Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a form of cheating, and within academia is seen as academic dishonesty. It is a matter of deceit: fooling a reader into believing that certain written material is original when it is not. Plagiarism is a serious and punishable academic offense, when the goal is to obtain some sort of personal academic credit or personal recognition.

Plagiarism is not necessarily the same as copyright infringement, which occurs when one violates copyright law.

Definition

Plagiarism is the passing off of another person's work as if it were one's own, by claiming credit for something that was actually done by someone else. Deliberate plagiarism is an attempt to claim another person's work as one's own, usually by removing tell-tale evidence or changing words so the plagiarism is made harder to spot.

An unacknowledged use of words, information, research, or findings not one's own, taken from any source is plagiarism only if a person is claiming personal credit for originality. It is not plagiarism to use well-known 'common sense' facts (e.g.: "gravity causes things to fall downwards" or "World War II ended in 1945") without acknowledging a source, because readers understand the author is not claiming originality of commonly known facts.

Types

According to Diana Hacker, "Three acts are plagiarism: (1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks and (3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words." A Pocket Style Manual, 4h ed., 2004 Bedford/St. Martin's, pp 228-30.

Other experts say that absence of quotation marks is not by itself plagiarism. If they have been removed to hide plagiarism that proves the plagiarism is deliberate. For other interpretations see MLA (Modern Language Association) (115), the APA (American Psychological Association) (157-158), Chicago-Style (186).

Intentional and obvious plagiarism, where an entire essay or research paper is copied from another source, is often blamed on stress or laziness.

Accidental plagiarism is often the result of poor citation or referencing, or of poor preparation, or a misunderstanding of plagiarism per se. Sometimes students will arrive at university unprepared for the writing of academic essays and research papers, and will take a few semesters to familarize themselves with what is required. The internet has made it easy to plagiarize with the cut and paste tools on most computers.

Self-plagiarism is the act of copying one's published or submitted writing without mentioning the previous use or publication. For example, in academic assignments, the submission of the same paper in more than one course is considered self-plagiarism. Self-plagiarism is not usually considered an academic offense of plagiarism, but the deceit involved in submitting the same material for credit in different courses is considered unethical, though it is highly controversial. Most people will ignore self-plagiarism as works that you created are yours and can be used any way you want. You own the work and the right to use it however you may wish to.

Unintentional plagiarism may arise from a person being affected by "cryptomnesia", which is the recalling of memories without realizing their source and then thinking these memories are original creations. Helen Keller claimed to have been a victim of cryptomnesia when she wrote "The Frost King".

Punishments

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence which can result in punishment ranging from a failing grade on the particular assignment, or the course, leading cumulatively to an academic suspension or expulsion. Being found guilty of plagiarism can ruin an academic career; it may result in revocation of one's degree, or the loss of one's job, and will result in the loss of academic credibility.

Although plagiarism is often loosely referred to as theft or stealing, it has not been prosecuted in the law courts, according to Stuart Green. Instead, claims of plagiarism are a civil law matter; acts that constitute plagiarism are in some instances treated as copyright infringement, unfair competition, or a violation of the doctrine of moral rights. More often, charges of plagiarism are resolved through internal disciplinary proceedings (which students usually agree to be bound by when they enter a course).

Frequency of plagiarism

There is little academic research into the frequency of plagiarism. Any research that has taken place has focused on universities (higher education). There are no published statistics for the school or college (further education) sectors; awarding bodies do not maintain statistics on plagiarism.

Of the forms of cheating (including plagiarism, inventing data and cheating during an exam), students admit to plagiarism more than any other. 25% to 90% of students admit to plagiarism. However, this figure decreases considerably when students are asked about the frequency of "serious" plagiarism (such as copying most of an assignment, or purchasing a complete paper from a website – 20% and 10%). Recent use of specialist detection software (see below) has given a more accurate picture of prevelance.

Avoiding plagiarism

In professional academic circles, plagiarism is avoided by learning and using the agreed citation style; such as MLA style, Chicago style, or APA style. Students will also be expected to learn and adopt the style that has been adopted by the university they are attending.

Generally speaking, facts that are common knowledge (for example, the date that WWII ended) need not be referenced, while facts that are not considered common knowledge in one's field must be cited. Similarly, a quote from any source, words or information, even if paraphrased, or any ideas not one's own must be cited. For instance, while it is acceptable to copy several paragraphs of text from a book and place them in a paper, if the source of the text (the author's name and title of the work) is not identified, even if the text is well known (for example, an excerpt from Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky), it is considered plagiarism.

