essay corrector website

The boxer decked his opponent.

• Profanity Profanity should not be used in formal writing outside of direct quotations.

The critic's scathing review hit the nail on the head .

• Similes Similes and metaphors should be used sparingly. This option will detect most common types of similes.
• "Said" replacements Some people think that these substitutes for "said" are weak or obnoxious, especially if overused.

Her dress was long , and it touched the floor.

Her long dress touched the floor.

• Gender-specific pronouns Avoid using gender-specific pronouns in formal writing when the subject's gender is unknown.
• Weasel words Like abstract words, weasel words and phrases lack specificity. At best, they convey uncertainty. At worst, they can be used to "weasel out" of telling the truth in a straightforward manner. When checking a document that is speculative by nature, you might want to disable this detector.
• Third person pronouns According to this study , high concentrations of third person pronouns may indicate deception.
• Bias language These words and phrases often show the author's bias.
• Uncommon words Uncommon words will increase the document's reading difficulty.

Hot peppers burn my mouth, but I eat them anyway .

Since burritos taste good , I like to eat them.

• Sentence fragments A sentence must have at least one noun and one verb. Anything that does not is a fragment, and if it occurs outside of dialog, it should probably be rewritten.
• Long sentences Long sentences tend to be more difficult to read, making them good candidates for trimming or splitting. Alternatively, parallelism may be used to improve their readability, though this will not decrease the ARI score.
• Success with Style: Using Writing Style to Predict the Success of Novels
• Grammar Girl For your obscure writing questions
• Basic Prose and Style Mechanics An excellent, concise resource
• Television Tropes & Idioms Tricks of the trade
• Writing Realistic Injuries An invaluable article for anyone who writes action or horror
• Online Etymology Dictionary Learn the history of English words
• Scribophile Discuss the finer points of writing with other novelists
• Suggestions from the official See Sharp Press blog Learn about the mistakes that will keep your novel from being published.
• Smashwords Easy ebook distribution for indie authors
• Duotrope Find and learn about publishers
• CreateSpace
• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
• Creative Writing Prompts and Exercises Spark your creativity
• RhymeZone A popular rhyming dictionary
• Seventh Sanctum Name generators and more
• Apache OpenOffice The best free office software
• Literature & Latte Makers of the popular Scrivener editor

Did you find a bug? Do you want us to add a new feature? We would love to hear about it.

• Infographics
• Check Your Text

Reading Time: 0h 0m 0s

Speaking Time: 0h 0m 0s

Ideal Social Media Post Lengths

Common essay word limits.

To enable large texts, install our free app

Do you have Grammarly installed?

To check your text, copy and paste or write directly into the online editor above.

To make sure your sentences are clear and your word choice is perfect, double-check your text.

Yes. This tool checks not only grammar, but also spelling, punctuation, word choice, and even style.

This tool is for anyone who writes in English, from students and learners to professionals, teachers, and even proofreaders. After all, even native speakers of English aren't immune to mistakes.

• Online Editor
• Privacy Policy

Popular Infographics

© 2024 GrammarCheck

ENGLISH GRAMMAR CHECK

Scribens checks the grammar of your texts and finds spelling mistakes.

Perfectly integrates with essential apps

Use Scribens anywhere you type

Avoid copy-pasting and keep the formatting of your original texts: Correct your texts on Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, forums, blogs, etc. Use Scribens as a seamless extension of Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

Use our API to add Scribens to your website!

The advantages of SCRIBENS

A POWERFUL, FREE ENGLISH GRAMMAR CHECKER

Scribens corrects over 250 types of common grammar and spelling mistakes, including verbs, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, homonyms, punctuation, typography, and more.

Online corrections are included with explanations in order to help the user progress his or her English writing skills. Try our sample!

CORRECTS 10X MORE MISTAKES THAN MICROSOFT WORD

Scribens employs a sophisticated syntaxical recognition algorithm that detects even the most subtle errors in a text. In offering you an advanced correction software, Scribens allows you to significantly improve the quality of your writing.

Security and confidentiality

USEFUL WRITING AND STYLE TOOLS

Scribens detects stylistic elements such as repetitions, run-on sentences, redundancies, and more. It even suggests synonyms for every word. It also provides highly detailed statistics on your texts, such as word, sentence, and paragraph count as well as a readability indicator and more.

Scribens provides definitions, conjugations, and synonyms with an accompanying dictionary and thesaurus.

In 2023, 7 million people visited Scribens.com

- 1 million people regularly use Scribens' English grammar corrector at scribens.com -

SCRIBENS PREMIUM SHIFT UP A GEAR

FREE EDITION

Corrects ten times more errors than Microsoft Word

Explanations

Improve your English with grammar rules explained

DICTIONARIES

Definitions, conjugations, and synonyms

Detects repetitions, redundancies, and suggests synonyms

Premium Version

Integration in all your favorite applications

Text checker limited to 200,000 characters (approx. 50 pages)

Removal of ads across the entire site

Free Grammar Checker

Grammar Checker powered by QuillBot. Avoid mistakes everywhere with the free Chrome extension .

Correct your document within 5 minutes

• Proofread on 100+ language issues
• Specialized in academic texts
• Corrections directly in your document

Instantly correct your entire document in minutes

Why this is the best free grammar checker.

