign country, this is just elements coinciding in an eerie way.

Ed

[cgardener]

I am always careful to give a source when I quote something word for word that simply cannot be rephrased any better, or if it's a list or something that doesn't need changing. I've seen a lot of "mini plagiarism" out there, even once someone copied a 10 point list I had made onto their article. A fan found it, and alerted me. It was a young girl, and she didn't know what plagiarism even was. So I let her keep it, but told her to put the source on it, and she did.

I truly think there are a lot of very young and very ignorant people out there who don't understand that sort of thing. And there are also those rewriting programs you can buy, that promise to "change 40% of the document" so that it's legal. Sites like AC let them get away with that, so when they come here, they think it's o.k.

It's tempting to do that on days when I don't have an original thought in my head, like today, but it wouldn't be worth getting suspended. I felt so bad the other day when I had forgotten that I put an article somewhere else, and then submitted it here, only to be rejected. Talk about an OMG! moment! Luckily, Ed knew I would never do that on purpose, so he didn't boot me to the curb. :)

[Ed]

Please avoid copying and pasting (even when references are given) where possible. Unique content also contains unique text. It's important to give references if lists of symptoms, etc. are reworked, but for Constant Content's customers, it usually isn't appropriate to use someone else's words, especially if the quoted text runs over a certain percentage of your article. Please keep this in mind. Thank you.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

I store all of my files based on their "status"

I have a Finished folder inside are all of those available for sale on C-C. Inside that folder is one for full rights, usage rights, unique rights, and a few other markets. Then when an article sells, anywhere, I move it to the appropriate folder. It's kinda like putting a book back on the shelf, or boxing it up for storage.

One day, you know when I have 36 hours in a day instead of the normal 24, I intend to go in and make a watermark on the document itself describing where it was sold so that just in case heaven forbid I lose my folder designation, I have a watermark on the original file.