Similarly, it is considered plagiarism to take someone's idea and then present it as one's own work. However, it is not plagiarism when two (or more) people independently come up with the same new ideas. This is commonly termed simultaneous inspiration, and comes about as the result of people exposed to the same source and interpreting it similarly. This commonly occurs in the sciences, for example Newton and Leibniz' seemingly independent invention of calculus.

There is some difference of opinion over how much credit must be given in non-academic settings, such as when preparing a newspaper article or historical account. Generally, reference is made to original source material as much as possible, and writers avoid taking credit for others' work. The use of facts in non-academic settings (e.g. journalism, speeches), rather than works of creative expression, does not usually constitute plagiarism. However, if those giving a speech (e.g. politicians) have power over the lives of others, then they usually have a moral duty to ensure their claims are seen to be based on reliable and tracable evidence.

Commercial plagiarism and anti-plagiarism services

The Internet is said to have encouraged plagiarism, since students are now able to use search engines to quickly find information which can be easily copied and pasted into an essay. A market has also emerged for pre-written papers, often via websites offering essays and papers for sale to students. Some sites provide free documents because they receive monetary support from sponsors. Other websites offer essays for money. These websites provide a database of topics or custom-made essays on any topic for a fee. Some websites offer monthly subscriptions while others offer a price per essay. Generally, such sites include a copyright statement or anti-plagiarism notice with their papers.

In recent years advanced forms of anti-plagiarism software, that use key-phrase comparison and stylometrics, have become increasingly common. Students submit work, and the software checks multiple phrases against: 1) the contents of the internet, including newly digitised "book banks"; 2) a definitive commercial bank of essays purchased from online "essay banks"; and 3) samples of previous essays known to have been written by the student (e.g: in an exam situation), through a stylometry comparison. The mass rollout of such anti-cheating services has given more accurate figures for the prevelance of plagiarism.

Plagiarism and the law

In common law countries, plagiarism itself is not a crime; there are copyright infringement laws, and those laws are primarily in the civil codes; criminal codes require that it is both willful and noticeable amounts of money are involved .

According to some academic ethics codes, a complaint of plagiarism may be initiated or proven by any person. The person originating the complaint need not be the owner of the plagiarized content, nor need there be communication from a content owner directing that an investigation or disciplinary be conducted. In many academic settings intent does not even enter into consideration. Princeton dismisses intent as "irrelevant" and Doug Johnson says that intent is "not necessary for a work to be considered plagiaristic and as one respondent put it, 'ignorance of the law is no excuse.' Some universities will even revoke a degree if plagiarism is proven at a disciplinary hearing.

Just as there can be plagiarism without lawbreaking, it is possible to violate copyright law without plagiarising. For example, one could distribute the full text of a bestseller on the Internet while giving credit for it to the original author, financially damaging the author and publisher.

Organizational publications

Plagiarism is not involved in collective unsigned works issued by an organization. That is because they do not assign credit for originality to particular people. Many reference books, textbooks and encyclopedias do not cite their sources.

Technical manuals routinely copy facts from other manuals without attribution, because they assume a common spirit of scientific endeavor in which scientists freely share their work. The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications Third Edition (2003) by Microsoft does not even mention plagiarism, nor does Science and Technical Writing: A Manual of Style, Second Edition (2000) by Philip Rubens.

It is common for university researchers to rephrase and republish their own work, tailoring it for different academic journals, and often also for a newspaper article, in order to disseminate their work to the widest possible interested public.

Public figures commonly use anonymous speech writers. However, if a speech uses copied material, it is the public figure who may well be embarrassed. In 1988 Joe Biden was forced out of that year's US Presidential race (but remained in the US Senate) when it was discovered his campaign speech contained plagiarism.

