Plagiarism

I'm featuring this again because there is plagiarism on this site and this issue needs to be addressed.

 

 

Plagiarism

 

No this is not a sensationalist piece meant to garner ratings, but an honest article for any who may have questions or isn’t sure what plagiarism is.  Let’s face it, all writers have a silent code amongst ourselves in this and other writer’s communities, groups, clubs, and organizations, etc., and that is this:  Don’t plagiarize my work.

 

Most of us don’t feel the need to verbalize it since as I said there is a silent agreement, but there are those who feel the need to post warnings on their work, blogs or websites warning would-be word thieves what will happen to them and their various body parts if it is discovered that their work has been stolen.  The reason is simple; there is a very real fear of being plagiarized.

 

So the question arises; what exactly is plagiarism?  Many have opinions about what it means, and I could easily give you a list of some of those, but for the sake of not trying to confuse anyone or take up too much of your time with this article, here is what plagiarism actually is:

 

“Plagiarism is the practice of claiming or implying original authorship of (or incorporating material from) someone else's written or creative work, in whole or in part, into one's own without adequate acknowledgement. Unlike cases of forgery, in which the authenticity of the writing, document, or some other kind of object itself is in question, plagiarism is concerned with the issue of false attribution.”

 

Notice I used quotation marks?  That’s because that statement is not mine, but quoted from another source; that source to be exact - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

 

Here’s is some more from that same webpage: (mentioning that this is from another source and then giving that source’s information is called a “citation”)

 

“Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud and offenders are subject to academic censure. In journalism, plagiarism is considered a breach of journalistic ethics, and reporters caught plagiarizing typically face disciplinary measures ranging from suspension to termination. Some individuals caught plagiarizing in academic or journalistic contexts claim that they plagiarized unintentionally, by failing to include quotations or give the appropriate citation. While plagiarism in scholarship and journalism has a centuries-old history, the development of the Internet, where articles appear as electronic text, has made the physical act of copying the work of others much easier, simply by copying and pasting text from one web page to another.”

 

*The italics in the above paragraph were added by me for emphasis.

 

I would also like to add that you risk being forever blacklisted, which means that you will not be able to publish your work.  How is that possible you ask? Because publishers and editors share information like this amongst themselves.  So if one of them catches you giving yourself credit for something that someone else has written, they are going to make it their business to tell others about it.

 

Why you may ask? Because plagiarism is considered to be the lowest thing one writer can do to another. But more importantly for the publication, they risk being sued by the original author if they publish plagiarized material and worse than that, they risk being blacklisted themselves.  And in a business where reputation is everything, that is everything.  Besides being extremely unprofessional on the part of the writer, it breeds an atmosphere of distrust since when it is discovered no one is going to feel able to trust that you won’t do it again. 

 

Some may argue that there are no original ideas anymore and my opinion of such an argument is that whoever thinks that is probably someone I should watch out for, because there are original ideas and ways of taking something such as a love story and putting your own particular stamp on it. 

 

Examples:

 

1. Anne Rice took the age old story of the vampire and made it uniquely her own. How age old is it? Well according to the information found here: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~vampire/vhist.html , vampire myths go back thousands of years.  So even Bram Stoker, the author of “Dracula,” which was published in 1897 was borrowing the idea for his book from a legend.  Did he plagiarize it? No, and neither did Anne Rice.
2. “Star Wars,” and “Lord of the Rings,” along with quite a few other books borrow from the some of the oldest themes in writing; the hero on a quest, the romantic couple, the wizard, the dark lord, etc.  But each of those stories takes those familiar themes and then does something completely different with them.  If you want to read more about this other archetypes in literature, and also some basic literary elements, there’s more information about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype#Archetypes_in_literature

and here: http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/literary_elements.htm

 

I’m sure that after reading these lists you might be able to think of other examples in literature and movies that also fit those ideas. I’m pretty sure each one of us could come up with something uniquely our own using this page as a guide and create something that could only come from our imaginations and abilities. 

