What Is Considered Plagiarism?
July 19, 2016
What Is Plagiarism?
If you use someone else’s creation as your own, and do not attribute that work to the author or original creator through copyright text, paraphrasing, or citing the source, you have committed plagiarism.
Plagiarism happens with many different forms of content, including speeches, essays, design work, music, architecture, and much more.
The Issue With Plagiarism
For years, schools and universities have been plagued with plagiarism. With the expansion of technology, students and teachers are now able to go online and copy test questions and answers for their own use. Before the internet, it was much easier to get away with plagiarizing due to the limited visibility of what could possibly be out there. Plagiarism is harder to detect when the materials or evidence is not digital.
Legal Consequences of Plagiarism
Plagiarism is not a criminal or civil offense, but it is illegal if it infringes the author or creators intellectual property rights. For example, the owner of a copyright can sue a plagiarizer in federal court for copyright violation. The plagiarist in turn may have to pay the copyright owner of the plagiarized works the amount he or she actually lost because of the infringement, in addition to paying attorney’s fees.
Yet, plagiarism does occur and may likely continue to occur. Many famous icons have been proven to have plagiarized, either intentionally or accidentally. Helen Keller was accused of plagiarism during her school years, as was Martin Luther King, Jr., when a Boston University investigation revealed he had in fact plagiarized approximately one third of a chapter of his doctoral thesis.
Best-selling historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose were accused of stealing from other writers, and former Beatle George Harrison was sued for plagiarism because the melody of his song “My Sweet Lord” was too similar to the Chiffons’ song “He’s So Fine.” Probably the most recent form of plagiarism was the actions of former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who plagiarized from other newspapers more than three dozen articles and faked quotes for numerous prestigious stories. Blair’s deceit motivated the paper to investigate the management within the newspaper so that this type of farce would not happen again. In fact, New York Timesexecutive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd resigned following criticism that their management approach may have led to Blair’s professional growth at the paper.
Combating Plagiarism
Although proving plagiarism isn’t always easy, there are electronic sources that can help combat plagiarism. Search engines on the Internet can be used to discover and fight plagiarism by allowing authors and professors the ability to search suspicious phrases or passages. There is also anti-plagiarism software available, such as Wcopyfind and EduTie.com, as well as on-line prevention services like Turnitin or iThenticate.
If you feel your work has been plagiarized, the above three research techniques are good first steps to catch a plagiarizer. Attorneys specializing in intellectual property law can also help with the legal ramifications of plagiarism.
Source: https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/plagiarism-what-is-it-exactly
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