How to Read a Plagiarism Report (and Address Red Flags in Your Writing)

Plagiarism is one of the most common, and often unintentional, pitfalls in academic writing. Even when you’re careful, small overlaps in phrasing or inadvertently missed citations can trigger red flags. That’s why using an online plagiarism checker has become a vital step before submitting any research paper, PhD thesis, or journal manuscript. 

But what happens when the plagiarism detector flags your work? The similarity checker highlights a chunk of text, but the next steps aren’t always clear. Should you rewrite the sentence or just add a citation? What if it’s self-plagiarism? 

Here’s how to confidently read Paperpal’s plagiarism report (view sample report) and properly address potential red flags, so you can submit your work with peace of mind. 

Step 1: Run a Plagiarism Check Before Submission

Even if you’ve reviewed your draft thoroughly, running a final plagiarism check is a smart precaution. This will prevent any surprises if your institution or journal detects a high similarity score when they screen your manuscript. 

Paperpal’s free plagiarism check scans your paper against an extensive database of 99 billion webpages, including over 200 million open-access research articles. Simply upload your draft and generate a standard plagiarism report for up to 7,000 words at no cost. Have a longer document or want a more detailed report, choose Paperpal Prime. This paid subscription lets you scan 10,000 words per month and comes with a comprehensive plagiarism report that includes a similarity score, side-by-side comparisons, and color-coded results that allow you to quickly address red flags before submission. 

Step 2: Understand Your Similarity Report

Once you get the plagiarism report, check the similarity score. Ideally, you want this number to stay under 15-20%, depending on your institution’s or journal’s guidelines. Don’t miss out on checking the details provided under the “Match Groups” section of the plagiarism report, which points out what the issue is so you can address it effectively.  

This is helpful to know even if you get a lower similarity score as it allows you to understand the type of issues in your writing and fill in any gaps well before you submit. The details are provided as simple color-coded results – red, orange, yellow and green. Here’s what each of the colors mean in Paperpal’s plagiarism report. 

Click into a Match Group for more details about the similarity that’s been identified. Here’s a quick  example: The screengrab below shows 15 instances of similarity, identified from 9 sources. The first of these sources, www.healthcare.digital, occurs in 4 instances of similarity.   

Conversely, it is also possible that a single instance of similarity traces back to multiple sources. To identify this, go to the “Sources” tab beside “Match Groups” in the plagiarism report and check the “Show overlapping sources” option.  

Step 3: Fix Flagged Text by Rewriting in Your Own Voice

Sometimes, even properly cited text gets flagged because it uses standard or commonly repeated academic phrases across sources. This is where you want to introduce variation and ensure authenticity. 

Use Paperpal’s AI paraphrasing tool, an all-in-one sentence paraphrase, word rephraser, and paragraph rewriter, to tweak your language while preserving the meaning. You can use it to quickly add variety to your writing, improve fluency, and simplify your language for readability. 

Make sure to keep your voice and structure intact, especially for formal academic writing. Here, you can turn to Paperpal’s tone changer, the perfect assistant to help you alter writing tone based on content and target audience type. 

Need to trim a few words while you’re at it? Try Paperpal’s built-in word count reducer, which gives you the flexibility to shorten the length to your specific needs.  

Be sure to read and refine your output to ensure you are conveying the message clearly and the writing retains your own unique style. Finally polish your writing with Paperpal Edit, which offers language and grammar checks to catch any avoidable or overlooked errors. 

Step 4: Cite Overlooked or Incorrect Sources

If the plagiarism check highlights any source that is relevant to your work but hasn’t been properly cited, or cited incorrectly, don’t panic. Rely on Paperpal Cite, our trusted AI citation generator that creates citations and references lists in APA, MLA, Chicago, or 10,000+ other styles and inserts them in your document in minutes. 

Reminder: If the flagged content in the plagiarism report appears to be copied almost word-for-word, simply adding a citation is not sufficient. Here are two ways to navigate this: 

• If the flagged text is an exact phrase or sentence from the original source, use double quotation marks, and then add a citation with page number, if available.
  Example: “Earth revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit“ (Author, Year, p. XX).
• If you prefer not to use quotation marks, rewrite the idea clearly in your own words and provide a proper citation to the original source.
  Example: Earth follows an oval-shaped path around the Sun (Author, Year).

This ensures you’re not only avoiding the risk of accidental plagiarism but also building strong, more responsible academic writing habits. 

Frequently Asked Questions from Academic Writers

Ready to write with confidence? Try Paperpal’s free plagiarism check now! 

Paperpal is a comprehensive AI writing toolkit that helps students and researchers achieve 2x the writing in half the time. It leverages 23+ years of STM experience and insights from millions of research articles to provide in-depth academic writing, language editing, and submission readiness support to help you write better, faster. 

Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$25 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed. 

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