Warning of similar or duplicate article

1. 59

   LadyMarposted 12 years ago

   I just tried to publish an article, that "I" wrote.  No copying from other articles or anything similar.  When I tried to publish my article I received a warning that other articles were like mine or some such wording?  I was writing about facial mask products.  Now I realize somewhere on the internet and at sometime someone else or many others have written articles about facial masks products.  My work is my own.  Yesterday I did publish an article about using facial masks on women's complexions, how good it is for the skin.  Which today's article was basically a follow-up to yesterday's article only today I recommended a few brands of facial masks.
   
   I'm perplexed as to what to do now.  Any suggestons?

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   1. 79

      QuestionMasterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Basically a bot scans all hubs to see if there is an article out there that has a certain percentage of matching content, anywhere on the internet. Even if you wrote that similar content (on this site or another site or blog), it's still considered duplicate.
      
      Did you use any of the same information or wording in today's article as yesterday's? If so, that may be the issue. Try re-wording it or adding more content so the percentage of duplication is lower.

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   2. 91

      rmcrayneposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      If you could tell us the wording, it would probably help in advising you. 
      
      Here is a plagiarism detection program where you can get a free account.  Works really well. I think the paid program checks grammar and spelling too.
      
      http://www.plagiarismdetect.com/

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2. 74

   DreamsInBloomposted 12 years ago

   Sometimes when we write about the same topic we can accidentally end up using a lot of similar phrasing and wording and sort of "self-plagiarize ourselves" by accident and not even realize it. Perhaps your follow up article has a few bits that are too similar to your first article and that is what it is picking up on?
   
   You could also try some of those free online plagiarism checkers (although I have no idea how well they work) to see if you can find anything similar enough to yours that might be causing this. I think maybe sometimes a subject is written about so much that it's hard to write about it in a way that no one else has??? That may be kind of a stretch, but it's the only other thing I can think of as to why. But just to give an example, looking at one of your hubs I see this sentence, "Never ever go to bed with make-up on your face." Which that small bit is such oft given advice that it wouldn't be to surprising if someone else stated it that exact same or very similar way. It is of course different in regards to an entire article.
   
   If you find any similarities, to your own articles or someone elses, change the words. If you don't find anything (or even if you do) go through the article and ask yourself, Is this really the best writing I can do? How can I improve it? How can I personalize it and put more of "myself, my personality" into it? And maybe apply any other writing tips you have heard.

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