Best Plagiarism Checker for Research Papers and Thesis – Free and Paid

If you are writing scientific papers or academic thesis, one of the most critical aspect of your work is avoiding and reducing plagiarism from your papers. In this post we will break down the most useful plagiarism checker for research work and journals. 

The recommendations in this article have a data-base of thousands of papers from medical, engineering and other domains and AI capabilities to offer plagiarism reports.

Recommendation Plagiarism Detectors for Research

• Turnitin (Only registered students and researchers can use it. Not available for public)
• Plagiarism Checker X (Available in 7 languages including German; Used by top Universities and companies)
• Grammarly (Grammar checker and Plagiarism detection tool; Now available on Mac and Windows)
• ProWritingAid (Plagiarism and Grammar error correction; Loved by Millions of Authors, Writers and academicians)
• MOSS (for technical papers to detect similarity in code)

Hunting plagiarism in research papers is more daunting than a personal website or a blog.

Where you can have a fair excuse and the luxury of <blockquote>, which help other search engines to know that you have copied online, you don't have such an option while working on your thesis. Here we are writing about the best software tools to prevent plagiarism in research work.

Plagiarism is unacknowledged copying or an attempt to misattribute original authorship, whether of ideas, text or results.

source: https://www.nature.com/authors/policies/plagiarism.html

There can be multiple ways to plagiarise your hard-worked content. We have already talked a lot about accidental plagiarism and ways to protect it in our previous articles.

You can also test your knowledge by taking a simple plagiarism quiz which will help you to understand and avoid plagiarism in a better manner.

Other is, as you know, intentionally. No matter, how are you messing up with the act, it will be equally offensive.

Steps to Avoid Plagiarism in Research Work

• The best way to stay original is: staying original. Don't get me wrong. All I want to say is, think with your own imagination. Paraphrasing is actually detectable if it is not done properly. Also, if you are doing it, you should not forget to add an in-text citation properly.
• Another important thing is to keep track of your work from the very beginning of your work. You can use cloud services like Evernote and Pocket to keep track of URLs, PDFs, Blogs, Websites, and Other Works.
• Unorganized papers often lead to plagiarism. You should be very careful while copying word-by-word. You can use "Quotes" to highlight the part which is copied with a source.
• Never trust Free services. Writing about the thousandth time, Do not use free tools. They will only lead you to false results and the risk of getting plagiarized with your own work. Paying someone to check your work on Turnitin will only lend you to hazard.
• If Your paper is an assignment, always do everything as instructed by the professor.

Best Plagiarism Checker Tools for Research and Journals

• Turnitin

Without any doubt, Turnitin is a good tool to detect a similarity between the strings, whether it is a research work or an assignment. It has a huge database of research work and it is capable to find similarity in your content with the previous works.

A common myth about Turnitin is that it is a perfect tool. It is Not! Also, it is not a deciding tool that you have actually plagiarized. Instead, it shows results to your professors for possible similarity among previously submitted work.

That depends on the setting teachers are using. Only the examiner and you (human) can judge whether you have plagiarized or not.

• Plagiarism Checker X

Plagiarism Checker X is the best alternative to Turnitin for many reasons. It provides some of the coolest features for students and professors. Some of them are bulk uploading, side-by-side comparison, automatic citation and multiple language support. It is the only tool on the planet which provides offline check after two consecutive checks.

You can play with the free version to test the waters before going for a premium one which is also available for less than $40 for a lifetime. It is being used by several universities and top companies as their standard tool.

PlagiarismcheckerX supports All Windows Platforms and you will be required to download .exe file to work with this plagiarism checker for academics.

• Grammarly Plagarism Checker

Grammarly is one of the biggest companies working closely in education and industry. Hundreds of companies, schools, and universities are using Grammarly for proofreading, plagiarism checking, and learning English Grammar.

It has a great database and constantly learning algorithms that are becoming better with time.

Not to forget, Grammarly is a safe tool (forget rumors) and they don't sell your data to anybody. With the provided browser extension, Android support, and native applications, it gives much power to you as an academician.

It supports macOS, Android, iOS, Windows, Google docs, and have a web application.

• Urkund (now Called Ouriginal)

We have covered Ouriginal in much detail in a seperate article. However, we must cover it here since it's one of the biggest names in the academic space.

Ouriginal, a Swedish company formed in 2020 through the merger of Urkund and Plagscan, offers a comprehensive plagiarism detection software. It has become an essential tool in maintaining academic integrity.

Now part of Turnitin, Ouriginal leverages advanced algorithms to identify various forms of plagiarism, from direct copying to subtle paraphrasing, across multiple languages. 

The software's extensive database, which includes books, articles, websites, and previous student submissions, allows for thorough comparisons to ensure originality in academic work.

One of Ouriginal's key strengths lies in its user-friendly interface and detailed reporting capabilities. Educators can easily navigate the platform and receive comprehensive reports highlighting similarities between submitted documents and potential sources.

• ProWritingAid

Loved by some of the best selling writers, ProWritingAid is an incredible grammar editor and contextual writing editor along side or a plagiarism detection tool. In the premium version of the software, which is available on Apple devices, Windows, Google Doc, and Scrivener, has an integrated plagiarism checker.

So in many ways, it is a duel weapon. ProWritingAid comes with fair pricing and great features, it can be on your radar if you are looking for a plagiarism checker for avoiding accidental pitfalls.

• MOSS - Plagiarism checker for Code

(Measure of Software Similarity) or popularly known as MOSS is a tool that is very specific to the task of finding copied content for programmers. It is the (perhaps) best possible plagiarism checker ever created to detect plagiarism in software codes and programs.

It was created in the Stanford labs in 1994. Since its inception, it is being used in several classrooms and research works to detect similarity in codes. MOSS is capable to detect 20 codes at the same time and offers comprehensive toolkit for developers and programmers. 

Bottom Line

The best way to protect your research is to keep it confidential. The above tools are tested and provide at most security to your data. Plagiarism can ruin your career and is unbearably frustrating. I hope the above tools will help you to write better assignments and get better grades.

Best wishes.