Consider this an update to my popular post How to Know if You Have Committed Plagiarism.

Clearly, that 2016 post resonated with readers. Has anything changed in that time?

In the comment section of that post, readers shared horror stories. Some shared the horror of seeing their work reproduced without receiving any sort of credit on other websites.

Others shared nightmarish accounts of being accused of plagiarism and fined after they unintentionally committed plagiarism themselves.

One of the most common questions when it comes to plagiarism as it relates to bloggers concerns images. If you use someone’s image and cite the blog as a source, are you covered?

The answer is “no” since you don’t know where that blogger found the image. How will you find or ever be certain of the original source?

We live in a society where people are inclined to sue. I know bloggers who unwittingly committed plagiarism and had to pay fines.

Fortunately, today’s guest author Christina Battons is here to shed light on this situation and make sure you don’t find yourself in a similar predicament of being accused and fined. She offers 5 tips you help you avoid plagiarism.

Consider these comments from a reader of the original post:

This happened to me several years ago with Getty images. I was sent an email with funny sayings and images of polar bears. I have no idea where the email came from – it was one of those forwarded and forwarded ones. I used one of the polar bear images on my mortgage website (this was before I was blogging). A year or so later my mortgage broker got a letter that they had to pay $7500 for the photo, even if it was taken down immediately. I had to take drastic measures to get it resolved.

Find out more at:

Tips for the Novice Writer: How to Avoid Plagiarism