JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 7 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: plagiarism, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 22 of 22
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: plagiarism in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
Retractions in scholarly journals have reached record levels. Doctorates have been removed from politicians and others for plagiarism, there has been tasteless denigration of academic colleagues under cover of academic freedom, researchers have been jailed for fraud, and conflicts of interest involving private industry’s role at universities have generated notoriety.
If you went to college, your school likely had an official statement about plagiarism similar to this one from Oxford University: Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition.
Thou shall not plagiarize. Warnings of this sort are delivered to students each fall, and by spring at least a few have violated this academic commandment. The recent scandal involving Senator John Walsh of Montana, who took his name off the ballot after evidence emerged that he had copied without attribution parts of his master’s thesis, shows how plagiarism can come back to haunt.
But back in the days of 1776, plagiarism did not appear as a sign of ethical weakness or questionable judgment. Indeed, as the example of Mercy Otis Warren suggests, plagiarism was a tactic for spreading Revolutionary sentiments.
An intimate of American propagandists such as Sam Adams, Warren used her rhetorical skill to pillory the corrupt administration of colonial Massachusetts. She excelled at producing newspaper dramas that savaged the governor, Thomas Hutchinson, and his cast of flunkies and bootlickers. Her friend John Adams helped arrange for the anonymous publication of satires so sharp that they might well have given readers paper cuts.
An expanded version soon followed, replete with new scenes in which patriot leaders inspired crowds to resist tyrants. Although the added material uses her characters and echoes her language, they were not written by Warren. As she tells the story, her original drama was “taken up and interlarded with the productions of an unknown hand. The plagiary swelled” her satirical sketch into a pamphlet.
Portrait of Mercy Otis Warren, American writer, by John Singleton Copley (1763). Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
But Warren didn’t seem to mind the trespass all that much. Her goal was to disseminate the critique of colonial government. There’s evidence that she intentionally left gaps in her plays so that readers could turn author and add new scenes to the Revolutionary drama.
Original art was never the point; instead art suitable for copying formed the basis of her public aesthetic. In place of authenticity, imitation allowed others to join the cause and continue the propagation of Revolutionary messages.
Could it be that plagiarism was patriotic?
Thankfully, this justification is not likely to hold up in today’s classroom. There’s no compelling national interest that requires a student to buy and download a paper on Heart of Darkness.
Warren’s standards are woefully out of date. And yet, she does offer a lesson about political communication that still has relevance. Where today we see plagiarism, she saw a form of dissent had been made available to others.
Headline image credit: La balle a frappé son amante, gravé par L. Halbou. Library of Congress.
Last night Jeff Koons sold a sculpture of Popeye for over $28 million. The sculpture may not have been designed by him though. In the comments of our previous post about the Popeye sculpture, Brew reader Alex Kirwan pointed out that Koons's sculpture bears a striking similarity to a Dark Horse-produced Popeye figurine released in 2002.
It’s good to have smart people in your corner. Mentors can help you take your writing far, and I’m quick to lean on people for advice or to get help when I am stuck on something. Like most writers, I get fixated on “what” I’m writing so often, I try to remember to consult with people from time-to-time about “how” I’m writing. I’ve been having some ongoing dialogue with my former high school English and Journalism teacher, Vickie Benner, who read the first three Chapters of my new novel, When it Comes in Threes. For some time, she and I have been discussing whether or not I should change the voice in my first draft of the book from an adult to a child’s narrative as suggested by someone I highly respect in the literary community. When I finally decided to give the new voice a whirl, I discovered I was having much more fun writing the piece from a child’s perspective than I ever did before. Long story short, it’s a full rewrite, but will be much more suited for the Young Adult book market for which the piece is intended.
Just this week, I leaned on Vickie again. She and I had some dialog about other books or movies that could be compared to what I am working on now. After a little bit of contemplation, I threw out books that resonated with me that could be considered along the same grain as mine. So I threw out Running with Scissors (due to the highly dysfunctional family depicted in the book) and Bastard Out of Carolina (the conflicted, young protagonist dealing with abuse) because those two books quickly came to mind. But, I got stuck on the name of a third book and subsequent movie that followed, one that I loved. I said, “Oh Vickie. What’s the name of that book with the Wal-Mart Baby in it? You know, named Americus?” She said, “Oh yes. With Natalie Portman in it?” she said. But, neither one of us could remember the name of the movie. I then told her my book would have someone, maybe a couple or three people, come into my main character’s life and make a difference in it, like the “Welcome Wagon” lady did in Natalie Portman’s character’s life, and more great dialogue ensued. Vickie and I chatted a bit more and we hung up.
The next day, during lunch, I switched on the TV. (I never switch on the TV at lunchtime.) And, there it was. Where the Heart Is. It was on. A movie I hadn’t seen in probably five years. So, I watched it, and right where I picked up in the movie Lexie Coop (Ashley Judd) was asking why Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman) named her baby Americus.
And, then–there it was.
