Fun with plagiarism

My wife has a website with 8 contributing writers.

A recent article by one of the writers seemed a little off. It just didn't sound like her writing.

My wife copied the entire first paragraph into Google and found she had lifted it from somewhere else, almost word for word.

That left my wife with the uncomfortable job of calling up the writer (a friend), and telling her the article would not be printed.

Such is life.

But the awful part of was the response. She REALLY didn't get it.

She said, "But I changed some stuff". Then added, "I'm not sure how much stuff needs to be changed to make it OK".

Really??

Since when is the standard "changing some stuff"? I thought writers were supposed to write.

As much as we all would find cut-and-paste plagiarism unacceptable, I also find it intolerable that a "writer" would EVER consider a few "changes" to someone else's work, then put her name on it.

The writer is now officially gone, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth for the society we live in.

Is this what we are teaching our kids?

Uggh.

Here's the real problem: "If it's on the internet, it's public domain"

It's not true, of course, but people figure that if it can be easily copied then it's fair game. This writer is an extreme case, of course. Hopefully kids are learning this in elementary and high school now with real penalties for plagiarism - and it's easier for teachers to check. It's folks who went to school pre-WWW who missed out on that and don't realize. How old is the writer here?

She must be a fan of Shia Lebouf

While I can't argue with your distaste, I'm not sure it's a society-wide problem. Tech certainly has changed the way we research and ability to plagiarize all that info is awful tempting to some people. However, as you demonstrated it is a helluva lot easier to call them out on it as well.

My girlfriend has a blog with 8 contributing writers.

A recent post by one of the writers seemed a little different. It just didn't sound like her writing.

My girlfriend copied the entire first paragraph into Google and found she had taken it from somewhere else, almost word for word.

That left my girlfriend with the unpleasant job of calling up the poster(a friend), and telling her the blog post would not be posted.

Such is life.

But the bad part of was the response. She REALLY didn't understand.

She said, "But I changed most of it". Then continued, "I'm not sure how much stuff needs to be changed to make it OK".

Are you kidding me!!!??

Since when is the standard "changing some stuff"? I thought writers were supposed to write.

As much as we all would find cut-and-paste plagiarism unacceptable, I also find it intolerable that a "writer" would EVER consider a few "changes" to someone else's work, then put her name on it.

The poster is now officially gone, but I still have a bad feeling in my gut for the society we live in.

Is this what we are teaching our kids?

Oi.

I was taught that if you give credit to the source then it's acceptable. And only when you give credit. It is plagiarism when you don't.

Half the comedy articles on the web coincidentally cover the same thing as a slightly older SomethingAwful thread.

wlkelley3 wrote: I was taught that if you give credit to the source then it's acceptable. And only when you give credit. It is plagiarism when you don't.

It's a bit more complex than that. The amount you quote is a factor.

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

Keith Tanner wrote: Here's the real problem: "If it's on the internet, it's public domain" It's not true, of course, but people figure that if it can be easily copied then it's fair game. This writer is an extreme case, of course. Hopefully kids are learning this in elementary and high school now with real penalties for plagiarism - and it's easier for teachers to check. It's folks who went to school pre-WWW who missed out on that and don't realize. How old is the writer here?

They're not learning and haven't learned, even when you hit the "high end" of education. We've had to end some people's PhD careers for copypasta, and not the smart kind. I'm talking the "I was working on my thesis proposal so I thought it was okay that I copied someone's assignment sentence for sentence from last year" kind. Dude(tte) didn't even change the figure (s)he copied...

Now imagine the people who still don't get caught (or if so, not punished enough) by the time they're a full-blown scientist...or doctor...or other trust-required position...

wlkelley3 wrote: I was taught that if you give credit to the source then it's acceptable. And only when you give credit. It is plagiarism when you don't.

Will a reasonable reader expect the opinion you present to be entirely your own? If so, almost no amount of copying is appropriate, even with citations.

Will a reasonable reader interpret your work to be an analysis of someone else's thoughts? If so, you've done your job making it explicitly clear what is and isn't copied, and from where. Kudos!

If your job requires the first, it doesn't matter if you turn in the second.

It is essentially theft.

I regularly fail students for plagiarism - usually one or two per semester - after repeated discussions of exactly what constitutes it, printed versions of same, and what penalties will ensue when I catch it. Cutting-and-pasting is the most common form I see; some students are so lazy that they don't even both to adjust the font to match the rest of the paper.

There are some who seem genuinely surprised, though they have no reason to be. The sense I get from the confrontations where I advise them of the situation is that generally 1) they don't think they're going to get caught, and 2) they don't think they're going to be punished. I firmly believe that the second is just as much a problem as the first.

