With more content produced than ever before, the need for a reliable plagiarism detector could not be clearer.
However, much like AI content detectors, not all plagiarism detectors are the same. There are different types of plagiarism detection, and a range of plagiarism detectors available on the market.
With this in mind, we’ve taken the time to review one of the more popular plagiarism checking tools, Citation Machine.
In this review, we will help you identify whether or not this plagiarism checker is one that you can rely on.
Overall, the Citation Machine plagiarism checker tool is relatively easy to use and is one of the better tools on the market.
Learn more about Originality.ai’s industry-leading plagiarism checker and how it compares to other popular plagiarism detection tools like Grammarly and Copyscape.
Citation Machine was founded back in 2005, primarily as an option for those who wanted to ensure they hadn’t missed any potential citations within their work.
Citations are incredibly important. Providing citations shows your readers that you have read and interpreted someone else's work. Without them, you could potentially run into issues with intellectual property or plagiarism.
To help address this, Citation Machine rolled out a plagiarism checker to help users identify potential issues either before or after submission.
As you can imagine, being able to identify any potential plagiarism problems online is absolutely crucial for the authenticity of digital publishing.
With user’s trust in internet content rapidly dropping, the rise in desire for clarity in what people read has been noticeable.
As such, more people are keen to find a plagiarism checker that correctly identifies potential plagiarism to ensure what they are reading is legitimate and from the source.
When it comes to plagiarism and citations, there are actually a few different audiences that are interested in this type of service.
As having clarity on plagiarism offers unrivalled transparency and confidence when receiving, submitting, or publishing content, here are some of the people who are most interested in a reliable plagiarism checker.
Whether content marketers are using a plagiarism checker to review work produced internally or to double-check the work of a freelancer, using a plagiarism checker is a great way to ensure authenticity in what you publish and that your site remains a source of high-quality, unique content.
On the flip side, freelance writers can also benefit from working with a reliable plagiarism checker. Handing in work with a plagiarism scan shows a great level of professionalism, highlighting that the work is legitimate and unique.
Finally, plagiarism is absolutely critical for those working and writing in academic settings, using a plagiarism tool whilst submitting work or checking work that has been submitted.
Learn more about Originality.ai for educators.
Our review of the Citation Machine Plagiarism Checker wouldn’t be complete without putting it to the test.
Step 1: We’ll pick two published pieces of content from the Originality.ai blog.
Step 2: Next, we’ll paste the content into Citation Machine and the Originality.ai plagiarism checker to evaluate their performance with plagiarism detection.
The two published pieces of content from our blog that we’ll use are:
Step 3: We also want to check for ‘patchwork’ plagiarism, which is a more nuanced type of plagiarism. To do this, we’ll use two text samples.
Step 4: We will then take those patchwork samples and run them through both the Citation tool and Originality.ai plagiarism checker for comparison.
Originality.ai Plagiarism Checker: 100% Match
Citation Machine Plagiarism Checker: 100% plagiarized
*Note: Citation Machine noted 100% match for public sources, yet also provided a 78% scorecard in their plagiarism checker.
Originality.ai Plagiarism Checker: 100% Match
Citation Machine Plagiarism Checker: 65% plagiarized
Originality.ai Plagiarism Checker: 77% Match
Citation Machine Plagiarism Checker: 25% plagiarized
Originality.ai Plagiarism Checker: 73% Match
Citation Machine Plagiarism Checker: 57% plagiarized
From the results of our test, the Citation Machine had a high level of confidence that the first blog sample matched published content.
However, when presented with the second blog and the patchwork plagiarism samples, it struggled to identify the instances of plagiarism.
In contrast, the Originality.ai plagiarism checker demonstrated strong performance in detecting both the published blogs and the instances of patchwork plagiarism.
How Much Does It Cost?
While the basic version of the Citation Machine tool is free, the actual plagiarism scanner itself isn’t included in this subscription type. To access it, you’ll need to pay for a Citation Machine Plus subscription.
While the Citation Machine plagiarism checker is very popular, it doesn’t mean that it’s the most accurate and effective.
Fortunately, there are many other plagiarism tools you could consider, such as the Originality.ai Plagiarism Checker.
It is a best-in-class and industry-leading plagiarism checker that you can also pair with AI detection to publish with confidence.
Overall, the Citation Machine Plagiarism Checker is a solid plagiarism checker for basic checks, but based on our testing, it struggles with patchwork plagiarism.
That’s why Originality.ai is a fantastic alternative to the Citation Machine Plagiarism Checker. Not only do you get access to a very reliable plagiarism checker that can identify more nuanced cases, but you also get access to AI checking and fact-checking to optimize your editorial workflow.
Try the Originality.ai Plagiarism Checker today!
Citation Machine’s plagiarism checker correctly identified the blogs as published content in our initial testing for this review.
For an industry-leading plagiarism checker designed for content marketers and web publishers, check out Originality.ai.
There is a free version of Citation Machine, although the version is limited.
According to their site, Citation Machine’s plagiarism scans ‘billions of sources.’