 

But the bottom line is still this:

 

There is no reason why you or anyone else who claims to be a writer can’t do the same thing. Which of course is what any writer who has the capacity and the imagination to write should be able to do.  If you still want to argue that there are no original ideas and use that as an excuse to steal work and ideas that aren’t your own, then perhaps writing isn’t the field for you. Seriously.  Try something else.

 

So the next time you want to quote a song or words from a movie or borrow anything from another writer’s work give the original author, composer, movie or whatever it is, their due.  Use quotation marks, mention the author’s name, use citations but for god’s sake don’t pretend that it’s your own original work.  For those of us who are poets and fiction writers, that goes the same for you too.  We aren’t immune from being blacklisted and publically heralded as thieves.

 

Hopefully now its clear what plagarism is, so for those who aren’t sure you have an explanation and to those who you are doing it, you have a warning.  You will be found out, because sooner or later these kinds of things are always found out.  You will ruin your reputation and any hopes of having a writing career of any kind.  So you may want to ask yourself a couple of questions:

 

1. Is the momentary attention that I’m receiving really worth losing my reputation as not only a writer, but also a honest human being really worth it?
2. Do I really want a writing career, which  means not only that I’m a serious writer, but also that I’m willing to live up to standards of journalistic professionalism?
3. Why am I doing this in the first place? If I’m a creative person then surely I must be able to come up with ideas of my own which come from me, my experiences, my abilities and my craft.

 

In the end its up to each one of us to decide what we want to do.  Ignorance isn’t an excuse,  there is no excuse for plagiarizing someone else’s work.

Reviews

[Jenny Davis]

Well first off, hats off to you for having the courage to say this as it is on the tip of everyone's tongue yet we all seem to go mute when there is time to get right down to brass tax!! You have said EVERYTHING that makes sense in terms of what a plagiarist is and God loves everyone, but this issue is really a thorn in my side. I was a victim once and when I contacted the website they did NOTHING! I sent a cease and desist letter and finally they took it down. It is both offensive and in BAD TASTE to copy other's writings...online or off, and take credit for it yourself...it is a shameful act and shouldn't be tolerated. A writer puts his or her blood, sweat and tears into what they create and to have it stolen is hurtful to say the least. I agree with you in saying that people CAN and SHOULD be able to write something on their own because like you said, if they can't they shouldn't be writing! Bravo, cheers, well done and all that other fun stuff...You did this professionally, you are a REAL writer! :)

PS- The picture is phenom. ;)

[Gandré]