Most accurate

In the test for the best grammar checker , Scribbr found 19 out of 20 errors.

No signup needed

You don’t have to register or sign up. Insert your text and get started right away.

Long texts, short texts it doesn’t matter – there’s no character or word limit.

Don’t wait for ads or distractions. The grammar checker is ad-free!

Correct all your writing errors

Enhance your writing with Scribbr’s free Grammar Checker. We can help you to avoid mistakes with:

• Punctuation
• Word choice
• And more— try it yourself !

We are also happy to provide personalized help with our professional proofreading service .

Correct your grammar

Improve your writing and grammar with just one click.

The Scribbr Grammar Checker fixes grammatical errors like:

• Sentence fragments & run-on sentences
• Subject-verb agreement errors
• Issues with parallelism

Spell-check on steroids

Spelling may seem straightforward, but basic spell-checks often don’t recognize many specialist terms you might use in your writing, incorrectly marking them as mistakes.

Scribbr has a large dictionary of recognized words, so you can feel confident every word is 100% correct.

Check your punctuation

Our Grammar Checker takes away all your punctuation worries. Avoid common mistakes with:

• Dashes and hyphens
• Apostrophes

Avoid word choice errors

Should you use “affect” or “effect” ? Is it “then” or “than” ? Did you mean “there,” “their,” or “they’re” ?

Never worry about embarrassing word choice errors again. Our grammar checker will spot and correct any errors with commonly confused words .

Correct your entire document in 5 minutes

Would you like to upload your entire document and check all your documents for 100+ language issues? Then Scribbr’s AI-powered proofreading is perfect for you.

With AI-powered proofreading, you can correct your text and get a free citation check:

• Upload document
• Wait briefly while all errors are corrected directly in your document
• Correct errors with one click

Proofread my document

Improve your text with one click

The Scribbr Grammar Checker allows you to accept all suggestions in your document with a single click.

Give it a try!

A Grammar Checker for all English variants

There are important differences between the versions of English used in different parts of the world, including UK and US English . Our grammar checker supports a variety of major English dialects:

• Canadian English
• Australian English

Why users love our Grammar Checker

Save time and upload your entire document to fix it in minutes

Scribbr & academic integrity.

Scribbr is committed to protecting academic integrity. Our plagiarism checker , AI Detector , Citation Generator , proofreading services , paraphrasing tool , grammar checker, summarizer , and free Knowledge Base content are designed to help students produce quality academic papers.

We make every effort to prevent our software from being used for fraudulent or manipulative purposes.

Ask our team

Want to contact us directly? No problem.  We  are always here for you.

• Email [email protected]
• Start live chat
• Call +1 (510) 822-8066
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Frequently asked questions

If our grammar checker flags an error that is not actually an error, you have several options:

1. Ignore the error: Most grammar checkers allow users to skip or ignore suggestions they do not agree with or find irrelevant. If you are confident that the flagged “error” is not an issue, you can bypass the suggestion and move on to the next one.

2. Review the context: Take a moment to thoroughly review the context surrounding the flagged error. Sometimes, the initial correct usage might still create confusion or ambiguity within the specific context, and reconsidering the phrasing could improve overall clarity.

Yes, this grammar checker covers the following mistakes:

1. Grammar: Correction of grammatical errors such as subject-verb agreement, tense usage, and sentence structure

2. Spelling: identification and correction of spelling errors, including typos and commonly confused words.

3. Punctuation: Detection and rectification of punctuation errors, including incorrect use of commas, periods, colons, and other punctuation.

4. Word choice errors: Catch words that sound similar but aren’t, like their vs. they’re and your vs. you’re.

Yes. There’s no sign up or payment required to use the grammar checker.

Yes. The grammar checker fixes any text, no matter what the medium is.

The Scribbr grammar checker finds more errors than many other tools and is particularly user-friendly:

• Winner: In our test comparison, the Scribbr grammar checker found 19 out of 20 errors, putting it in first place.
• No registration required: You don’t need an account to use the grammar checker.
• No limits: There is no character or word limit.
• Ad-free: There is no advertising on Scribbr to distract from the tool.

For more details, feel free to read our test of the best English grammar checkers.

The Grammar Checker on our page is powered by the QuillBot service, which uses advanced language processing technology.

Both Scribbr and QuillBot are Learneo, Inc. services, ensuring that your inputs are processed in accordance with Learneo’s Privacy Policy.

For more, please read the QuillBot section of the Learneo Privacy Policy . Your use of our Grammar Checker is subject to QuilBot Terms .

Wipe out plagiarism & grammar errors

Get automatic paper help

• Expert Check

Check for unintentional plagiarism

Check your paper for unintentional plagiarism against thousands of sources.

Strengthen your writing

Give your paper an in-depth check. Receive feedback within 24 hours from writing experts on your paper's main idea, structure, conclusion, and more.

Find and fix grammar errors

Don't lose points over small mistakes. Our smart proofreader checks for grammar and writing mistakes so that you don't have to.

What students are saying about us

"Caught comma errors that I actually struggle with even after proofreading myself."

- Natasha J.

