While there are a few unethical freelance writers who earn a living copying the work of others, most freelance writers would never dream of copying the work of another writer. Many clients use Copyscape today to check a freelance writer’s work for plagiarism. The site scans your work against other work that has already been published on the Internet, and it flags copied content. It typically does not indicate whether your content passes or fails. Instead, it indicates a percentage of the total content that is not original. Further, it highlights the passages in your own text to indicate which areas have been duplicated.

Original Work May Not Be Copied At All

It is important to note that Copyscape simply identifies passages that are duplicated with passages in other published content. It does not necessarily say that you copied it, but rather that the wording is the same or very similar. It has a fatal flaw that can be pesky for freelance writers, and this flaw is its lack of identifying common phrases in the English language. There are phrases that are commonly used in industries from finance and insurance to fashion design and animal care. For example, the phrase, “save money on car insurance” is entirely common and may be found on many insurance websites. Other common phrases may be “your furry family members” on animal care websites, “reduce utility costs” on personal finance websites and more. The fact that your work contains these and so many other common English language phrases does not make your work unoriginal.

Knowledgeable Clients

Most clients who run a piece you write through Copyscape are aware that there is common industry jargon and phrasing that is found on most websites pertaining to that subject. These are clients who use Copyscape to look for large sections of obviously copied content rather than duplicated phrases that are a few words in length. Most clients will make it clear to you up-front that the work will need to pass through Copyscape, but most also are aware that common phrases flagged do not indicate content is copied and not unique. This being said, you can minimize the amount of flagged content in your own work by finding creative or unique ways to say things that may have already been said on a dozen other websites.

Writer Beware

The fact is that you often cannot be certain which clients are knowledgeable of the weaknesses and flaws in Copyscape. They may see that your work is 20% unoriginal due to flagging phrases like “and that commonly indicates” or “at the end of the day.” Your work may be riddled with these common phrases, indicating through Copyscape that it is not entirely original. However, the bulk of the content may not be flagged at all. Some clients are adamant that work passes through Copyscape with 100% originality. The bottom line is that this is an almost impossible demand to make on a freelance writer. As a freelance writer, you should keep an eye open for comments such as these in assignment requirements and steer clear of them.

Copyscape does indeed serve a great purpose in the world of freelance writing, but it does need to be used by clients and freelance writers alike with intelligence. The English language is comprised of common and everyday phrases, industry jargon and terminology and more. These phrases and terms should be overlooked by those using Copyscape, and instead Copyscape should be used to identify full sentences or entire passages of copied content. As a freelance writer, however, you can work to improve your writing by avoiding overuse of common phrases where possible.