A text match is a similarity or exact correspondence between words, phrases, sentences, or even larger sections of writing in two or more pieces of text. Text matching is commonly used in schools, research, and legal work to check for originality and identify copied content.
Text matches are found using tools like plagiarism detectors and text comparison software. These tools highlight matching text, often in red or another color, in an originality report. This helps students, teachers, and researchers see which parts of a text are similar to others.
When comparing texts, there are different types of matches that can be found:
- Exact Match
An exact match happens when the same words, phrases, or sentences appear in the same order across different texts. This type of match is usually detected by basic text comparison and plagiarism detection tools.
- Partial Match
A partial match occurs when part of a text matches another, but not the entire sentence or phrase. This type of match can also be detected by basic text comparison and plagiarism detection tools.
- Near Match
A near match happens when the words or phrases are very similar but not identical because of different wording or synonyms.
- Synonym Match
A synonym match happens when words are replaced by their synonyms, but the meaning stays the same. More advanced text comparison and plagiarism detection tools can detect these types of matches.
- Sequence Match
A sequence match identifies longer phrases or multiple sentences that are found in the same order in two or more texts. This often happens when an entire section of text is copied and pasted.
- Cross-Language Match
A cross-language match occurs when the same content is translated into another language. These can be detected by advanced plagiarism detection tools.
Here are some examples of how a text match looks like:
Electric cars are becoming more popular because of their environmental benefits.
Electric cars are becoming more popular because of their positive impact on the environment.
Example 1: The phrase "Electric cars are becoming more popular because of their" is shared between two texts, so it is a text match.
Climate change is a serious global issue that affects ecosystems and human populations.
Climate change poses a serious global challenge, impacting ecosystems and human populations.
Example 2: The phrases "Climate change," "serious global," and "ecosystems and human populations" are shared between two texts, so they are text matches.
A common misconception is that all text matches are plagiarism. While text matches can be a sign of plagiarism, not all text matches are plagiarism. For example, quoting a source with proper citation is not plagiarism, even though it might show a text match. The same goes for text that contains common knowledge.