Famous accusations and examples of plagiarism

Academia and Scholarship

• Numerous passages of Robert Mason's 1983 Vietnam War memoir Chickenhawk were copied, almost word-for-word, by Charles Sasser and Ron Alexander in their 2001 book, Taking Fire.
• James A. Mackay, a Scottish historian, was forced to withdraw all copies of his biography of Alexander Graham Bell from circulation in 1998 because he plagiarized the last major work on the subject, a 1973 work. Also accused of plagiarizing material on biographies of Mary Queen of Scots, Andrew Carnegie, and Sir William Wallace, he was forced to withdraw his next work, on John Paul Jones, in 1999 for an identical reason.
• Psychology professor René Diekstra author of popular books, left Leiden University in 1997 after accusations of plagiarism. Proceedings continued as of 2003, with Diekstra contesting a report about him on this matter.
• Historian Stephen Ambrose has been criticized for incorporating passages from the works of other authors into many of his books. He was first accused in 2002 by two writers for copying portions about World War II bomber pilots from Thomas Childers's The Wings of Morning in his book The Wild Blue. After Ambrose admitted to the errors, the New York Times found further unattributed passages, and "Mr. Ambrose again acknowledged his errors and promised to correct them in later editions."
• Marks Chabedi, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, plagiarized his doctoral thesis. He used a work written by Kimberly Lanegran at the University of Florida and copied it nearly verbatim before submitting it to The New School. When Lanegran discovered this, she launched an investigation into Chabedi. He was fired from his professorship, and The New School revoked his Ph.D.
• Author Doris Kearns Goodwin interviewed author Lynne McTaggart in her 1987 book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, and she used passages from McTaggart's book about Kathleen Kennedy. In 2002, when the similarities between Goodwin's and McTaggart's books became public, Goodwin stated that she had an understanding that citations would not be required for all references, and that extensive footnotes already existed. Many doubted her claims, and she was forced to resign from the Pulitzer Prize board.
• A University of Colorado investigating committee found Ethnic Studies professor and activist Ward Churchill guilty of multiple counts of plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification. The Chancellor has recommended Churchill's dismissal to the Board of Regents. The action is currently pending Churchill's appeal.

Culture

• A young Helen Keller was accused in 1892 for plagiarizing The Frost King, a short story that strongly resembled Margaret T. Canby's story "The Frost Fairies." She was brought before a tribunal of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, where she was acquitted by a single vote. She worried she may have read The Frost Fairies and forgotten it and "remained paranoid about plagiarism ever after." ; this lead her to write autobiography: the one thing she knew must be original.
• The 1922 film Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Stoker's widow sued the producers of Nosferatu, and had many of the film's copies destroyed (although some remain).
• George Harrison was successfully sued in a prolonged suit that began in 1971 for plagiarizing the Chiffons' "He's So Fine" for the melody of his own "My Sweet Lord."
• Eres tú, Spanish song at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was a plagiarism of a Slovenian (then Yugoslav) song from ESC 1966 (Berta Ambrož: Brez Besed) but due to the Cold War it wasn't disqualified.
• Atari's video game Pong was accused by Magnavox of being a copy of the Odyssey's tennis game. Nolan Bushnell saw Ralph Baer's version at a 1972 electronics show in Burlingame, California. Bushnell then founded Atari and established Pong as its featured game. "Baer and Magnavox filed suit against Bushnell and Atari in 1973 and finally reached an out-of-court settlement in 1976. It marked the end for Odyssey and the beginning of the Atari age."
• Alex Haley settled a lawsuit with Harold Courlander for a passage in Haley's novel Roots that imitated his novel The African. "Accusations that portions of 'Roots' (Doubleday hard cover, Dell paperback) were plagiarized or concocted plagued Mr. Haley from soon after the book's publication up until his death in February 1992. In 1978, Mr. Haley was sued for plagiarism by Harold Courlander, author of the novel 'The Africans,' and paid him $650,000 in an out-of-court settlement." Haley insisted that "the passages 'were in something somebody had given me, and I don't know who gave it to me . . . . Somehow or another, it ended up in the book."
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • According to a Boston University investigation into academic misconduct, King plagiarized portions of his doctoral thesis that summarizes the concepts of God expressed by Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman. "A committee of scholars at Boston University concluded yesterday that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. plagiarized portions of his doctoral dissertation, completed there in the 1950s." Despite the plagiarism, the BU committee recommended that King's doctoral degree should not be revoked.
  • It has been charged that for his "I Have A Dream" speech King plagiarized the 1952 address of Archibald Carey to the Republican National Convention, the similarities being in the reference to the Samuel Francis Smith patriotic hymn "America" in the peroration followed by a listing of geographical locations from which the orator exhorts his audience to "let freedom ring." Many, however, believe that the comparisons are so slightly similar that they do not rise to the level of plagiarism. King's "I Have a Dream" Speech, Carey's Speech, My Country, 'Tis of Thee.
• Science fiction author Harlan Ellison sued and won in a case against James Cameron, claiming that his film The Terminator plagiarized the two episodes he wrote for the television show The Outer Limits: "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand".
• Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, has been twice accused of plagiarism resulting in lawsuits, but both suits were ultimately dismissed.
  • Brown was accused of "appropriating the architecture" of the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982) by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. A British judge dismissed the copyright infringement claim in April 2006.
  • Additionally, Brown was accused by novelist Lewis Perdue for plagiarizing his novels The Da Vinci Legacy (1983) and Daughter of God (2000). A U.S. judge dismissed the case in August 2005.
• Kaavya Viswanathan's first novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life is reported to contain plagiarized passages from at least five other novels. All editions of the book were subsequently withdrawn, her publishing deal with Little, Brown and Co. was rescinded, and a film deal with Dreamworks SKG was cancelled.
• William H. Swanson, CEO, of Raytheon, admitted to plagiarism in claiming authorship for his booklet, "Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management," after being exposed by The New York Times. On May 2, 2006, Raytheon withdrew distribution of the book.

