When you are Accused of Plagiarized Reviews [resolved]

[Kaitlyn Wadsworth]

This may or may not be a good couple of suggestions on the topic because Grammarly is advertised in this site and reviewers are urged to use software to check their writing before posting reviews etc.

I know for a fact that the paid version of Grammarly which I use (as well as a paid version of Autocrit which I use more for thousands of words at a time) will identify instances of plagiarism. There are also specific checkers for this, online.

After reading someone's post about the problem they had trying to prove that their authentic review was authentic and not plagiarized my suggestion is that there needs to be more trust. After the fact, there is such a long process of back and forth communication that isn't helpful for an innocent person who is accused of plagiarization and arbitrarily has their membership cut. I believe an approach to verify if it is a true accusation (especially where the person is in good standing, has worked through many levels to be rated well) is very necessary at first. Afterwards is too late to patch up a mistake. Not the right people can be approached to fix the problem. The communication gores around and around with what seems like fobbing off on the part of those that don't actually do the fixing. Lengthy, demoralizing and frustrating.

Once I wrote a short story from scratch for a competition, not in this site. Naturally I ran it through Grammarly. Sorted it. Clicked the plagiarism button and almost fell off my chair. I didn't know where to begin with masses of sentences the checker believed I had plagiarized. I clicked into each one and the phrases did not seem obviously plagiarized to me. They were from diverse sources other than other's stories! I changed a few words here and there and gave up in disgust. Modern technology has refined plagiarization or not, to the point of stupidity. The English language has a vast quantity of words. Writers who know the craft have a limited vocabulary if they don't want to send readers off to sleep, their dictionaries, use passives, use common idioms, use glue words, use fillers, use an excess of adverbs and adjectives. We write posts in BOTD and see the same good or bad writing, the same reviews or blurbs, and we are at times hard pressed to affirm or criticize in different words than in other posts. What does this suggest? As for longer reviews if we use similar words as are in the book we have read and are not careful to 'quote' and verify our quotes in a professional way, as one would for a University assignment for example, before we know it, our authentic writing appears plagiarized, especially if another reviewer has adhered to the same style of writing.

If a great reviewer has a longer presence in OnlineBookClub a chance of an explanation before being cut is valid and good mannered on the part of the staff who handle the completed review. Also, an article in this site on how to actually avoid making our review's appear plagiarized would be a great idea. Is there one? I haven't found it.

[Kirsi Cultrera]

This may or may not be a good couple of suggestions on the topic because Grammarly is advertised in this site and reviewers are urged to use software to check their writing before posting reviews etc.

I know for a fact that the paid version of Grammarly which I use (as well as a paid version of Autocrit which I use more for thousands of words at a time) will identify instances of plagiarism. There are also specific checkers for this, online.

After reading someone's post about the problem they had trying to prove that their authentic review was authentic and not plagiarized my suggestion is that there needs to be more trust. After the fact, there is such a long process of back and forth communication that isn't helpful for an innocent person who is accused of plagiarization and arbitrarily has their membership cut. I believe an approach to verify if it is a true accusation (especially where the person is in good standing, has worked through many levels to be rated well) is very necessary at first. Afterwards is too late to patch up a mistake. Not the right people can be approached to fix the problem. The communication gores around and around with what seems like fobbing off on the part of those that don't actually do the fixing. Lengthy, demoralizing and frustrating.

Once I wrote a short story from scratch for a competition, not in this site. Naturally I ran it through Grammarly. Sorted it. Clicked the plagiarism button and almost fell off my chair. I didn't know where to begin with masses of sentences the checker believed I had plagiarized. I clicked into each one and the phrases did not seem obviously plagiarized to me. They were from diverse sources other than other's stories! I changed a few words here and there and gave up in disgust. Modern technology has refined plagiarization or not, to the point of stupidity. The English language has a vast quantity of words. Writers who know the craft have a limited vocabulary if they don't want to send readers off to sleep, their dictionaries, use passives, use common idioms, use glue words, use fillers, use an excess of adverbs and adjectives. We write posts in BOTD and see the same good or bad writing, the same reviews or blurbs, and we are at times hard pressed to affirm or criticize in different words than in other posts. What does this suggest? As for longer reviews if we use similar words as are in the book we have read and are not careful to 'quote' and verify our quotes in a professional way, as one would for a University assignment for example, before we know it, our authentic writing appears plagiarized, especially if another reviewer has adhered to the same style of writing.

If a great reviewer has a longer presence in OnlineBookClub a chance of an explanation before being cut is valid and good mannered on the part of the staff who handle the completed review. Also, an article in this site on how to actually avoid making our review's appear plagiarized would be a great idea. Is there one? I haven't found it.

Hello, Kaitlyn,

And thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. I am sorry to say this, but plagiarism is a very serious problem. So, plagiarism rules are strict for a good reason. It is very unfortunate that sometimes also honest, hard-working reviewers end up in difficult situations because of this. You suggested that there should be more trust. How would this show in practice?

