Plagiarism.org defines plagiarism as stealing and passing off the ideas or words of another as one's own, using another's work without crediting the source or presenting as original an idea or product derived from an existing source. By this definition, plagiarism is not merely copying text; there are insidious ways plagiarism occurs.
You can find several sources for detecting plagiarized content. One type of service offers a simple cut-and-paste system, and many of these services are free. You input text into a form, click an "Enter" button and wait while your text is searched against documents or websites with similar phrases. You can then click and check the links to be sure that the citations are correct, or that the text is truly original content. Free sites that work this way include searchenginereports.net, articlechecker.com and the plagiarism checker at dustball.com.
Other services offer to more carefully check your document, with fees are based on the level of service you desire. These services range from doing more detailed computer detection to having an individual physically checking the text against the sources. . Some of these services also provide grammar checking and proofreading as well. Plagiarismdetect.com, grammarly.com and writecheck.com are examples of sites that offer more precise checking systems.
Glatt Plagiarism Services not only offers text checking, but also has an educational tutorial that teaches plagiarism detection skills. This educational tutorial is available for a fee.
"The overwhelming accessibility of written work--at one time it was unimaginable that millions of documents on a single subject matter could be accessed in less than one second--has propelled plagiarism to the top of the list of academic integrity infractions," writes Dominic A. Sisti in a 2004 Templeton Fellows article titled "Moral Slippage: How Do High School Students 'Justify' Plagiarism?" Not only can a student caught plagiarizing be punished by the school, he stunts his own learning and growth. Strayer University, for example, lists punishment ranging from a written warning and mandatory completion of an online plagiarism course, to failing grades, to revocation of a degree.