"I find the suggestions to be extremely helpful especially as they can instantly take you to that section in your paper for you to fix any and all issues related to the grammar or spelling error(s)."

- Catherine R.

Write with confidence with...

Personalized Writing Help When You Need it

Unintentional plagiarism, grammar mistakes, and uncited sources  can turn what you thought was a good paper into a poor one. When you’re writing a paper the last thing you want is for your message to get lost due to incorrect punctuation or confusing sentence structure. You know that the great ideas in your head would make for a standout paper, if only you could get them written clearly on the page. If this struggle sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Great ideas may be an essential part of high-quality writing, but they’re not the only component. Excellent papers and essays clearly express strong ideas with good grammar, proper punctuation, spot-on spelling, and thorough, careful citations. While this may sound like a lot, your teachers and professors are grading you on your skills as both a writer and a researcher, which means your assignments will require an ethical and attentive approach. Luckily, there is no shortage of available tools to help you along your way.

You could use a plagiarism checker free, though, these tools often lack grammatical support. Given the high stakes and rigorous requirements, the aid of a plagiarism checker without the needed support of a grammar checker could mean the difference between an “A” paper and a “C” or even “D” paper.

Thankfully, the EasyBib Plus plagiarism tool provides all-in-one support to cover all your bases. Our premium essay checker is convenient, easy to use, and includes access to a grammar and spell checker, plus a plagiarism checker. With a single scan, you’ll receive personalized feedback to help identify potentially missing citations and help improve your sentence structure, punctuation, grammar, and more.

Not sure if that noun is spelled correctly, or if the preposition at the end of your sentence is grammatically correct? The EasyBib Plus plagiarism tool is your one-stop shop to help check plagiarism, get grammatical suggestions, correct spelling and punctuation errors, and help create polished papers you can be proud to turn in. And, we haven’t told you the best part yet: you can try our tool free and scan your work for grammar suggestions right now!

Access all the tools today!

A Grammar Check for Peace of Mind

You know that grammar plays a significant role in your assignments. Not only does it factor into your overall grade, but without clear and precise language, your ideas can lose their impact or might even be misunderstood entirely. Still, with so many different parts of speech and rules to learn and apply, it’s not uncommon to get them mixed up and find yourself questioning your knowledge now and again:

Can you use an adverb to modify a noun? (No. You need an adjective for that.)

Well, can you use it to modify a pronoun ? (Still no.)

What do they modify, then? (Almost everything else. Fun, right?)

Ugh. (That was an interjection .)

Does this have to be so difficult? (Nope!)

Scanning your paper with the EasyBib Plus writing tool delivers more than the basic punctuation and spell check functions that come standard in word processing programs. You’ll receive immediate, targeted feedback that can help improve the sentence structure and style of your writing. Not only can this help ensure that you don’t lose points off your grade for grammatical errors such as mismatched verb tense, but it can also help to clarify your meaning and strengthen your arguments by eliminating confusing punctuation and run-on sentences that confuse readers.

Reviewing your work to correct errors and refine the flow of your writing is a critical part of the revision process for novices and novelists alike. Even the most conscientious of wordsmiths might make mistakes, such as using a conjunctive adverb in place of a coordinating conjunction or pairing a plural determiner with an uncountable word. They likely appreciate a subscription-based or free grammar check as much as a beginning writer. That’s why the EasyBib Plus writing tool is designed for all writers, from students who are still learning the fundamentals to published professionals who get paid by the word.

The EasyBib Plus writing tool provides quick, targeted feedback that you can use to help improve your writing immediately. Also, our free resource library is available 24/7, just like the rest of our tools, to help you brush up on the areas that challenge you the most (Conjunctive what? Uncountable who?) That means you can continue to sharpen your skills and improve your writing over time, which will help make finishing your next project easier.

Ready to give your paper a boost? Sign up for EasyBib Plus or scan a paper right now for a free spell check—it’s easy!Just upload or copy and paste your paper to the online grammar check tool and, in a matter of seconds, you’ll be able to receive up to 5 feedback cards so you can begin polishing your draft.

To learn more about proofreading tools, you can find more info here. Or, for more tips on grammar, punctuation, and style, check out this useful reference .

Why is Grammar So Important, Anyway?

Why is grammar important? As long as others know what you mean, does it really matter if you use proper grammar? These are age-old questions, but the answers remain unchanged. Grammar is important for many reasons:

Communication:  Communication is about more than merely listening and talking. We communicate in myriad ways: with our voices, our mannerisms, our facial expressions, our actions, and frequently, our written words. Written communication is just as important as all the other ways we broadcast our thoughts and feelings. Unlike our other communication methods, though, written communication leaves a record. While most of us relax our style when talking to or texting friends, the fact remains that more formal venues require a more formal tone. Proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation are a necessary element of professional and academic writing, so running your work through a spelling and grammar check before you submit it is an absolute must.

Clarity:  Expressing your thoughts, ideas, and opinions is an uphill battle when you communicate them with less-than-stellar punctuation, spelling, and grammar. A missing or misplaced comma, for example, can entirely change your meaning:

• Call me Ishmael = My name is Ishmael.
• Call me, Ishmael = I want Ishmael to call me.