I swallowed hard and tried to will it not be so. Lexie tells Novalee that she named her kids after snack food. Brownie. Praline, Cherry and Baby Ruth. Kids named after food! Oh. My. God. Enter Chapter 1, Paragraph Six of my new novel: “Nine months after Mama said I do, she gave birth to Bartlett, named after the pear fruit, ‘cause Mama was green with the flu when she went into labor and threw up all over her doctor, just two years and a month before I was born. Mama always did have a penchant for food, and so she named me Barley, like the waves of golden grain that rolled through the John Deere combines from the dry fields of Oklahoma. Seven years later, my baby brother, Graham, like the cracker, came. Mama didn’t have no real good explanation for his name, except that she liked to crush up graham crackers in milk in the mornings and eat ‘em like that for breakfast. Us three, Bartlett and Graham and me, we never knew what hit us being born a Sullivan. One of my elementary school teachers, Miss Espich, once told me that never knowing what hits you is an idiom relating to very bad consequences in which the people involved were totally unsuspecting. That’s us, the Sullivan Three, totally unsuspecting people named after food.” I thought I was being ingenious, inventive and highly novel when I wrote that paragraph. I thought I owned the inventive concept of people naming people after food!
Wikipedia defines plagiarism as the ”wrongful appropriation” and “purloining and publication” of another author‘s “language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions,” and the representation of them as one’s own original work. The idea remains problematic with unclear definitions and unclear rules.The modern concept of plagiarism as immoral and originality as an ideal emerged in Europe only in the 18th century, particularly with the Romantic movement. Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics. It is subject to sanctions like expulsion. Plagiarism is not a crimeper se but in academia and industry it is a serious ethical offense and cases of plagiarism can constitute copyright infringement.
So, for all you readers and writers out there, I have two questions and then will follow up with a thought:
1. I already admitted to watching the movie over five years ago and, Where the Heart is, resonates with me still. I’ve taken those characters along with me. They may even live in my heart. That said, does Billy Letts, the bestselling author, own the concept of naming people after food?
2. Have I plagiarized already by merely expressing an idea, which I thought I owned, by publishing Chapter 1 of my book on my blog?
In December of 2011, I published an article entitled “Finding the Value in Creativity” on Promokitchen.com. I later re-blogged the same article here on my site. In it, I write, ”The Free Dictionary Online indicates that according to the philosophy of Plato, the definition of an idea “is an archetype of which a corresponding being in phenomenal reality is an imperfect replica.” The web source goes on to say that according to the philosophy of Kant, “an idea is a concept of reason that is transcendent but nonempiral.” But, even Hagel said it differently. He claimed that an idea means “absolute truth; the complete and ultimate product of reason.” In the dictionary, the definition of an idea reads “something, such as a thought or conception that potentially or actually exists in the mind as a product of mental activity.”
Transcendent thought, huh? A thought or conception that existed in the mind as a product of mental activity, huh? If this is true, that would mean it was my thought, my mental activity, and my idea. I don’t know. But, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. My mentor, Vickie Benner, gave me hers.
0 Comments on Plagiarism is Purloining. Or is It? as of 10/4/2013 7:34:00 PM
The issue of copyright has risen again in a controversy from The New Yorker blogger, Jonah Lehrer. The basic story is that Lehrer, who just moved his blogging to The New Yorker’s site, has been copying sentences, paragraphs and passages from previously published work and using them in new posts. Is this plagiarism?
Copyright and Rights
This accusation sent me to my dictionary. Plagiarism is “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.” (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition. New York: Random House, 1983. P. 1479.)
How can this be plagiarism, when he is quoting himself and not another author? Let’s get our terms right. Lehrer misrepresented the rights available for his work. By definition (see above), he can’t plagiarize himself.
That is incorrect. Instead, the victim was The New Yorker, who thought they were buying an original article, and instead got a partial reprint.
Copyright is the legal protection of a creative work. The rights to use a creative work can legally be licensed, sold or assigned, and can be sub-divided in many ways. Some traditional rights are First North American serial rights (first time an article/story appears in a magazine), or book rights (often the territory for the rights may be restricted). In other words, the venue for the publication, the geographic location for the publication and almost anything else is negotiable. If both parties agree, it's a deal. If Jonah Lehrer told The New Yorker that his blog posts were part reprint and part original, there would have been no problem. Instead, he misrepresented his material and sold rights that he no longer had. But he did not plagiarize himself.
The General Conversation about Who Owns What
Photo copyright Darcy Pattison, 2012. All rights reserved. Lake Ouachita, Arkansas. 2012.
This situation with Lehrer has sparked other conversations about copyrights. Kids and teachers freely copy music and text online. The addition of Creative Commons licenses makes it trickier.
But let’s be clear: the intent of the copyright laws are to protect the material created by authors, musicians, videographers, artists, etc.
This is necessary because without the ability to sell their work and make money, the level of creativity dies. Why should I work for three years on a novel that I just give away free? It makes no sense. Compensation for creative works is essential so we can live and eat and pay bills. The intent of copyright isn’t to deprive others of using something, it is to protect the possibility of creative people making a living from their creativity.
