five reasons why a manuscript might be evaluated as plagiarized

by August Isley © 2025

ShelteringTree.Earth, LLC has a strict rule to protect itself from publishing unauthorized content (plagiarized material). There are many different programs available online which evaluate written materials (teachers love these) for borrowed phrases and concepts. If you properly cite the material, ST.E is happy. If you do not give proper citation, ST.E - and any court in the free world - will consider the borrowed material as plagiarism. ST.E allows up to 5% similar phrases (closer to the real material than just paraphrasing) but has zero tolerance for exact phrasing that is not accompanied by proper citation.

The author (unless they self-publish) is not sued for violating intellectual property rights of others; the publisher is. So, if your book's evaluation scores higher than 5% on the plagiarism scale, ST.E will decline to offer you a contract.

But, there's nothing new under the sun! (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Authors often argue that their manuscript is fully original and there was no intention of plagiarism. How could it be branded as plagiarized (and therefore disqualified from a contract)?

Here are five reasons why an original manuscript might be evaluated as having more than a 5% plagiarism amount:

1. Lack of Proper Citation: The author may have included direct quotes, ideas, or data from other sources without properly citing them. Without accurate citations, these contributions are counted as plagiarism even if they are used in good faith.

2. Common Phrases and Terminologies: Certain subjects or fields have commonly used phrases, terminologies, or standard descriptions. If these are not appropriately paraphrased, they can be flagged as plagiarism due to their widespread use in other manuscripts.

3. Unintentional Paraphrasing: The author might have paraphrased content from sources but inadvertently kept the structure and wording too close to the original text. This can cause plagiarism detection software to identify the content as plagiarized.

4. Self-Plagiarism: If an author reuses significant portions of their previous work without proper attribution or without indicating that it's a revised work, it can be considered self-plagiarism. This is often flagged in academic and professional contexts.

5. Lack of Original Analysis: If the manuscript heavily relies on summarizing or analyzing other sources without adding sufficient original thought, analysis, or interpretation, it might be flagged for having a high similarity index with existing works.

Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights is a very expensive consequence for publishers who do not hold a strict and fast line of expectation. Be proactive - as you draft your manuscript, use no cliches, no adages, no quotes, songs, poems, or Scriptures without proper citation. Then run your book through a plagiarism detection software yourself, before you submit it to a publisher. Do not submit it to ShelteringTree.Earth Publishing if it scores more than 5% plagiarized.