Spelling errors can result in similarly muddled meaning:

• Her shoes perfectly complemented her dress. = Her shoes and dress go well together.
• Her shoes perfectly complimented her dress. = Her shoes can both speak and engage in flattery.

Grammar deficiencies such as a dangling modifier yield similarly confusing results:

• I saw the girl’s purple backpack in the library. = The purple backpack belonging to the girl is in the library; I saw it.
• I saw the purple girl’s backpack in the library. = You know the girl who mysteriously turned purple? I saw her backpack in the library. This week has not been easy on her.

Credibility: Establishing your credibility is critical whether you’re writing for school or business. Proving that you can reliably communicate using proper grammar is essential to establishing and maintaining the trust of your teachers, professors, readers, customers, and colleagues.

To learn even more about the importance of English grammar in writing, check here .

What Happens After I Upload My Paper?

Once you upload a paper, the EasyBib Plus grammar checker scans your text and highlights grammar issues within your document so you can see it in context. For users running a grammar check and spell check using the grammar check free tool, up to the first 5 issues are shown. For subscription subscribers, all of the areas that require your review will be highlighted once the scan is complete.

No matter which version of the tool you’re using, your feedback will include detailed explanations so you can understand why the text was flagged. Other highlighted areas will include examples of how the issues can be fixed. Some will include a detailed explanation as to why the issue was flagged. This personalized feedback allows you to make an educated decision about whether to edit your text or dismiss the suggestion, so you’re always in control of your final draft.

Subscription users also have the plagiarism checker at their disposal when scanning their papers for style and grammar suggestions. Just as with our other writing tools, when you use the tool to check plagiarism, changes are never made without your review, so you are always in the driver’s seat. You can review each highlighted area as well as the sources of matching text and will always be given a choice to either accept or ignore both citation and grammar suggestions.

Whether you are a student or a professional, the EasyBib Plus tools are powerful allies that can help you improve your paper, establish credibility as a writer, and maintain an ethical writing process.

Try our checker free for 3 days to see what you think*. Trust us; you’ll wonder how you got along so far without it!

*See Terms and Conditions

Check for Unintentional Plagiarism

Persistent use of the best grammar checker and spell checker you can find will help to shape up the style and substance of your composition. However, to ensure the integrity of your work and root out unintentional instances of academic dishonesty, you’ll also need to incorporate a subscription-based or free plagiarism checker for students.

The ability to scan your paper and check plagiarism and grammar before submitting your work is an invaluable tool for students. It’s so valuable, in fact, that students are not the only ones who consistently use this type of software.

Many teachers and professors use a service to ensure that student papers are original and include properly formatted and sourced citations for all reference materials. For some, this may be a consistent element of their grading process, while others may utilize one only when they feel there is a reason to do so.

What Exactly Does a Plagiarism Checker Do?

If you’ve used an online plagiarism checker before, you may be familiar with the process that these tools employ. For those who have never used one, it can be helpful to understand how these tools work and what you should expect as a result of using one.

The most basic free tools will scan your paper and provide you with a percentage that indicates how much of your work is original. This feature can be useful to a point, as some instructors and institutions set a percentage for the amount of similar text that is considered acceptable. This policy does not mean that they are lenient about academic dishonesty but, instead, that they recognize that similar or even matching word choice is not always an indicator of copying.

However, some schools do not tolerate any form of incremental plagiarism, period. In these institutions, “check paper for plagiarism” is likely a standard action when grading all papers.

With a free plagiarism checker, the percentage of word-for-word plagiarism in your text may be the only feedback you receive. Moreover, some of these providers may wade in unethical waters, and offer essay writing services in conjunction with their checking services. This is why many students and teachers prefer subscription-based checkers that focus on integrity, such as the EasyBib writing tools.

With our premium tools, you get more than just supporting proof that your paper is original and in your own words. Your writing is scanned for potentially matching text and areas that needs your attention is highlighted. We’ll provide you with the source of the matching text so you can review it and decide how to proceed. If you agree that a citation is needed, our citation tools and resources will provide you with the information you need to help format and insert the new sources in your text as well as your works cited page.

How Does the EasyBib Plus Online Plagiarism Checker Work?

The EasyBib Plus writing tool provides an all-in-one spell check, grammar review, and plagiarism checker that not only helps you with the paper you’re writing now but enables you to gain new knowledge and improve your writing for the future, too.

Our essay checker searches online for phrases, sentences, or passages that are similar to those in your paper. If it returns matching text, this may indicate that you have passages that are missing citations.

Just as with many checkers, our tool will tell you how many instances of matching text it finds in your paper. Our plagiarism tool is designed to do more than most free tools, however.

When a portion of your paper is flagged for review, we provide you with the source that it matches. As with our online spell check tool, you have the power to review each area and choose how to proceed. If you decide to cite the flagged text, you can review the suggested source and access our citation tools to help create a proper citation and start building a bibliography for your paper. Or, you may determine that no citation is needed, in which case it’s simple to dismiss the suggestion and continue to the next section.

If you’re unsure about how to proceed, our library of resources can help you learn more and make an educated decision. In this way, you gain more than just the ability to correct your work; over time, you can learn how to avoid plagiarism altogether.