Journalism

• In 1999, writer and television commentator Monica Crowley allegedly plagiarized part of an article she wrote for the Wall Street Journal (August 9, 1999), called "The Day Nixon Said Goodbye." The Journal ran an apology the same week. Timothy Noah of Slate Magazine later wrote of the striking similarities in her article to phrases Paul Johnson used in his 1988 article for Commentary called "In Praise of Richard Nixon".
• New York Times reporter Jayson Blair plagiarized articles and manufactured quotations in stories, including stories regarding Jessica Lynch and the Beltway sniper attacks. He and several editors from the Times resigned in June 2003.
• Moorestown Township, New Jersey, high-school student Blair Hornstine had her admission to Harvard University revoked in July 2003 after she was found to have passed off speeches and writings by famous figures, including Bill Clinton, as hers in articles she wrote as a student journalist for a local newspaper.
• Long-time Baltimore Sun columnist Michael Olesker resigned on January 4, 2006, after being accused of plagiarizing other journalists' articles in his columns.
• Conservative blogger Ben Domenech, soon after he was hired to write a blog for the Washington Post in 2006, was found to have plagiarized a number of columns and articles he'd written for his college newspaper and National Review Online, lifting passages from a variety of sources ranging from well-known pundits to amateur film critics. After initially blaming any wrongdoing on past editors, Domenech eventually resigned and apologized.

Politics

• Senator Joseph Biden
  • Biden was forced to withdraw from the 1988 Democratic Presidential nominations when it was alleged that he had failed a 1965 introductory law school course on legal methodology due to plagiarism. "Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., fighting to salvage his Presidential campaign . . . acknowledged 'a mistake' in his youth, when he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school. Mr. Biden insisted, however, that he had done nothing 'malevolent,' that he had simply misunderstood the need to cite sources carefully." Biden withdrew from the race September 23, 1987, and reported the law school incident to the Delaware Supreme Court. The court's Board of Professional Responsibility cleared him of any allegations.
  • Biden was also accused of plagiarizing portions of his speeches, and that he had copied several campaign speeches, notably those of British Labour leader Neil Kinnock and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He denied those charges. "And he asserted that another controversy, concerning recent reports of his using material from others' speeches without attribution, was 'much ado about nothing.'"
• Iraq War
  • In a 'New York Times' editorial, President Bush's National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice explained that Saddam Hussein could not be trusted for various reasons, including the fact that Hussein had committed plagiarism. "Iraq's declaration [to the United Nations regarding the state of its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs] even resorted to unabashed plagiarism, with lengthy passages of United Nations reports copied word-for-word (or edited to remove any criticism of Iraq) and presented as original text."
  • On February 3, 2003, Alastair Campbell, Prime Minister Tony Blair's Director of Communications and Strategy, released a briefing document to journalists called Iraq: Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation. It described Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction programs. Journalists discovered that many sources, particularly an article by Ibrahim al-Marashi, had been copied word-for-word, including typographical errors. Journalists dubbed the document the "Dodgy Dossier." After the revelation, Blair's office issued a statement admitting that a mistake was made in not crediting its sources, but it did not concede that the quality of the documents's content was affected.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused by fellows at the Brookings Institution of plagiarism. It has been alleged that "[l]arge chunks of Putin's economics dissertation on planning in the natural resources sector were lifted straight out of a management text published by two University of Pittsburgh academics nearly 20 years earlier."