Are You On The Right Side of Plagiarism?

Even being careful may not be enough

As careful as I try to research and rewrite material I find online, I may not be careful enough.

I have always prided myself on being highly professional and always giving proper credit for ideas and texts I find online.

I have written more than once about sharing ways to find new information, rewriting what you find, and taking a different approach to what has already been written.

As Medium contributors, we know that every topic has already been taken apart many times over, so it can be a reach in trying to find a new twist on an existing topic.

What happens is that everything feels picked apart a million times over. How many different ways can you spin how to write a memoir?

Still, we are writing about topics that we like. I happen to do most of my blogs about writing. That is where I feel I have credibility. I’m a professional writer. I’ve been a full-time journalist and research director and professionally and commercially published. I have something to say and something to share of value.

However, like the rest of us, I scramble to find new material and add to what I already know. I ran into a potential problem that knocked me off my feet. I got sloppy. This comes from someone who abhors plagiarism and I wasn’t careful enough to make a new copy thoroughly my own.

“But Geri, aren’t you the one that keeps harping on using a plagiarism checker?” Yes, I am, and I still screwed up. Mea Culpa

I am humbled and very apologetic. Maybe it was a good thing that I scatted close to the line so I will be more diligent and practice what I preach.