How to Check if Ghostwritten Work has been Plagiarized

It was a big issue in high school and college but you probably never thought you’d have to deal with it in your content. We are talking about plagiarism and it can create a very sticky situation for you if your ghostwriter makes the mistake of “borrowing” words from someone else. There are ways that you can head this off, though, so it doesn’t happen to you.

When it comes to your business, there is no such thing as being too “Type A” in my opinion. No matter what work gets delegated to others, ultimately you are the one who must answer to the client at the end of the day.

To cover yourself and your ghostwriter, lay out a set of general guidelines for them to follow when working on your projects. Include such topics as:

• How to give credit to sources (“According to the Harvard Research Study in 1991…”)
• Using statistics (“7 out of 10 moms…” can be written as “70% of moms…”)
• Using general knowledge information (No need to cite, but use synonyms to say the same thing in a different way)

Hopefully you will never encounter people who purposely steal another’s property for their gain. Much of the time, plagiarism is simply an oversight or a rookie mistake. Shifting around a few words in a sentence will not cut it. That won’t really change your piece enough to say that it is different from the original.

It reminds me of reading comprehension in school. You read and re-read for understanding. Afterwards, you can intelligently write an article in your own words, or at least your ghostwriter can. Those same areas mentioned above for your general guidelines are also the ones that will send up “red flags” for you when reviewing your ghostwriter’s work.

How to Check for Plagiarism

Use an online tool. There is always an online tool for just about anything you want to do. Here are a few places to check out:

• Copyscape (www.copyscape.com)
• Article Checker (www.articlechecker.com)

Copyscape charges a nominal fee for a certain number of searches. Once you get to know your ghostwriter and they get to know what you expect, you may not need to do this at all. As for Article Checker, the service is free. You have space to check a couple thousand words of text which is more than enough for most standard website content.

Here’s how it works. You can copy and paste a selected text into the box provided. The program then checks the work against other sites, looking for verbatim phrases and such. For Copyscape, you will have to sign up first, but that won’t take long and is okay especially if you plan on using it more than once.

Plagiarism is a serious issue today especially with so many content producers on the Internet looking to stand out from the crowd. When working with ghostwriters, especially new ones, checking their work periodically can avoid legal situations.

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About the Author

Garnet Miller is a part time freelance writer with a focus on ghostwriting and project management. She has been published in three FaithWriters anthologies, Associated Content, a coffee table book entitled “Letters to My Mother” and a soon to be released anthology entitled, “Delivered” as well as a Christian newspaper. She is managing editor and writes two columns for Extreme Women magazine.