Well, I came here to read your work. I didn't find a new poem - above, but I found this. There is enough work I didn't read yet. As I don't post here anymore, I can read more.
You wrote a perfect information without trying to gain fame or points - you wrote it how it is. You did even more: you appealed on the intelligence of every writer. Unusual and ethically the best thing you can do. You informed us that such an abstract topic as "vampires" cannot be plagiarism, for everyone can write about vampires. So, when I claimed that before I joined WC noone wrote this metaphysical topics and suddently many do. What I don't like about it, is not the idea of writing about the universe, this is free - as you claimed (same example like vampires). But, I found several work here, this has even been sent to me to review it - where people just use my metaphorical combinations. I mean, I can see it when it is plagiarism and when not. Several others wrote about the universe but they presented their work on another level of consciousness, and I have seen that has nothing to do with my ideas and words and style.
You see, why I got furious recently is simply because this writing requiers lots of our time; and it is damn hard work when we produce art! We spent nights and nights and weekends to write our poems, to perfectionize them (how ever others feel if my poem is "perfect" I use this verb now, for I thought, to me it was perfect that time and we re-read - and another day it was not perfect anymore, so we changed it.. etc)
We for sure have different drives why we don't wish to be plagiarized. Some people on wC told me "oh be proud that other take your idea, words, that means you are good..." and I tell you here now - this is not how I feel: it is my intellectual property and I want to be the creator. It is not OK to find my metaphors and even grammar, what is obvious that's stolen, example: I say "the sun is its shining" and other might say, this is wrong grammar, even in poetry this is allowed.. I always sensed...and I would not want to say "the sun shines" because I simply have another consciousness. This is not about grammar, it was about my consciousness. I am my loving someone or my disliking someone, so is the sun its shining. Nothing more and nothing less. Then... after many harrasing reviews after I have been featured on this site, sometimes in a row... people felt frustrated or how ever, they offered me unpleasant reviews, especially Michael Bauer that guy was outrageous! So, you can imagine how much I wondered when I find suddently work on WC where people not only use my metaphors, my word combinations, my titles, (well titles just are sometimes found in a number, books etc, but I know that I was the first one, I just see...and others have seen that, too) and they plagiarized even my using the language - suddently that making substantivising the verb was allright... I wondered... Suddently many try to write this metaphysical topics, they say, they feel influenced by me. Or they told me, that their poem "is just an answer to my poem"..... However, this work is an intellectual property. And I don't strive for getting famous, for this would mean that getting power and ego-drive means getting high frequency, that would absolutely not be my aim. I just want to share here with others and perhaps I can once find an agent or publisher, who knows.. but I don't wish to be told aha ! Love In Infrared ? There already exists such a title. I knew there doesn't exist such a one, I checked on it, when I 've chosen it on internet. I want to be the creator what I really am. And not being told, oh you are plagirizing someone else, who used my ideas, or even parts of my text, poems for his own work. Oh I have seen that. The most killing example was my poem THE PANTHER. There is a writer, his nick was that time "High Road" and he posted a poem called "The Pantress". He really did a "cut through out my poetry... used many many of my metaphors, even the story of his poem was the same, as mine - the woman going down the street, in the night, looking for adventures. It was simply outrageous. But of course, he said - this was his own creation! Even, he took that poem down here. He didn't steal only this content, oh many several. And now, I guess, he is here, using another nick name, why not.

So my own consequence is: there is no reason for posting intellectual property for free on internet when a writer just has got this special inner sense that he is a good writer enough to be published. The only way how to do this is to send it to agents and publishing houses for their consideration. Oh well, at the beginning, when I came here, I didn't feel like that. But I feel now. And after posting my book, I have seen, people have read it but didn't review. Nevertheless, I have seen works influences how ever we call it by this excerpt of my book. Even a title of my chapter has been used by another writer, why not - why not. But what is my profit by posting it at all? Right: there is no profit at all. In this way, I just feed others who might suffer under writer's block with an idea and words and with this I make my work one of many others....
Why should I do this? And yes, I am furious that I posted here so much work, I think, I had the highest amount of work on WC, with 543 poems and 70 essays and after this disappearing - I posted another works, not the same work... and again experienced plagiarism. So, I prefer just read you guys, but not posting anymore. Glad that I didn't post the skeleton of my book with the philosophy behind it, with all the equations and modells in theory transfering them into reality.....I am lucky I didn't ! And I don't care if one of you means that I am arrogant. I just know that things were how I perceived them, I have enough distance and without megalomanic thoughts I know that I have been plagirized several times.

[Tony]

Thank you for saying something that needs to be said. And in great detail for those who do not understand the 'code' by which writers work.
The simple fact is, a plagiarist is not a writer. And likely never will be for they do not have the talent, desire, or the fodder that makes up what us readers love to read.

Just the fact that someone would say, "There are no more original ideas" is evidence they are not a writer.

A reviewer above mentioned the type of music a plagiarist might listen to, to which I would add, nothing irritates me more than hearing the intro to a great rock and roll tune, only to have some poor excuse for a hip hop artist come in after the first few bars. Sampling? I think not. Plagiarism is the word to be used here.