Depending on the source, researchers say that 1-5% of people actually create content online and the rest consume it. Those of us who create, spend our lives trying to be original, to entertain, to
2 Comments on Can You Plagiarize Yourself? Conversations about Copyright, last added: 6/27/2012
Interesting post, Darcy--I hadn't heard about the NTY controversy, but I bet that guy never even thought about the whole "rights" issue, which is a whole other can of worms.
For everyone who has copyright questions, I am currently editing an issue for WOW! all about copyright laws/issues, and it will be in the July issue!
It's funny that you mentioned this because we had a similar experience a while back. One of our blog tour hosts was upset because she found out the touring author had posted the same guest post elsewhere. She said, "She's an author who doesn't create original content for her blog tour stops and self-plagiarizes her own post word for word . . ." And I said, "Huh?" It was the first time I'd ever heard anyone use the term plagiarize about a person using her own work! Yes, that goes against the definition!
Anyway, the whole double post was something we don't allow on tours and an honest mistake from the author, but it blew my mind that this blogger was so dramatic about it. And it sounds like the people who called Lehrer a plagiarist are a bit over dramatic, too.
Ain’t he just the sweetest thing? Author/illustrator Aaron Zenz recently wrote just the loveliest ode to his four top favorite children’s literary blogs, and then went and created original art for each. In my case he created this little Fuse guy (or possibly Fuse gal) based on the bright yellow Fuse you see at the beginnings of each of my posts (I put it there in lieu of my face because I can only look at myself so often before going stark raving mad). This, I should point out, is not the first time a little Fuse person has been created for this blog. Katherine Tillotson, an artist of outstanding ability (I’m biased but it also happens to be true) created not one but TWO little Fusemen in the past, both for separate birthdays.
I’m a fan. So thank you Aaron and, once again, thank you Katherine. Fusemen of the world unite!
*sniff sniff* Smell that? That’s the distinctive odor of a brouhaha brewing. Sort of a combination of burnt hair, dead goldfish and patchouli. And you wonder why I don’t cover YA books. Sheesh! One word: drama. Seems that a YA blog called Story Siren plagiarized the work of others for her own blog posts. Folks noticed and suddenly the internet was was heaping helpful of flames, burns, accusations, and other forms of tomfoolery. For a sane and rational recap we turn to our own Liz Burns who gives us the run down in Today’s Blog Blow Up. Ugly stuff.
And while we’re on the subject of YA (which I just said I don’t cover, and yet here we are), I thought we were done with whitewashing, folks. So what’s up with this? Harlequin Teen, you got some explaining to do.
In other news, book banning: It’s what’s for dinner. Take a trip with me to The Annville-Cleona School District where a picture book fondly nicknamed by some as Where’s the Penis? is getting some heat. If you’ve ever seen The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake, illustrated by Adam Rex, then you know that calling it “pornographic” works only if you are unaware of what the word “pornography” actually means. I would like to offer a shout-out to librarian Anita Mentzer who has handled the whole situation with class and dignity. You, madam, are the kind of children’s librarian others should aspire to be. Well done. And thanks to Erica Sevetson for the link.
We may not yet have an ALA accredited poetry award for a work of children’s literature but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a Poet Laureate or two instead. Rich Michelson, gallery owner and
0 Comments on Fusenews: At the sign of the big yellow fuse as of 4/25/2012 10:57:00 PM
The thing which boggles me the most? The pirate can't be making (much) on his/her/its knock off of Echoes of the Dead. It's not exactly flying off the virtual shelves for me, either. Robert might not have noticed it if said pirate hadn't listed the book as a free promo.
It's not like it was erotica or something. I hear that stuff sells.
Sheesh.
I have some history with plagiarists and pirates.
One of my classmates at K-State plagiarized a term paper in Psych 350: Experimental Methods. Not a pretty sight. A few of my stories were nabbed and rebooted a few years ago (remember this?). This Christmas, some brave soul "published" an anthology of Christmas horror without rights from the authors. (Um... the antho included Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, and many more big names.)
I've already done what I can on the Amazon end. I'll have to contact eBooker (not sure it's worth it, actually, considering what you'll have to "prove").
I don't really care about stealing my book (welcome to the modern library), but reselling it is pretty dirty. I'm sure I'd be more pissed if I wasn't so sleep-deprived.
He's got your book on Goodreads, too. Funnily enough, he hasn't got an author profile. I wrote something nasty as a review, though. So sorry about this, Aaron. What an areshole this guy is.
Ugh! I'm sorry Aaron this makes me sick. I know first hand all the hard work and perseverance that goes into each and every story we write. To think some ignorant lazy ass is making money off your hard work is depressing as all get out. (Hugs)Indigo
This makes me sick. One of the things that I admire about you is your prolificacy. To have that hard work snatched up by some low-life who doesn't even have the sense to change the cover is beyond insulting. A pox on all plagiarists.