In reply to kylini: Agreed! Just stating that there is a procedure for it and a time/place for it. Can use it to backup/justify your opinion but still need citations.

Another point I didn't specify well is this is just not taught that well. At least in some places, which is why it's so prevelant.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. --I totally stole that

Thank you, 02Pilot. There needs to be consequences. Not just to teach that it's wrong, but to teach that you need to use your brain.

In reply to 02Pilot:

I guess my issue was:

3) She didn't have any understanding whatsoever that she had done something wrong.

And she somehow thought there was some formulaic approach that would make it OK.

This woman has 7 or 8 grandchildren. She should have learned the ethical distinctions a LONG time ago.

Hell it worked for the Vice President.

02Pilot wrote: ...There are some who seem genuinely surprised, though they have no reason to be. The sense I get from the confrontations where I advise them of the situation is that generally 1) they don't think they're going to get caught, and 2) they don't think they're going to be punished. I firmly believe that the second is just as much a problem as the first.

The further along you get, the bigger #2 becomes the true problem. Even in the blatant case I cited above, the only reason my program went from no punishment to expel is because a professor remembered a previous incident with that student, which was also not punished.

Every professor says it's a black mark on your record, but it never is. Unless it's tracked and repeated offenders are kicked out without hesitation, it'll never be taken seriously.

Matt B wrote: ...I'm not sure it's a society-wide problem...

I am caught between being thankful for your re-direct and for refocusing me to not be SDN (So D^mned Negative), and trying to decide if your statement is really naive.

I am choosing to settle on the former (thank you), but don't think I can really accept it fully at an emotional level.

That's a complicated way of saying I am not sure I believe it is true.

After my co-host left my show, I had noticed that he was reading a local race report word-for-word. This bugged me weather he had permission or not. I often times refer to articles and I try to at least mention who they are from and what website. Sure, my ADD gets the best of me sometimes, but I'll realize it and get back to it. "Thanks, you gave me some info". If people were copying off my work, which isn't hard work, but work, I would be unhappy. There is a ton of free-access material, and I appreciate what I can get.

Quite sad, really. I don't think that is something you need to learn in school.

Let me confess something...

In my younger days (pre-WWW), I was plenty guilty of it myself.

I was actually pretty good at it- never got caught. I'm not proud of that.

But I NEVER claimed to be a writer, nor PUBLISHED any of the work.

I know- that's not an excuse.

I actually have published works, but those are ALL mine.

But a professional in ANY field should have some level of competency at doing their job without stealing talents from other people.

Maybe I have a bit of a double standard. I understand how students being asked to write something (with limited writing abilities) would plagiarize to maintain their GPA (again, no excuse, I just understand). But I really can't tolerate a person who makes their profession at writing, but steals another writer's work.

That double standard is a problem :) You're left with a very grey line - it's okay for monetary reward, but not for grades? That's the currency of education.

I know there's at least one well-respected Miata book that has a section lifted word-for-word off the Miata.net garage. As soon as I noticed that, I considered the book to be garbage.

Had someone on a group project in one of my MBA classes who C&P'd a couple of paragraphs from Wikipedia of all places. The total of her changes was to reformat the text so that the hyperlinks were no longer blue and underlined. They were still there, just black. She saw no issue with it.

Oh, dear me, how unspeakably funny and owlishly idiotic and grotesque was that ‘plagiarism’ farce! As if there was much of anything in any human utterance, oral or written, except plagiarism! The kernel, the soul — let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances — is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily used by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing. When a great orator makes a great speech you are listening to ten centuries and ten thousand men — but we call it his speech, and really some exceedingly small portion of it is his. But not enough to signify. It is merely a Waterloo. It is Wellington’s battle, in some degree, and we call it his; but there are others that contributed. It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a telephone or any other important thing — and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite — that is all he did. These object lessons should teach us that ninety-nine parts of all things that proceed from the intellect are plagiarisms, pure and simple; and the lesson ought to make us modest. But nothing can do that.

--Mark Twain

02Pilot wrote: I regularly fail students for plagiarism - usually one or two per semester - after repeated discussions of exactly what constitutes it, printed versions of same, and what penalties will ensue when I catch it. Cutting-and-pasting is the most common form I see; some students are so lazy that they don't even both to adjust the font to match the rest of the paper.

In the old days, when a student was writing a paper they had to get out the encyclopedia and transcribe the information they were copying by hand... Nowadays, it's way too easy to simply cut and paste.

Part of the reason opinion has gotten so popular is because you can read a lot of different sources, form your views, write a few paragraphs, get some people fired up, get lots of page views, and not give credit to anyone.

As long as you're not quoting one person in particular or using similar wording, you're in the clear.

What is getting confusing is the amount of "linked" articles. I write an article about you're article, and I say "click the link to find out more".