Reasons Your Teacher May Run Your Paper Through a Plagiarism Detector

As stated previously, your teachers and professors grade papers with a fixed process that includes “check paper for plagiarism” as a standard, across-the-board action. Others may check for plagiarism only when they feel there is cause to do so. There are a few red flags that may stand out to them while reviewing a paper that would lead to their running a plagiarism check, including:

Style/Voice:  Most teachers are familiar with the style and voice that you use in your writing. While most will hope that the feedback they provide when grading your work will help you to improve problem areas over time, a paper or essay that has a dramatically different style or voice than the work you’ve previously submitted can be a red flag.

Inconsistency:  Changes in the font, font size, formality, formatting, and more may indicate that portions of a paper have been copied and pasted. If these inconsistent passages are not presented as quotations or don’t include citations, this may further indicate to your teacher that there’s plagiarism in the paper.

Old References:  Part of a well-researched paper is verifying the legitimacy and relevance of your sources. While some older references may be acceptable depending on the topic, if all of your sources are outdated, it may lead your teacher to believe that you’ve recycled your own work or someone else’s.

Looking for a checker to try? With EasyBib Plus you get unlimited checks to give you peace of mind when turning in your papers!

What is Plagiarism?

If you’re looking for a free online plagiarism checker , you’re already aware that it’s not something you want to be found in your papers. However, you may still be wondering: what does plagiarism mean? It’s a reasonable question and one that merits exploring. After all, some of the actions and circumstances that fall within the plagiarism definition come as a surprise to those who only learn that they’ve committed them after it’s too late.

So what is plagiarism? To define plagiarism in the most basic sense, you might say that it is taking someone else’s ideas and words and passing them off as your own.

If your goal is avoiding plagiarism entirely, you’ll need to go beyond the basics to thoroughly define plagiarism, recognize it, and keep clear of it. Some examples of plagiarism that students find surprising include forgotten citations, poor paraphrasing, and re-submitting your own work in whole or in part for more than one assignment. This useful article provides more help in recognizing and understanding the different forms that academic dishonesty can take.

Of course, using your own words and ideas does not count as plagiarism, nor does using common knowledge . Basically, common knowledge is information that is well known by the average person. Examples of common knowledge:

• there are 12 months in a year
• the freezing point of Celsius is zero degrees
• Socrates was a Greek philosopher

So should you only include your original thoughts and common knowledge in your papers? Of course not! Research-based assignments are meant to demonstrate your skills as a researcher, after all, as well as your ability to build upon the work of others to formulate new ideas. To avoid accidentally committing an act that falls within the plagiarism definition when you’re using another person’s words or ideas, though, you need to give them proper credit. This means you’ll need to clearly identify direct quotations or properly paraphrase them when including them in your paper.

Regardless of your approach, you’ll also need to cite your sources according to the style your professor specifies. Generally, you will use MLA format for the arts and humanities and APA format for the sciences, but it’s always best to check with your instructor when you’re unsure.

If you know what style to use but still aren’t sure how to create your citations, don’t fret! Our library of resources includes free guides to help you learn about various styles so you can properly structure and place them. And our premium tools not only help you check grammar, spelling, and originality in your papers, but subscribers also enjoy access to our citation creation tools!

What are the Different Types of Plagiarism?

In addition to the question “what is plagiarism,” you may also be wondering, “why do students plagiarize?” While some students do intentionally plagiarize because they believe they can pass off someone else’s work as their own to avoid spending time on their assignments, many others do so accidentally. They may not understand how broad the plagiarism definition is or they haven’t learned how to research and cite their sources properly. That is why it is vital to recognize plagiarism in all of its forms if you wish to ensure the integrity of your work.

Examples of plagiarism & How to prevent it

Direct plagiarism:

Intentionally copying another person’s work without including a citation that gives credit to the source. When most students are asked to identify potential plagiarism examples and behaviors, this direct and deliberate act is what they think of first.

• Prevention: If you use an idea or quote from another source, cite it in the text. Make it clear that it was not your own words. 

Incremental plagiarism:

Copying parts of another person’s work, such as phrases, sentences, or paragraphs without crediting the source. When deciding which tools to use to check a paper for plagiarism , instructors often seek out those that will identify incremental forms as well as instances of direct copying and similar phrasing.

• Prevention : Decide to either directly quote the phrases or sentences you want to use, or write a good paraphrase. In both cases, be sure to add a citation. Using a plagiarism checker could also help you identify problematic passages.

Self-plagiarism:

Academic self-plagiarism occurs when a student submits the same paper or parts of a paper for more than one assignment. When your instructors are grading your papers, they’re assessing your research and writing skills in the present. When you submit work that you completed in the past, they are both unable to evaluate your current skills and unaware that you haven’t completed the assignment.

• Prevention: Write a new paper for each assignment you’re assigned. If you feel strongly that your past work could enhance your new paper, speak to your instructor and ask for permission first.

Misleading citations:

Including a citation for a quote or idea that misrepresents the source material. This can occur if a student does not understand the reference they are citing; if a student includes a citation for a disreputable source; or the source material simply does not align with the idea or argument that the student has attributed to it.

• Prevention: Carefully review your assignment to understand it. As you research, take the time to evaluate each source notes . Remember, it’s better to have quality citations over an abundance of citations.