What the hell!? Goddamn freakin' people, I swear. I'm really sorry to hear this, Aaron. I know there's no such thing as justified murder, but I'm a psychopath with no morals anyway. Just say the word. ;-)
At some point there needs to be some sort of tool put in place by Amazon to prevent this. It can't be SO hard. I read an article recently about how the company that made the new Batman game (Arkham Asylum) put a bug/glitch in the game that was only activated on pirated copies. It essentially made it impossible for the player to get beyond Level 1. Something like that.
Of course, the Amazon glitch could be that the e-reader or computer it is illegally transferred to catches fire.
This sucks tremendously. Let us know when this gets fixed and if the guilty parties get theirs!
St. Martin’s Press defended novelist Lenore Hart against plagiarism charges this week. A blogger who runs a Edgar Allen Poe fan website initially denounced The Raven’s Bride as “a virtual cut-and-paste job” from Cothburn O’Neal‘s 1956 novel, The Very Young Mrs. Poe.
Since then, members of the literary community (including spy novelistJeremy Duns and Melville House co-publisherDennis Johnson) have supported the allegations. The New York Timesreported on the debate, including a statement from St. Martin’s Press in response to the accusations.
Here’s more from the statement: “Ms. Hart supplied a detailed response, which cited her research into biographical and historical sources, and explained why her novel and Cothburn O’Neal’s The Very Young Mrs. Poe contain certain details of place, description and incident. As Ms. Hart explained in her response, of course two novels about the same historical figure necessarily reliant on the same limited historical record will have similarities.”
Let me say one thing about stealing someone's fiction and claiming as your own: it doesn't pay. It doesn't pay in financial terms, and it sure as hell doesn't pay in the destructive force said plagiarist calls upon him/herself, especially in the era of Google searches and the interwebTM. Not to mention a whole slew of explicatives I'd love to sling at plagiarists for being total %($&#@s, but this is a "family oriented" blog after all. (Like hell it is.)
Evidently there's a new plagiarist in town, but he's not new at all.
This has happened before, to me. I'm sure it happens all the time. I don't understand the mind of some people, especially when stealing someone's story and posting for free online...or giving away to a FTL market...dude, nobody's reading your steaming, stolen, pile of dog sh*t. (Not that the original story was dog sh*t...it just became so when you put your name on it, thief.) Are you trying to build a reputation? Well, you have one. Jerk.
Speaking of names (cool off, Angry Aaron), I intended to post a little bit about fake names (for fiction). Yes, we're all familiar with random name generators, especially for fantasy and science fiction...check out this site for run-of-the-mill, normal people names (and other information). Kind of spooky...it gives you a fake credit card number even. (I hope those are fake--sheesh.)
Sometimes people aren't trying to make a name for themselves, sometimes these nards are just having a laugh at everyone else's expense. It is just something to keep those of us who are honest, talented and true on our toes and gives us another bit to learn from.
While I and I'm sure the rest of the writing community would much rather NOT have to deal with it, sadly some people are just sucky.
(How's that for family explicit?)
Baby name books are also a good idea for coming up with names when the character is too shy to give up his/her/its name :) Thanks for the link!
This pisses me off something awful. When I give the whole plagiarism speech to my students, it takes everything I have to keep from it turning into a diatribe.
Geez, not another plagiarist. At least they're pretty easy to catch these days.
I like the Baby Name Wizard for my character-naming needs, but that name generator sounds like fun (and now watch me waste the next hour playing with it).
Ah, another dilemma. We writers spend a great deal of time writing. We put thought and care and research into articles, books, e-books...you get the idea. Well, what do you do if you find a site is using an article you've written--and published on your own sites and in the article directories--without providing your name as author? Do you trust any information on that site? Do you wonder if all or most of the articles posted there are from other writers who are also victims of article swiping?
It's funny, I usually don't put a google search on the titles of my articles, but this one, for whatever reason, I did. So, when google picked it up and notified me, I checked it out. I searched the site to see if my name was pushed off to the side, stuck in a corner, written with invisible ink, or something, but NOPE - it was nowhere in sight.
Now, ordinarily, I, and I'm sure most of us writers, love when someone finds our article of value and wants to reprint it. I do this with other writers occasionally and it works out great. I provide useful content for my readers and the author of the article gets increased visibility--a win-win situation.
But, there is a rule to follow: Always give the rightful author due credit. I'm pretty sure if you don't it's plagiarism.
So, I'm asking the question: What should you do if your article is hijacked? I'd really appreciate your opinions!
Perhaps you could contact the people who posted your article, mention you saw it and noticed they had "forgotten" to add your name to the credits, and you'd appreciate it if they would add your name as the author.
I've found some of my work all over the Internet. IF they give correct credit and don't change the article, such as include strange words or odd translations, I don't mind.
What is frustrating is that most of the sites that infringe on copyright don't have any way for people to contact them.
I actually did leave a comment stating almost exactly what you said, Katie. I'm pretty sure it'll be deleted if the site is using other writer's work as their own.
And, Vivian, I agree, that's how it should be. I actually appreciate it when bloggers use my articles on their sites as long as they're intact as you mentioned.
I figured I'd get others' input to see how most handle the situation.
Thanks for sharing!
