Is It Legal To Paraphrase Plagiarized Content?

Paraphrasing is the practice of rewording and reformatting someone else’s work without changing the original meaning. It can be a useful tool for writers, but it can also be a form of plagiarism if not done correctly. So, is it legal to paraphrase plagiarized content? Continue reading to find out!

What is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is a great tool for writers, students, and professionals. It is the process of restating an idea or text in your own words, while still conveying the same meaning. It is often used when summarizing an article, summarizing a lecture, or when changing the structure of a sentence.

Paraphrasing is an important part of writing because it allows you to creatively express the same information in different ways.

Is It Legal To Paraphrase Plagiarized Content?

To begin, plagiarism is defined as the act of using another person’s work without giving credit or using it as one’s own. This includes using another’s work without permission, or even slightly changing it and claiming it as your own. It is important to note that plagiarism can take many different forms and is not limited to written works.

So, is it legal to paraphrase plagiarized text? The answer is yes, but with certain restrictions. If you rephrase the content while giving credit to the original author, then it is legal. This can be done by citing the source in your work, or by using a Creative Commons license. To demonstrate this, see the images below.

Original phase

Improper paraphasing

Proper paraphasing

Additionally, when using a Creative Commons license, it is important to make sure that you understand the conditions of the license and that you are abiding by them.

It is also important to note that simply quoting or citing a source does not give you the right to copy or paraphrase someone else’s work. In general, it is best to avoid using someone else’s ideas or words without their permission.

How To Paraphrase Plagiarized Content Properly?

Paraphrasing content can be a difficult task, especially if you are concerned about avoiding plagiarism. Here are some tips that can be useful to avoid plagiarism while paraphrasing.

Read the Content Carefully

read carefully

Before you can paraphrase the content material, you need to understand it. So, read the content thoroughly and make sure that the key points are understood. This will help to ensure that the paraphrased content is accurate and does not misrepresent the original author’s ideas.

Rephrase the Content Using Paraphrasing Tools

After you’re done reading the content, the next thing that you have to do is use paraphrasing tools to rephrase the content.

Paraphrasing tools such as Editpad, Paraphraseonline, and Wordtune can be used for this purpose. These tools can be used to reword plagiarized content and make it unique and original. Because they use advanced algorithms to generate new versions of the text that look different from the original input.

These tools work by taking the text and rewording it with synonyms and by altering the sentence structures. This is done in order to create a new version of the text that is not identical to the original.

Let us explain this with an example:

We are going to give a plagiarized paragraph to Paraphraseonline.io to make sure how the tool rephrases it and makes it unique.

Image of Plagiarized content

Image of Plagiarized content

Image after rephrasing plagiarized content

Plagiarized content

As can be seen in the image above, the paraphrasing tool has rephrased the text. Now, we are going to check the originality score of the rephrased content by using a plagiarism checker.  See the image below for the result.

plagiarism

Now, let’s try using the paraphrasing tool by Editpad.org by giving the same plagiarized paragraph shown in the first image above.

Check plagiarism

When we checked the originality score of rephrased content by clicking the “Check-Plagiarism” button. The result we got can be seen in the image below.

unique content

Check for Accuracy

Once you’ve rewritten the source material, read it back to make sure that it conveys the same meaning as the original.

Accuracy

Also look for grammar and spelling errors, because these kinds of errors can make your paraphrased content look unprofessional.

Cite the source

Since we’re talking about paraphrasing in a legal way, we have to stress that citing the source is necessary. Once you are done using the tool and checking the output, you have to cite the source either by mentioning it by name or by using an in-text citation.

Here is what an in-text citation and its corresponding reference look like:

plagiarism
Image Source: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/207/2020/04/APA_2Parts.png

Final Verdict

If you want to paraphrase some content from a source, be sure to follow the steps given above in order to keep it ethical. Citing the source is more or less the most important step, and it can save you from getting into legal trouble.

Law Corner