I am not what I would consider a great writer, but I have never stolen anything because that not only would be unacceptable, but also weak and ignorant.
Finally, if someone wants to steal my work, go ahead, I'll just make more. Something a thief could never do.

[Rain]

This piece hits very close to home. My piece " The "F" Word." Was copied word for word, except the girls name were changed to Indian names.
The guy was an auther and posted it on his hight tech blog. I tracked down the company he works for in India, and they were quite concerned, since theit company represents and promotes authors. This guy was a 9 year employee, The compnay forced him to take it down, plus write a written apology. It was a direct reflection on their integrity. Great post. Rain..

[Chad Wesley Allbrett]

Um, yeah, why would anyone want to plagiarize? ( I bet those people listen to crappy corny banal music too, because It takes a bit more time to find the stuff with soul!) I think there is so many things to write about in terms of originality, if a cynic like myself can say that then, I believe anyone can.
It's true that what we say and feel has probably been around, thought and wrote about forever, but so what, put a new twist on it!
Everybody is an individual if they realised it. B.B. King said something like, (paraphrase,) "I only play a few notes, like a cook with a few ingredients, but to serve them up differently, you have to be quite a chief!"

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

This is so interesting all the examples you gave and the links. I must say sometimes I do use song lyrics and sometimes I add quotations but i have seen a few where I did not .. I was thinking people know this is a song and not written by me .. but in light of reading this .. i am going to be more careful..
Good points for us and nice writing .. as always!

Chloe
xoxo

[An Ordinary Woman]

Excellent. I wish I had more time today, there is much I'd like to add about this topic. However i feel like you've done an excellent job of covering the bases of plagiarism and as you clearly state, it IS a big deal. In fact I utilize "Copyscape" and I recommend it to all writers.

One branch of this that is gaining more and more attention recently is the theft of images. I'm not sure if this was brought up in your comments, I wasn't able to read them all but I feel it bears mentioning. With the www opening up doors that before wasn't such a huge and tempting threat, image theft is now a source of great concern as well.

Excellent and very informative writing.

[E. M. Murren]

I gravitated to this piece first today because of the recent charges against Obama. I work with meditations and know that thoughts can come from a vaeirty of sources. If we all read Henry Miller's TROPIC OF CANCER for example, we might write on similar topics and perhaps borrow a bit of Miller's style in our composition, but each work would be independent. My meditations come from a blend of my life and the meanings of the tarot or runes. Thus I have several works in which I repeat themes and obviously phrases of my own beliefs.

When a man like Obama makes a speech, he is working with a set of values which many of us share. He obviously borrows styles from great speakers that he knows and quotes freely those who influence him. To me that is not plagerism.

Your piece is quite enlightening to the true definition. It is also quite well written, so say the least. Your style always shines through. Brava!

[Wulfstan Crumble]

Excellently written and not sensationalist or ranty at all. It was calm and very professionally presented. I remember a classmate at university being expelled for plagiarism. So, there are consequences out there. I like how you discussed more than the obvious copying but also about themes and what truly is plagiarism. It is said that there are no original ideas anymore. I would say that is possibly true but there are original combinations of content, style and so on that will keep new stories coming. I was interested in the differences between homages and plagiarism. Sometimes i do like homage certain films or whatnot but not copy wholesale. A homage usually winks at those who know it. Well, anyhow, it was a great piece.

[Blackbirdsong]

I have to say I find it completely insane that anyone would stand in defense of plagiarism, especially on a writer's site, but as always I find myself dealing with yet another person who is determined to try to prove that the wheel is in fact not round.

Besides what Jenny Davis quoted about plagiarism, I'd like to add this...plagiarism is ONLY an academic offense in an academic setting and since this is not, nor is it when journalists are charged with plagiarism, quoting some nonsense which was clearly from that standpoint is kind of silly.

People can be sued for plagiarism, they can also be fired, and for this in academia, you can be kicked out of school. Funny the justice system would allow any of that to occur if plagiarism was legal as was quoted on that webpage.