I may be out most of the day tomorrow, Thursday, but I'll be checking in as soon as I get home!
This has happened to me a number of times. I put out a daily devotion to a listserv. I would see these things appearing everywhere, often without any attribution. Sometimes the webmaster gave no indication it wasn't his/her own work.
Now,if they had asked, I would probably have given permission, because this particular type of writing I do for ministry and have no intention of selling them. However, just because I don't intend to sell my silverware, doesn't mean someone can take a spoon home with them without asking.
Unfortunately, one of the assumptions many people make is that if it is posted online, it is fair game. What I do when this happens and I find out, I write a short note to the webmaster that reads something like this:
I notice that you are using an article entitled _______ on your web site. You may not be aware of it, but that is my copyrighted work. If you wish to continue using this work please include the following as a footer to the article:
"Copyright 2010 Terri Main. Used with permission. For more great content like this visit http://www.fullgospelag.net"
Continued use without this addition is NOT authorized and is a violation of the law. I am sure that is not your intent and the failure to include attribution was just an oversight on your part.
I also include at the bottom of each devotion a copyright notice, I have noticed a decline in unauthorized use.
If you don't mind they use your work with adequate attribution, you might check into Creative Commons licensing. It's free and you can choose how much and under what conditions your work can be used. Inclusion of the CC information can reduce any misunderstandings about use.
However, it will continue to happen because most webmasters do not have any formal training in publishing and don't know what copyright is.
There do seem to be some programming tricks you can use that prevents copy and paste. Check out Javascriptsource.com. I think they have something like that.
I recently attended a talk about copyright infringements by someone who had experienced that. She said if you haven't registered a copyright you can't take legal action even though your work has been stolen. But most people don't realize they're stealing when they forward forwards or copy material from blogs.
This information is a great reminder to google your titles, keep an eye out for others using your work without giving proper credit, and to call those that use your article improperly out. Asking for credit to given is professional. Thanks for the post.
I would just contact the site, tell them you are the author and ask them to credit you. There are any number of reasons why they didn't, high tech is tricky sometimes... If you don't get anywhere with that, you have to let it go. Usually sites that deliberately do things like that don't last long.
This was an eye-opener for me. I'd never thought of searching my titles, only my name. I've had pieces posted (with my name) and no compensation. I've written and requested the material be removed or a check sent to me. I've been ignored :-) I guess I'd better start searching my titles as well as my name. I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you Karen.
Thanks so much for the input. It seems everyone agrees to just inform the sight that they are using an article without giving the author due credit.
There's some great tips here also! Check out Terri's comment!
When I found the article, I did nicely inform the site through a comment. I took the url and will go back to see if it's still there or if my comment was deleted.
I'm not overly concerned about it - I can just imagine where all the other articles I haven't bothered putting a google alert on have ended up without my byline.
I guess it's all part of the writer's life.
I will check out the Creative Commons licensing Terri suggested.
I haven't had this happen (that I know about, at least). There seems to be no excuse for doing something like that. I hope you get some sort of satisfactory response from the 'fake' author.
We are all behind you, Karen. If they do not remove the article or give you credit for it, we can all visit the site and leave comments about how that web master plagiarizes other author's material. maybe all the deleting of comments will wear them out and they will capitulate.
Hi, Dana and Kathy. Thanks for the support. It's so funny, Stephen left a comment on Facebook similiar to yours Dana. It seems the men's reaction is to take action and the women's is more passive. :)
Hey, this might be a good article. I wish I had a larger sample for a survey. :)
I found both an author interview I'd done on my blog and a book review of my book that had been apparently translated into a foreign language and then back again into English. Both were attributed, but the language was hilarious--talk about "lost in translation."
I can't believe anyone would dare to use a word for word article and not give credit to the author. That's just...well I won't really say what's on my mind but you get the gist.
I'm sure this particular site won't give me credit, but that's life! This site has a lot of articles posted and I wouldn't be surprised if they are all hijacked!
The same week I read about a German author who is defending her plagiarism, J.K. Rowling is being mentioned in another case of an author who believes Rowling heavily borrowed from his books. In the instance of the first case of plagiarism, the author Helene Hegemann believes that her use of another's author's work is an art form. According to the Salon article I read, Hegemann reportedly told a German newspaper: "I myself don't feel it is stealing, because I put all the material into a completely different and unique context and from the outset consistently promoted the fact that none of that is actually by me." However, as Laura Miller points out on Salon, Hegemann did not give the author of credit for the passages taken from "Strobo." Please note that I have no first-hand knowledge of either case of alleged plagiarism, but I am interested in how reading someone else's work can or might influence my own work--maybe even creeping into my writing? Many writers state that by reading the masters, they improved their own writing. When studying the greats, often a professor will suggest copying the words of the master to learn the cadences, word choices, and rhythms. I'm sure my novel writing career would do much better if I were to borrow heavily from the greats. I also understood that as civilization has moved along, we build on the shoulders of those who came before us. Some even argue that there are no original stories, just a re-hash of stories that have come before. But sometimes, that line blurs. I have taught college students whose academic careers could be destroyed due to one instance of plagiarism and yet the students seem unsure what constitutes plagiarism--and why it would be such a big deal. I think that as an exercise and to understand the world it is vitally important to be aware of the work of those who have come before. From the standpoint of creativity and our own interaction with creativity, I'm not sure that plagiarism is the best method of rising to the occasion and meeting our muse. Or is it?
Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer and creativity coach. Besides contributing to AOL's ParentDish, she blogs at The Write Elizabeth, delving into creativity in everyday places.
5 Comments on Can Plagiarism Be Creative?, last added: 2/27/2010
Plagiarism is one those dragons that often bites writers on the butt.
As an educator, I teach my students (international students studying English as a second language) about plagiarism.
It is often difficult for them to understand, since in many other cultures using other peoples work is considered a compliment to the writer being copied. For instance, in ancient times, the Greek masters told their students to take their work and make it their own. It was considered the sign of a great thinker if others copied what they said or wrote. This practice is still observed in some countries, which only adds to the fact that in today's "this is mine" society, it is difficult to say what is or isn't "ours."
Academia has a very narrow view of what is and isn't plagiarism. One must, if they publish or submit work in academia, be aware of this and follow the guidelines...rules...policies to the letter.
Most colleges have writing centers where there are programs that will check a student's work to make sure all citations are accurately placed. They also give tips that help students understand plagiarism, such as what appears on the Amherst College academic honesty page, "If a fact or event appears undocumented in at least five sources, it is considered common knowledge." https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/deanstudents/acadhonesty/plagiarism Common knowledge means that there is no need to cite where the information comes from in your work.
However, the more I study, the more I know that many, many famous people used the works of others in their works. In addition, most preliminary lit courses explain that there are no "new" stories in the world. There are only archetypes that are rewritten, repeatedly. They include, scenarios such as, the quest, the journey, and the fall...all written about in various ways by authors in every culture on earth. One can see the difficulty in determining what plagiarism is and what is not.
As an author, I work diligently to make sure that if I build on someone's work, that I give him or her credit. However, after reading everything I could get my hands on from the Bible to , from Marley and Me to Emily Dickinson's poems it would be impossible to say that I haven't been influenced by the works of others or that I have never written the same words as someone else, unintentionally.
In the end, the best we can do, is be mindful of what is out there, how it influences us, and give credit where credit is due.
I agree with Linda that plagiarism is a murky field, but in the arena of academia, it seems to be easier to avoid. Acknowledging another person's work/research and giving citations is a way of avoiding the charge of plagiarism. It is possibly also more difficult to 'pinch' ideas because as soon as someone has published his or her thesis, the academic world is aware of it. Fiction, however, is something else. I used to think that novel ideas based on non-fiction, such as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, could escape the accusation, and indeed why should there even be an accusation in that kind of case - surely non-fiction is a set of ideas and theories that could be open to creative interpretation?. He was unsuccessfully sued by the authors of a non-fiction book discussing the subject that Mr Brown developed into a fictional theme. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief owes just about all the plot to the presence of ancient Greek gods. Is the author plagiarizing from the ancient Greek myth masters? Shakespeare borrowed many of his themes from a variety of sources, both contemporary and classical. One way to avoid the accusation would be for the author to openly acknowledge the influence of a particular author or theme or book in a preface. That said, our brains absorb ideas and themes through general reading. The seeds are planted and may only flourish when an author comes up with an idea - an idea they think is their own because, of course, they have fogotten the book or story they read a while ago. Recently I read a novel where the (quite famous) author had embraced a theme of two evil children. The entire history of these children was quite horrific. The author had developed the theme into what they became as adults and so the story progressed. However, the prehistory nagged at me ... I was sure I had read it before. I had. It was taken directly from a story by Edgar Allen Poe. Now, is that plagiarism or is it accidental influence though reading, or is it common knowledge?
In college I think there is a fine line of what plagiarism is because we are taught to quote others and "find sources" ect. But what if the source says it the same way you would say it? Do you still need to site your source?
Also, music borrows heavily from other music. Most of the time it is perfectly acceptable. You know when an artist appreciates other musicians because their work has the same feel or tone.
So why in writing is it so awful? Possibly because so much time goes into novel writing? But, that leaves the question of fan lit... would that be nice to know your fans were doing that or would you be pissed for plagiarism?
Contrary to Liz, I don't see a problem of knowing what Plagiarism is. We were taught many moons ago, by some effective teacher that – if memory servers me correctly, two or more words directly copied from someone else’s work without giving them credit is, in fact, plagiarism and wrong. I was also the benefit of a great professor who taught me how to take someone else’s writing and flop it around and make it fresh, new and my own, thus keeping legal all of the way around.
I do understand that there is a mode of teaching that says imitate writers you like… but imitating is not plagiarism. Those of us who write are often readers… and as Dan, the author of “The DiVinci Code” was able to prove… using someone’s work as research material is different than copying it.
Great blog and I love what Kathleen L said and agree.