Invented sources:

If a reference in a student’s bibliography is found not to exist, it is considered an invented source. This may occur if a student couldn’t find a reputable source to back their argument, or if they needed to include additional references to meet the requirements of the assignment and chose to take an unethical shortcut rather than completing the required amount of research. No matter the reason, this behavior ultimately hurts them in the long run. Not only will they fail to gain the experience they need to conduct research in the future properly, but they’ll also experience significant consequences if they’re caught.

• Prevention: Set aside time to do proper research so you can find enough sources. Start creating a list of sources as you’re researching and take good notes. This will help you keep track of your sources so none are forgotten. If you do end up forgetting where a quote came from, a paper checker could help you pinpoint the original source. 

Patchwriting/Spinning:

Patchwriting is often confused with paraphrasing, but there’s a significant difference. When you paraphrase, you demonstrate that you understand the topic well enough to restate it in your own words. When you patchwrite or spin, it is more akin to a word-swapping game; there’s no need to understand the subject, merely to have access to a thesaurus so you can substitute enough synonyms to mask the source material. This can be intentional, but it may also be a result of having a poor understanding of how to paraphrase.

• Prevention: Using your own words, write down the key points of the phrase or idea, and put them together in a sentence. Be sure to include a citation as well. 

A good way to test if you’re patchwriting or paraphrasing is to remove your sources from view. If you can write about what you’ve read without looking at the source material, you likely understand it well enough to paraphrase it. If you have to review the source material with each new sentence or consult a thesaurus while writing about it (except when you’re adding direct quotations), you may be spinning your sources instead of paraphrasing them.

Academic Integrity Policies and Statements

If you’re still uncertain about what counts as plagiarism, look for your school’s/ organization’s policies on academic integrity and plagiarism. The policies of academic institutions usually cover what is considered plagiarism, the consequences of committing it, and how to avoid it. One great example is Purdue University’s Academic Integrity statement .

What are the Consequences of Plagiarism?

No matter the setting, plagiarism is not taken lightly, and the consequences can be significant. For a good reason, too! Whether in an academic or professional setting, the plagiarism consequences reflect the seriousness of the act, which is ultimately a form of theft that hurts everyone involved.

Just as with the theft of a tangible object, there can be legal punishments for plagiarism. It is, after all, a form of copyright infringement in many instances. A quick search for plagiarism articles will reveal that professional instances of intellectual theft have resulted in civil lawsuits and can even be criminally prosecuted under rare circumstances. In addition to the possible legal consequences, professionals may lose their jobs or have to start over in a new field after their acts of fraud are uncovered.

As a student, you’re likely to wonder what happens if you plagiarize in college or high school. While there will almost always be consequences for this behavior, there is no one-size-fits-all plagiarism sentence. Depending on the circumstances, academic dishonesty could result in outcomes such as:

• You might get a zero for the assignment in which the infringement occurred.
• You may receive a failing grade for the class. If it is a required course, this could leave you without enough credits to move on to the next level until you can repeat it and, in some instances, postpone graduation.
• You may be expelled from your school or university.

The academic dishonesty may be noted on your transcript, which can lead to you not getting into your preferred college, graduate school, or Ph.D. program in the future.

Nobody wants to be known as a fraud or to have a reputation for dishonesty follow them through their career. And, given the consequences that can extend beyond just their reputation, it’s no wonder that professional and academic writers who wish to avoid them take the time to understand the complete definition of plagiarism and run their work through a plagiarism checker before sending it out into the world.

Even the vigilant can fall prey to inferior tools, unfortunately. Before selecting a plagiarism checker, you should understand how they work and what they can (and cannot) detect.

How We Check for Plagiarism

When exploring how to check for plagiarism, most students and professionals conclude that including a checking tool in their revision process is not only helpful but necessary. When you consider the Herculean task of checking each line of your paper against the text of each of your resources, the benefits of a checker are clear. Moreover, this manual approach would only alert you to matching text in the sources you’re aware of, after all, and leaves the sources you haven’t reviewed untouched.

But, hang on. Why would sources you haven’t reviewed factor into your review? The answer to this lies in the plagiarism definition you learned above. What is plagiarism? It’s presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, intentionally or otherwise. It is not uncommon to uncover an idea while you’re researching a topic and later misremember it as your own. This might even occur years after you originally came across it.

You might wonder: how can plagiarism be avoided if you have to account for the source of every thought you include in your work? A few exceptions minimize the scope of this. Common knowledge about your topic does not need to be supported by a citation, nor does knowledge that you gained through your personal experience. Using a subscription-based or free plagiarism checker will help you locate any passages that may fall into these categories so you can review them and decide for yourself whether a citation is needed.

EasyBib Plus writing tools provide easy, convenient, and reliable support to help you find potentially missed citations and can help you improve your paper into a high-quality paper with integrity. Simply upload your paper, select the checker, then sit back and relax as the site scans your document. In mere moments, we’ll search the web for passages of similar text and highlight duplicate content for your review.

Regardless of the tools you use to help you revise and polish your work, it’s ultimately your responsibility to ensure that you’re writing and submitting ethical work. That’s why our tools go beyond the basics and require your participation. The tool never automatically makes changes to your paper, but only flags sections that may need your attention and provides you with the matching source so you can to make an educated decision.