Okay so perhaps you want to stretch it and say it's a criminal offense...well so is dealing drugs. In fact here a little list that I found:

"Noun 1. criminal offensecriminal offense - (criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act; "a long record of crimes"

crime, criminal offence, law-breaking, offense, offence
evildoing, transgression - the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle; "the boy was punished for the transgressions of his father"

barratry - the offense of vexatiously persisting in inciting lawsuits and quarrels

capital offense - a crime so serious that capital punishment is considered appropriate

cybercrime - crime committed using a computer and the internet to steal a person's identity or sell contraband or stalk victims or disrupt operations with malevolent programs

felony - a serious crime (such as murder or arson)

forgery - criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud

fraud - intentional deception resulting in injury to another person

Had crime - (Islam) serious crimes committed by Muslims and punishable by punishments established in the Koran; "Had crimes include apostasy from Islam and murder and theft and adultery"

highjack, hijack - seizure of a vehicle in transit either to rob it or divert it to an alternate destination

mayhem - the willful and unlawful crippling or mutilation of another person

infraction, misdemeanor, misdemeanour, violation, infringement - a crime less serious than a felony

perpetration, committal, commission - the act of committing a crime

attempt, attack - the act of attacking; "attacks on women increased last year"; "they made an attempt on his life"

Tazir crime - (Islam) minor crimes committed by Muslims; crimes that are not mentioned in the Koran so judges are free to punish the offender in any appropriate way; "in some Islamic nations Tazir crimes are set by legislation"
regulatory offence, regulatory offense, statutory offence, statutory offense - crimes created by statutes and not by common law

thuggery - violent or brutal acts as of thugs

high treason, lese majesty, treason - a crime that undermines the offender's government

vice crime - a vice that is illegal

victimless crime - an act that is legally a crime but that seem to have no victims; "he considers prostitution to be a victimless crime"

war crime - a crime committed in wartime; violation of rules of war

criminal law - the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment

abduct, kidnap, nobble, snatch - take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom; "The industrialist's son was kidnapped"

shanghai, impress - take (someone) against his will for compulsory service, especially on board a ship; "The men were shanghaied after being drugged"

commandeer, highjack, hijack, pirate - take arbitrarily or by force; "The Cubans commandeered the plane and flew it to Miami"

skyjack - subject an aircraft to air piracy; "the plane was skyjacked to Uzbekistan"

carjack - take someone's car from him by force, usually with the intention of stealing it; "My car was carjacked last night!"

extort - obtain through intimidation

blackmail - obtain through threats

scalp - sell illegally, as on the black market

bootleg - sell illicit products such as drugs or alcohol; "They were bootlegging whiskey"

black market, run - deal in illegally, such as arms or liquor

fob off, foist off, palm off - sell as genuine, sell with the intention to deceive

push - sell or promote the sale of (illegal goods such as drugs); "The guy hanging around the school is pushing drugs"

black marketeer - deal on the black market

pyramid - use or deal in (as of stock or commercial transaction) in a pyramid deal

ransom, redeem - exchange or buy back for money; under threat

traffic - deal illegally; "traffic drugs"

rustle, lift - take illegally; "rustle cattle"

shoplift - steal in a store

stick up, hold up - rob at gunpoint or by means of some other threat

mug - rob at gunpoint or with the threat of violence; "I was mugged in the streets of New York last night"

So unless you also want to justify kidnapping and shoplifting as legal because they are not officially crimes, but criminal offenses...I think you might want to rethink your argument.

[Yvonne Heidt]

"Notice I used quotation marks? That's because that statement is not mine, but quoted from another source;..."

Very informative, Rachel. I had to laugh at that line though because I could just picture someone sitting there and going "huh?"

Very well thought and presented - I'm sure that all of us could learn a thing or two (or three or four) from you!