I personally am opposed to a method of teaching that says imitate writers you like. I think you can learn from them but find your own voice. We could all tell a story about a cheating wife, but not all would tell it the same. Each person has a unique way of speaking. When you learn to trust yourself enough to put that down on a page I think you can successful avoid the pit of plagiarism. Also give your work an honest look. If you sound like someone you have enjoyed reading take a step back and strongly consider a rewrite.
I came across a “Protected by Copyscape” banner in a writer’s blog and was curious enough to check out the service. From their About page:
Copyscape is dedicated to protecting your valuable content online. We provide the world’s most powerful and most popular online plagiarism detection solutions, ranked #1 by independent tests. Copyscape’s products are trusted by millions of website owners worldwide to check the originality of their new content, prevent duplicate content, and search for copies of existing content online.
Copyscape provides a free service for finding copies of your web pages online, as well as two more powerful professional solutions for preventing content theft and content fraud.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about this service — has anyone used it? I tried it with pages from my site but didn’t have much luck because of my site layout: because I have navigation sidebars that repeat throughout the site, Copyscape kept picking up that text so the results always gave me my own site pages. I was using the free service, however, so was only seeing the first 10 results.
Anyone else have luck using this service?
4 Comments on Copyscape: effective plagiarism-preventing service or not?, last added: 1/21/2010
I’ve tried it, and it does find the occasional “thief”–usually bloggers who have scraped an article off The Purple Crayon to reuse in full, possibly weakly paraphrased, on their site.
Seems odd to me that you had that problem with nav bars, as I haven’t.
On the whole, probably not worth paying for the advanced service. Over the years, the copied content I have found through Copyscape or through people telling me about it has not been a threat to my site, simply because Google and other SEs didn’t pay any attention to it. I think you would find the same.
So, I tend to check a few key pages with Copyscape every once in a while to make sure there is no widespread copying, and leave it at that. If a problem developed, then I’d consider paying.
Alex said, on 1/20/2010 7:36:00 AM
I haven’t used this service, and don’t plan on doing so. They are only good for so much. The problem lies in what happens when someone has lifted something (in its entirety) from your web site, as happened to me. just recently.
One of my short story was posted on someone else’s blog, in order to help promote *their* blog, and even though they had given me full credit on *my* story, with a link back (fools) which is how I found them, I had a devil of a time trying to get them to remove the story from their web site. That even after writing to the hosting company (Blogspot/Google) which was an utter waste of time. And, after months of trying, never did win and have it removed.
It seems it will for ever and always be an on-going problem that doesn’t appear to have much resolution, given the Hosting companies make us responsible for the burden of proof. I’ve got to the point where I am now question what’s the point of sharing anything I write, online, with anyone?
Allena said, on 1/20/2010 7:39:00 AM
I use it sometimes for my About.com “stuff” and it works pretty well. I also use it when I hire other writers–I run their articles through it.
Karen said, on 1/20/2010 10:19:00 PM
I have used the paid service provided by Copyscape; since I need to check contents in bulk. Copyscape is not so stringent tool for checking plagiarism. If the order of your words is changed from the sources then Copyscape gives no result. But, I think only changing the order of words are not enough for rewriting. It also somehow violate copywrite rules and thus you can not always expect good ranking of your page on the search engines.
Recently, I have found a more powerful tool; it’s AAfter Search. You need to paste your document in the search box as follows 3 stars (***) and click the web search button. AAfter gives the result in the form of percentage of similarity between two documents (original document and re-written document), so that one comes to know about possible copyright violation, if any. It’s a free service and perfect for webmasters, students, journalists and bloggers.
Just recently, my husband was asking if I worry about people taking poems I post online and posting them elsewhere or publishing them as their own. The reality of that crosses my mind occasionally, but I try not to focus on that because I don't want to hoard my poems--I want to have fun with them, and most of the ones I post are just exercises and practice that I haven't invested much time on.
Then Saturday night, I got the funniest comment on an old blog post.
Way back in February of 2008, I participated in Miss Rumphius' Monday Poetry Stretch, and posted this poem. It hasn't crossed my mind nor anyone else's in ages. So I got a good laugh from this anonymous comment:
Laura,
I teach English in a high school in New York State. One of my students plagiarized your poem and turned it in as his own. I immediately recognized the quality of the poem and, as this student has never shown this kind of facility for language before, I looked for the original and found it on your page...You have earned the 100 that my student tried to steal from you. The grade will have to be karmic as the number won't appear on any transcript.
According to statcounter.com, this comment was indeed sent from a New York computer, so I'm taking it at face value. I love that not only did this person say nice things about my poem but he or she took the time to do a quick internet search--something I didn't do when I taught 8th grade because PCs weren't really around (though it was after the extinction of the dinosaurs, I swear). AND the teacher took the time to insult the plagiarizer and send me a note! A clever note. How could I not love that?
At one point, I thought about posting my poems as photos to make it a little harder for kids to plagiarize them, but, well, it was just too much of a hassle. And after this comment, I realized that that would also thwart teachers' searches. Is there some html code I can add to prevent copying text on my blog on those days I post poems? I think there is, but I don't know what it is. If anyone has that handy, I'd sure appreciate it.
