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w1fe0j0hnny
Community Member

Article writing

I'm a freelance writer who writes everything from conversational articles and more formal articles to fiction stories. Lately, I have been noticing a problem with clients who try to say my articles are not passing Copyscape or other plagiarism tools.

 

I do not plagiarize any of my work. On most articles, I do a vast amount of research and consolidate and put the ideas generated into my own words. This most recent article was written 100% from my own mind. It happened to be subject I had recently studied for myself and for many things, there are only so many ways to accomplish something . So, if you put those ideas into the article and they are common to most ways of doing something, it won't be unique. It may be written in one's own tone, but it may not be anything new under the sun.

 

So, the problem I'm having is, especially in this instance, the client stating that it didn't pass uniqueness tools. I truly feel many are saying this to try and  get out of paying me. He looked at the article and was very happy then came back and asked what plagiarism software I used. I told him none as I don't plagiarize.

 

Can someone help me with this and offer suggestions. Also input to whether any of you believe clients say this to get out of paying you? It's so frustrating to spend more time than I should on these projects to have this happen. I'm thinking about deleting article writing from my repertoire.

 

Phyllis

14 REPLIES 14
reinierb
Community Member

Things like Copyscape were invented for the sole purpose of making very good article rewriters out of mediocre article rewriters. 

 

I feel your pain, and like you, I have never plagiarized anything, and to be honest, I take great offence when a client tells me my work had failed "uniqueness tools". Some things cannot change, and no amount of passing those things through plagiarism checkers will change that, so what I do, is not work for clients who tell me that my work "must pass Copyscape".

That helps! Thank you.

 

@ Phyllis --

 

I share your suspicion that this is a ruse that is being used in order to avoid payment.

 

You can subscribe to Copyscape yourself. (The cost is minimal.)  Run your copy through the program before you send it off, and when the copy passes, take a screenshot of the result.  Pre-emptive proof of originality.

 

I do not believe that you have plagiarized even "inadvertently." On those stomach-sinking and terrible occasions when I have lost several hours' worth of work, my attempts to re-create even my OWN words have never, to the best of my knowledege, re-constituted my original text to the extent that it would appear to be a verbatim copy of my own original.

Thanks. I may try that.


@Reinier B wrote:

Things like Copyscape were invented for the sole purpose of making very good article rewriters out of mediocre article rewriters. 

 


 FWIW, though, this isn't remotely true. Copyscape launched in the early 2000s, long before the article spinning craze gained traction, and was instrumental in some significant copyright litigation and the downfall of at least one journalist.


@Tiffany S wrote:

@Reinier B wrote:

Things like Copyscape were invented for the sole purpose of making very good article rewriters out of mediocre article rewriters. 

 


 FWIW, though, this isn't remotely true. Copyscape launched in the early 2000s, long before the article spinning craze gained traction, and was instrumental in some significant copyright litigation and the downfall of at least one journalist.


 You may be right about Copyscape, but the point is that article rewriters have existed for as long as article writers have done. Copyscape and other such tools only made it easier to catch them out. 

lysis10
Community Member

I always LOL @ people who try to get me to come down in price by asking me if I'll rewrite articles some ESL noob wrote to "make it original."  Yeah, no, pal.

Thank you for responding. I think I will do the same from now on. The latest client ended up paying me, but I notice that I have not gotten any new work from him.

 

 

tlsanders
Community Member

Depending on the topic you're writing about, it's pretty easy to "fail" a plagiarism checker without plagiarizing a word. Many will highlight any phrase of just a few words that is found elsewhere, which of course will happen all the time. It will also pick up quotes, definitions and other language that is intentionally carried over.

 

If you are going to work with this type of client, it's definitely worth conducting your own check. However, as another poster suggested, you may want to simply avoid the "must pass Copyscape!" clients. They tend to be low-end clients who are either looking for article spinners or accustomed to working with low-end writers, which means they probaby won't pay well, won't value good writing (if they can recognize it) and are likely to get hung up on percentages without actually looking at the content to determine whether the matches listed are a problem.

 

"Must be 100% unique" is also a bad sign. Someone accustomed to working with real writers would never imagine it was necessary to make that statement.

 

ETA: I just looked at your profile, and you're not charging nearly enough. Define yourself a niche and double your rates (at least) and you'll stop encountering this kind of problem.

melissaswan
Community Member

I stopped here because I was just told by a prospective client my test article didn't pass copyscape, and there for I would not be paid. I know I didn't copy anything from my research, even though some of the words were the same, and some phrases were similar.

I've been working on Upwork since October and I have 4 long term clients, non of which have ever come back with a plagiarism accusation.

Feeling punched in the gut at the moment. I think the topper on the cake was that the room was closed and I couldn't even respond!


Melissa S wrote:
I stopped here because I was just told by a prospective client my test article didn't pass copyscape, and there for I would not be paid. I know I didn't copy anything from my research, even though some of the words were the same, and some phrases were similar.

I've been working on Upwork since October and I have 4 long term clients, non of which have ever come back with a plagiarism accusation.

Feeling punched in the gut at the moment. I think the topper on the cake was that the room was closed and I couldn't even respond!

_________________________________________

 

Melissa, it seems that if not actually said (by the client) that he or she was asking for a free test? If so report the client to customer services. This seems to be a typcial scammer getting work for nothing. Your only recourse is if you see it anywhere on the Internet you can ask for a DMCA.  You can also use the work in some way. Either sell it to someone else or use it as a portfolio piece. 

 

I have done free tests in the B&M world for reputable publishers (some accepted some not!), and I think this is acceptable. But don't ever do it on Upwork (or any similar site).  

 

I don't know if this is possible in the sort of research you do, but up to a point you can avoid these slurs by unscrupulous clients by quoting your sources.  There are some areas where 'plagiarism' cannot be avoided; in finance for example, where certain phrases and words have to be used. 

 

Anyway, don't be gutted - report the client and move on. 

 

ETA: Your fees are too low. I think you should increase them.

 

 

chukwu-christian
Community Member

Dear Phyllis, I understand how you feel.

 

I do have some issues as a content writer, editor and proofreader. Some clients so much depend on and believe in the power of AI tools, including Copyspace and Grammarly. 

 

What I often do to escape my works being rejected is to use Grammarly Premium beforehand to edit my works. When done with the typical grammatical errors correction. Click on PLAGIARISM. I some texts are detected as copied from someone else, kindly rephrase them. 

 

 

 

f7ee911d
Community Member

write an article for startup buissness ideas

i am an article writer