Plagiarism
Last updated
Last updated
Your synopsis must be 100% original content. "Basing" your synopsis on another is still plagiarism, even if you have reworded it. The use of AI writing services such as ChatGPT or Grammarly and any machine translation from a non-English language are also considered plagiarism.
A good rule of thumb is to avoid reading existing synopses for the series you are about to write for, prior to writing your own, in order to avoid subconscious influence.
For a series that has a different adaptation with an existing Rewrite synopsis, you are still expected to come up with an original and unique synopsis. For example, the synopsis for Adachi to Shimamura (Anime) is stylistically different from the synopsis for Adachi to Shimamura (Manga) despite covering the same story.
You may use a tool such as the one linked below to double check that your synopsis is not mistaken for plagiarized content. It will tell you if a phrase found in your synopsis exists in another text. If that is the case, you can try using synonyms (see a thesaurus) or rewording phrases, but make sure that the substituted word/phrase does not change the meaning. Also, while third-party tools are useful, do not rely too heavily on them. You should do careful research yourself after you have finished writing your synopsis.
To better ensure your synopsis is not flagged as AI-generated content, please write in the synopsis document itself. Do not write in a separate document and copy/paste the synopsis. Your handwritten changes will be reflected in the document history, which can and will be accessed by editors and reviewing coordinators for future reference.
MAL Rewrite tolerates no plagiarism whatsoever, and if a synopsis is found to be plagiarized, the writer will be asked to start over from scratch. Repeated, continued offenses of plagiarism will result in more serious consequences.
