Preventing Plagiarism in Your Cover Letter
The conventional way to apply for a job is to send your resume or curriculum vitae (CV). A CV is a brief document that simply outlines the candidate's professional background and information. Sometimes, the concise format of a CV fails to give complete details that recruiters might need to evaluate the candidate.
Therefore, job posters ask them to attach a cover letter for a detailed analysis. Candidates who understand the task correctly submit flawless and correct CVs, while newbie job seekers or even experienced job seekers who lack writing skills make several mistakes.
Copying from others is a major mistake that they commit, which leads to plagiarism. Plagiarism isn’t lethal just for academic background. It is also considered unethical and incompetency of plagiarists in professional settings. Hence, it is necessary to prevent it and showcase your authenticity and professionalism. This guide will enlighten you further on avoiding plagiarism in covering letters, but first, let's learn what a cover letter is.
What is a Cover Letter
A cover letter is a detailed document that allows candidates to showcase their professional qualities and skills outside the CV format. You can introduce yourself, highlight your expertise, describe your interest in the position, and mention your experiences. The purpose of a cover letter is to represent yourself as a right fit for the posted job. Additionally, it helps you exhibit strong written communication skills even before the hiring process.
Steps to Avoid Plagiarism in Cover Letters
As mentioned above, the cover letter is a document to showcase that you are the right candidate for the posted vacancy. Instead of losing this opportunity by plagiarizing, stay original and state your expertise.
Some job seekers try to fit into the job requirements by including relevant skills and experiences that they may not have. For this purpose, they copy others' cover letters and replicate their words. You can stay true to your professional qualities and write a plagiarism-free cover letter by following the strategies mentioned below.
Don't Copy Others
The first and foremost thing you should take care of is to avoid copying others. Trust yourself and your abilities instead of being a copycat. It's always a bad idea to find a cover letter relevant to the vacancy and rewrite the matching skills into your cover letter.
This directly causes plagiarism. Therefore, your intentions shouldn't be copying others. In contrast, present your existing skills and professional attributes relating to the job description and responsibilities.
Write in Your Unique Tone
In order to avoid plagiarism in cover letters, always write in your own voice. Crafting your letters in different writing styles and tones puts you at a constant risk of duplication.
You unintentionally copy others ' words and phrases when you imitate others' writing tones. This causes plagiarism in your work. Therefore, you should write your professional documents, like cover letters, in your own unique style.
Get Suggestions from Professional
If you are having difficulty writing plagiarism-free cover letters, you might also ask for help from professionals. Ask your colleagues or old friends to assist you in this matter.
Discuss with them ways to avoid plagiarism and stay original. Learn from their experiences or have a brief overview of their letters. At this point, remain careful not to replicate their words and statements.
The main purpose of discussing it with other professionals is to get valuable suggestions and ideas that can save you from committing plagiarism.
Consult Multiple Sources
According to the common phrase, there is nothing new under the sun. This means you can offer an entirely out-of-the-world cover letter. You have to grasp ideas and learn from existing sources.
Therefore, explore a handful of cover letters instead of limiting your research to a few numbers. This helps you avoid using a single cover letter's words, resulting in plagiarism. On the contrary, you have multiple options from which to get inspiration.
Verify Originality
After writing your cover letter, you should verify its originality. Ensure you haven't accidentally included others' statements. If you think you have carefully written your cover letter without peeking through others, there are still risks of accidental plagiarism.
You can check plagiarism online using a plagiarism detector. The free plagiarism checker will quickly and deeply analyze your cover letter to compare it with online resources. If someone has written the same words, it will provide the source and matched phrase in the results. Therefore, always conduct a plagiarism check at the end of your cover letter compilation.
Conclusion
Usually, a CV or resume is used to apply for any job, but sometimes, an additional document known as a cover letter is also required. The cover letter descriptively portrays the individual and how they can suit the position. However, in order to fit in, some job seekers copy others or replicate from available templates, but plagiarized text may put obstacles in the hiring process. The article above has mentioned some helpful ways to prevent plagiarism in your cover letter. Hope you may find this information valuable and use it to create original and plagiarism-free letters.