The Pitfalls of Plagiarism

The Pitfalls of Plagiarism

The Pitfalls of Plagiarism

Here are a few ways to avoid this embarrassing mistake when using a free website generator, or coding your own site from scratch.

Even if you are just learning how to make free websites, there are some guidelines you should follow in order to avoid becoming the butt of many internet jokes. Plagiarism is a serious matter, and internet plagiarism results in many lawsuits each year. Plagiarism also damages your website's reputation, and can lead it being known as "that website that steals everything. How can you avoid these potential pitfalls?

Attribute, attribute, attribute! A lot of people don't mind you using their content when you create a website, as long as their name is attached to it. Artists and authors often enjoy the publicity they get from fair sharing. Just be sure that you state that this content is not your work, make sure to thank the original artist, and put a link to their site on there too. While you are linking, check their site to see if they say anything about using their work. Some people put a copyright notice forbidding other people from using their material, be sure to respect these. If there isn't any sort of warning or request not to borrow material, you may want to email the original author and ask if they would mind if you used their work. Make sure they know that you will attribute it properly and not claim it as your own work.

Don't borrow the entire thing. There is no need for you to copy and paste someone's entire blog entry. Instead, grab a great quote or a paragraph or two to share, and then link back to the original so people can read the rest. Don't reproduce and entire gallery of pictures, the get the best ones for your site and link to the original source. Readers will appreciate your assortment of interesting content, and the authors and artists will appreciate the traffic.

Add your own content. This works well with the above tip. Grab a great picture and a few quotes from something you like, and then make your own commentary. Copy part of a news article, bold the pertinent parts, and then write your own opinions and observations. There are several blogs with a large audience that simply scour the internet for new and unusual things and then report them along with witty commentary and clever observations.

Respect the legal proceedings. Normally, the first sign of legal trouble will be a cease and desist letter. This is a notice of impending legal action if you do not remove the stolen material from your website. A cease and desist letter can be written by anyone, but most people have a lawyer write and send them. If you receive a cease and desist letter, you should remove the stolen material from your website immediately. If you do not remove the material, the original author or artist could sue you for copyright infringement. This can be inconvenient to deal with at best, and expensive at worst, especially if you have used your website to make money through advertising or donations.

Understand fair use. Not everything on the internet is copyrighted, but many things are. However, you may still receive a cease and desist letter if somebody doesn't like what you put on your web page design. Remember that nobody can sue you for linking to someone else's website and then writing about what you found there. Feel free to create a website with your own opinions and observations, just make sure you don't cross the line into libel or harassment.

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