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you. I am looking forward hearing more of your thoughts about this topic.

Thank you, and have a good day,

[Kaitlyn Wadsworth]

Thank you for your reply. Trust may be based on a good record of someone who has done a number of reviews already?
Information available on how to avoid appearing plagiarised within the site would be helpful. Not just advertising Grammarly. I'm not sure if the free version of this identifies the problem. I have the paid version. (Not the best level but it still identifies plagiarism.)

[Nisha DSouza]

Thank you for your reply. Trust may be based on a good record of someone who has done a number of reviews already?
Information available on how to avoid appearing plagiarised within the site would be helpful. Not just advertising Grammarly. I'm not sure if the free version of this identifies the problem. I have the paid version. (Not the best level but it still identifies plagiarism.)

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out. I am sorry I am slightly confused with this statement, "Information available on how to avoid appearing plagiarised within the site would be helpful." Are you suggesting we provide ways for a review to not look plagiarized? Please correct me if I am wrong.

Please let me know if you have any other questions. Have a great day.

Thank you.

[Kaitlyn Wadsworth]

Thanks for your question. Is there anywhere in the site that tells new reviewers to use a plagiarism checker? I haven't seen it. Is there any indication that a reviewer who has been accused of plagiarism arbitrarily has a chance to look into the problem and explain, confirm or deny? From the dilemma some reviewers are in when they have been chopped and are pleading innocence and posting about it, I also don't think so. It has made me vey worried about doing reviews. Hence the topic has come up. Also I find it difficult to put posts on topics in this website. The posts are not always read straight away. This does not alleviate the concern I have. Also I am trying to make suggestions rather than complain. It is very difficult when I have had so many concerns. Also very limited time.

[Jeremie Mondejar]

Thanks for your question. Is there anywhere in the site that tells new reviewers to use a plagiarism checker? I haven't seen it. Is there any indication that a reviewer who has been accused of plagiarism arbitrarily has a chance to look into the problem and explain, confirm or deny? From the dilemma some reviewers are in when they have been chopped and are pleading innocence and posting about it, I also don't think so. It has made me vey worried about doing reviews. Hence the topic has come up. Also I find it difficult to put posts on topics in this website. The posts are not always read straight away. This does not alleviate the concern I have. Also I am trying to make suggestions rather than complain. It is very difficult when I have had so many concerns. Also very limited time.

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out. I will refer you to the guidelines under "Important: Other Terms and Policies, Guidelines #6."
Here's the link:https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/revie ... elines.php

Those reviewers who have been accused of plagiarism when writing their review can make an appeal. A moderator will review it. If it is indeed plagiarized, the reviewer will note the plagiarized message. Please message us if you have any questions.

Thank you.

[Kaitlyn Wadsworth]

Thanks for your reply. However after reading the guidelines yet again there is nothing in it about running a review through a plagiarism checker. There are no steps explained for what will happen after being ousted for plagiarism. As this seemed to be the case at the beginning and someone had written in Online Book Club totally distraught for this having happened it is why I started querying the whole process from Review to the steps a reviewer has to take, after the shock of being ousted and not understanding why. Nothing in any answer has addressed this. The process after the fact is not smooth or easy.

[Kirsi Cultrera]

Thanks for your reply. However after reading the guidelines yet again there is nothing in it about running a review through a plagiarism checker. There are no steps explained for what will happen after being ousted for plagiarism. As this seemed to be the case at the beginning and someone had written in Online Book Club totally distraught for this having happened it is why I started querying the whole process from Review to the steps a reviewer has to take, after the shock of being ousted and not understanding why. Nothing in any answer has addressed this. The process after the fact is not smooth or easy.

Hello,

And thank you for reaching out. You are not required to use a plagiarism checker, but you can, of course, do so if you wish. If a reviewer has been marked for plagiarism by an editor but they have not plagiarized anything, they can ask for a recheck. Their review will then be rechecked and cleared if there is no plagiarism. According to my best understanding, our admins are very experienced in detecting real plagiarism. I realize the process can be frustrating for the reviewer. If you have a detailed suggestion of improvement, please write it here, and I'll be happy to forward it to the management.

Thank you, and have a good day,

[Kaitlyn Wadsworth]

This is the point. Very frustrating for a reviewer

You should advise reviewers to use a plagiarism checker. (This is a simple precaution. This is my suggestion. Too many other words will be lost in the text, don't you think?)

Those who don't, may be setting them selves up for a disaster which the solution for is exasperating and time consuming. As you have stated.

[Scott]

I do not recommend reviewers use a plagiarism checker before submitted their reviews.

Usually, the only reviewers who would do that would be reviewers who commit plagiarism. They use the plagiarism checker to spin and re-word the plagiarized text just enough to not get caught.

If you aren't committing plagiarism, you do not need to go out of your way to avoid making it look like you aren't.

In analogy, you don't need to wear a ski mask into the bank and have a getaway car prepped, if you aren't planning to rob it.