If you find that a citation is needed, our citation tools can help you create properly formatted citations and develop a complete bibliography. And, if you review the passage and determine that the match is coincidental, you can dismiss the alert and move on to the next.

Seamless Citation Creation

Professional writers and students alike can find creating citations incredibly confusing. Nevertheless, they are an integral part of a well-written and researched paper and a requirement in almost all academic settings. But, have you ever wondered why they are so important? Citations really do have a purpose—other than driving us crazy— that make it necessary always to cite our sources.

We cite our sources for a few important reasons:

We need to give credit where credit is due. When you use a quote from someone else’s work, you need to give credit for using their words and ideas. Research is often based on the works and ideas of others. However, to include the words and ideas of another without giving them proper credit is to plagiarize, even if the act was unintentional.

In addition, showing that you’ve done proper research by including in text & parenthetical citations and a comprehensive list of sources to back up your arguments gives your work a layer of credibility that can help you earn the trust of your reader or teacher.

Readers can find the sources you used.  When you’re writing high school or undergraduate papers, your only readers may be your instructors and peers. However, including citations at every level of writing helps to ensure that anyone who reads your work can access your sources to check their accuracy, learn more about your topic, and further their own research.

Sources can take your research and learning to the next level, too. When you are conducting research on a topic, checking the works cited or annotated bibliographies prepared by your sources can lead you down new avenues in your research to further develop your ideas and help you write your papers.

Correctly utilizing citations gives strength to your thoughts and opinions. Understanding the value of citations does not, unfortunately, make them any easier to create. We know how confusing it can be, but don’t throw in the towel on learning how to cite websites in MLA , create your APA citation website references, or format your works cited —this is where we come in!

While a free online plagiarism detector may tell you how much of your work is unoriginal and may even identify the passages that meet their plagiarize definition, a premium EasyBib Plus plagiarism checker account also gives you access to our powerful citation resources and generator so you can:

Scan your papers with the plagiarism tool to check for plagiarism-free work before you submit.

Review flagged passages to determine if they meet the plagiarism definition and create unlimited citations in APA format and MLA format for anything fitting the plagiarism meaning. Need more styles ? Check out our regular citation generator for thousands of choices and free resources to help you learn how to create an APA parenthetical citation , APA book citation , APA works cited , and so much more!

Build a full bibliography for your paper right along with your parenthetical or in-text citations, which can save you hours of work along the way compared to manually creating and formatting them.

How Else Do We Help You Improve Your Paper?

The EasyBib Plus plagiarism detector helps you check your content or paper for text that may be missing a citation—which may fall within the definition of plagiarism—to help ensure you don’t accidentally plagiarize. It also includes grammar check and spelling check tools to help identify errors and suggest grammatical tweaks that could help to elevate the level of your writing.

Running a plagiarism check couldn’t be easier! Just upload your paper to the online proofreader, and in a few moments we’ll have your writing and citing suggestions. And, there’s no need to worry about your paper after it’s been scanned.

Run a Grammar and Spell Check for Free!

There’s no denying that your schoolwork can be challenging at times, and your assignments can lead to some late nights even when you’ve started them early. The last thing you want is to submit assignments that don’t reflect your best effort, but it can occasionally be quite the juggling act to get everything done on time.

Why not let our plagiarism checker free up space on your calendar by helping you revise your papers quickly and efficiently? The EasyBib Plus paper checker is your one-stop shop to check for plagiarism, create citations, spot spelling mistakes, and receive feedback on your grammar and style.

When you proofread and do a manual spelling check on work that you’ve written, you’re more likely to overlook mistakes. This is even more likely if you’re pressed for time or trying to complete several different assignments at once. There are tricks to help minimize this, such as reading your work aloud to identify poor grammar or reading each sentence backward to find spelling errors. When time is of the essence, though, these solutions aren’t the most convenient or useful options. That’s why many students seek the assistance of online tools that will run a grammar and plagiarism check on their work.

Are you asking yourself, “ How do I check my grammar online ?” We’ve got the perfect checker for you! Our advanced tools help you find and correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Our targeted feedback and free writing and citing resources help you learn as you go to improve your writing over time.

The best part? You can use our grammar and writing tools any time of the day, any day of the year for! Looking to try it? Just upload or copy and paste your text into our online proofreader for a free grammar check with up to 5 suggestions, or sign up for EasyBib Plus today! EasyBib Plus gives you use of the plagiarism checker and unlimited access to suggestions that can help improve your spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, writing style, and grammar.

Published February 3, 2019. Updated April 9, 2020.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Melissa DeVrieze Meyer . Michele is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib. You can find her here on Twitter. Melissa is a professional writer and editor based in New Jersey. She writes for academic brands and independent publishers about writing, grammar, and literature, and creates study and curriculum materials for ESL learners. You can find her on Twitter .

Visit our EasyBib Twitter feed to discover more citing tips, fun grammar facts, and the latest product updates.

Save texts and enjoy a better writing experience

More than a Grammar Checker Free Grammar Checker

Languagetool is an ai-based grammar checker. paste your text or start typing below to check grammatical errors, and spelling mistakes across languages., 2000+ organizations trust our ai-based grammar checker.

• European Union
• Spiegel Magazine
• Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
• Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP)
• Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
• Bertelsmann Stiftung
• Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF)
• Kronen Zeitung
• IP Australia

Try the LanguageTool Editor for a Better Writing Experience

Create your free account.

• Distraction-free writing experience
• Personal Dictionary
• Statistics help you stay on the write path
• Texts are securely stored
• Access even more suggestions for advanced punctuation, style, and typography with the “Picky Mode”
• Choose between dark and light appearance

Our Browser Add-On Works Anywhere on the Web

Receive tips on how to improve your text while typing an e-mail, a blog post, or just a simple tweet. Whatever language you’re using, LanguageTool will automatically detect it and provide suggestions. To respect your privacy, no text is stored by the browser add-on.

Over 1 million users trust LanguageTool with their writing

Top-rated grammar checker for Firefox with over 1 million users

Over 4 million users trust LanguageTool with their writing

Top-rated grammar checker for Chrome with over 3 million users

Do you speak a foreign language?

The most international writing tool.

There are over 7,000 languages and various multilingual countries in the world. LanguageTool helps as an international spell checker in several languages, including:

+ more than 30 other languages and dialects

Reach your potential with statistics.

This feature helps you stay consistent with your writing by tracking your productivity. It also provides an overview of languages used, errors made, and suggestions applied, so you can see for yourself how your writing skills have improved.

Elevate Your Writing With the Grammar, Spell, and Style Checker for Windows

Experience LanguageTool’s advanced spelling, style, and grammar suggestions right in all your favorite writing apps.

Supported Apps

Elevate Your Writing With the Grammar, Spell, and Style Checker for macOS

Integrates with your favorite office program.

Get the best out of your docs and deliver error-free results, whether you’re working on a dissertation, essay, book, or you just want to note something down.

Google Docs Add-on

Check all your texts in Google Docs for grammar and spelling mistakes with the free browser add-on.

macOS App for Microsoft Word

LanguageTool for macOS allows you to check text in Microsoft Word and most of your favorite Mac apps.

Microsoft Word Add-in

Works with Windows, Mac, and even the online version. Requires Word 2016 or later or Office 365.

Text checking for LibreOffice

• Use it in LibreOffice

Correct Spelling

Do you fall victim to typos and misspellings way too often? LanguageTool finds every mistake and underlines it in red. Spell every name, phrase, and word the write… eh, the right way!

Check Grammar

Grammar rules have never been so easy! LanguageTool will help rid your writing of all grammar gaffes, like incorrect subject-verb-agreement, wrong plural forms, or misuse of grammatical forms.

Fix Punctuation

Commas and dashes and hyphens… Proper punctuation can be tricky—LanguageTool ensures you’re using them right. It can even help you form complex sentences and tell you when you’ve used too many exclamation points!

Confirm Casing

It’s all about the capital, right? And the lowercase letters, too. LanguageTool corrects incorrect casing, whether you’re writing capitalized names, months, places, or national identities.

Improve Style

LanguageTool helps your writing be as stylish as you are by detecting overused phrases, foreign terms, redundant words, and improper word choice. All you have to do to find the best style is look out for the blue underline.

Paraphrasing Tool

Looking for the right words? LanguageTool's paraphraser makes them easier to find by using artificial intelligence to rephrase your sentences to be more formal, fluent, simple or concise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Make your text sound professional and avoid embarrassing style, punctuation, and grammar mistakes

LanguageTool corrects spelling mistakes , but it also offers a full writing analysis of all possible texts. In addition to spelling, grammar, and word choice, language style is also corrected. Plus, it serves as a punctuation checker to ensure your writing is flawless.

LanguageTool excels at identifying and correcting punctuation errors , including commas. Its punctuation checker can differentiate between optional and required commas, ensuring your writing is polished. Plus, it can handle even the most complex sentence structures with its advanced comma check.

The error display and suggestion cards are shown automatically and directly while typing. This means that texts can be checked and corrected in just a few moments. To see synonyms, simply double-click on any word.

LanguageTool masters more than 30 languages and dialects. Its main languages are English , Spanish , German , French , Dutch , and Portuguese . In its English version, you can choose between six standard varieties (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa).

LanguageTool is available in two versions. The free version corrects spelling as well as simple punctuation and some style mistakes. Only the Premium version will show you all errors and give you the best possible text. Team accounts for companies are also available.

LanguageTool is not bound to a specific program or website. There are several extensions and add-ons available, so it can be used in all common internet browsers. In addition, you can find a dedicated text editor as an app for iOS, macOS (Apple), and Windows. All you need is just one user account.

LanguageTool now offers an A.I.-based paraphraser in addition to correction. This can help you to rewrite entire sentences to make them simpler, shorter, or more formal.

If you have to write a term paper, bachelor thesis or master thesis at a university, LanguageTool can help you to be sure that it is free of errors. The writing assistant’s style check is also particularly helpful for other academic texts in schools or at publishing houses. By the way, students get a discount for LanguageTool.

Unleash the professional writer in you with LanguageTool Premium

Go well beyond grammar and spell checking, and impress with clear, precise and stylistically correct writing.