Happy Tuesday! I'm off to present at a Young Author's Conference today!
Add a Comment
Some of you may recall that Cassie Edwards, author of romance novels (including the "SAVAGE" Indian series) was caught plagiarizing last year. The site "Smart Bitches" catalogued a lot of the plagiarized passages.
I didn't follow all of it carefully last year, and missed this:
Edwards plagiarized from N. Scott Momaday'sThe Way To Rainy Mountain. The novel is read in a lot of high school English/Lit courses, which makes me think that teachers who teach it might want to add a segment on plagiarism to their unit.
"Cassie Edwards, Savage Whispers" is a passage-by-passage comparison of Edwards' novel and Momaday's writings. It is astounding. It's on a LiveJournal that belongs to "wombat" dated Feb. 29, 2008. (Note: I've got an LJ, too, under my name, Debbie Reese. When you click on the hyperlink, you might get an "Are you 14?" page. If that happens answer the question and you'll then go to the correct page. At that point, I'm not sure how the page will look on your screen. My computer defaults to my LJ, and it plops wombat's analysis on my page. Maybe if you do not have an LJ, you'll go right to wombat's LJ.)
Here's wombat's opening paragraph, followed by the paragraph where she says what was plagiarized, followed by one example. Do go to wombat's page and read the entire thing.
This is one of Edwards' older books, and it shows: presumably she wasn't yet able to coast on her reputation (and was twenty years younger), so the prose actually has some description and flow, and the plot is noticeably more complex-- compared to her recent routine, it's almost mindbogglingly frenetic.
...
Edwards makes extensive use of Momaday's book (abbreviated below as WRM), as well as his article/essay "A First American Views His Land", first published with various photos as pp 13-19 National Geographic, Vol. 150 No.1, July 1976, and later reprinted (text-only) in his anthology The Man Made of Words, McMillan 1998 (abbreviated below as FAVL; page #s are via antho MMW or magazine NG).
----
SW p 2 (author's note):
After a bloody fight at Palo Duro Canyon, the Kiowa came in, a few at a time, to surrender at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Their horses and weapons were confiscated and they were imprisoned. In a field just west of the post, the Indian ponies were destroyed. Nearly eight hundred horses were killed outright. Two thousand more were sold, stolen, and given away.
Momaday, WRM p. 67:
After the fight at Palo Duro Canyon, the Kiowas came in, a few at a time, to surrender at Fort Sill. Their horses and weapons were confiscated, and they were imprisoned. In a field just west of the post, the Indian ponies were destroyed. Nearly 800 horses were killed outright; two thousand more were sold, stolen, given away.
I'm grateful to wombat for doing this analysis and letting me know about it. Momaday and the UNM Press have been informed. If there's any news on action, I'll let you know.
0 Comments on Cassie Edwards Plagiarized THE WAY TO RAINY MOUNTAIN as of 4/13/2009 11:37:00 AM
You know when someone Googles the entire first paragraph of one of your reviews, and the Google page brings up only one site (your own), there's a kid out there somewhere who is going to be in big trouble.
Perhaps it's just that kids are dumber than THEY think. Disturbing grapevine story this morning about a London author due to visit a primary school, only to get a barrage of offensive emails after being booked. One of the 'anonymous' perps had failed to delete the name of his school from the email. The author is now determined to go through with her visit and make them squirm.
It's a free service! Just google sitemeter and it will explain how to install it on your site.
I don't check it that often except for searches that send people my way. I'm always amused by them (well, usually...the ones looking for "little kids" freak me out). People who want pedicure poems always end up here, as do people looking for witch spells for children (I've been thinking of writing some to help these poor souls out.)
It could be here. And you don't even know it. Imagine your dismay as you browse the bookstore shelves, flip through the pages of an art book, and find work you created in print. Maybe there are even some interviews your wrote, right there, printed word for word. Now imagine all this happening without your knowledge or permission, let alone your profit. It happened in this book.
I know the feeling. Last fall, while searching the web, I stumbled across one of my images being used without my permission as part of a performance art display. It's an awful feeling knowing how hard you worked on something and ending up with no credit or payment for your work. In my case the images were removed from the website, but the public performance couldn't be taken back. The damage was done. Someone else's name was now associated with my work. Period. But what might be even worse, is the mixed reaction from the public. Many artists were outraged and supportive. But some people seem to think “imitation is the highest form of flattery” when in this case it is downright stealing.
Hi, Gail, it's Stef from the Blue Board. Wow! Infuriating for sure. I tried to follow the link from your original flattered or furious post, the part where it says 'this page', but the link no longer works. Do you think the person with the hot hands got cold feet? :-0
gail said, on 4/25/2008 9:48:00 AM
Luckily I was able to resolve the issue with the images being on the web pretty quickly. He offered take them down.
Elaine Magliaro said, on 4/27/2008 12:22:00 PM
Gail,
Congratulations! You have won a children's poetry book from Wild Rose Reader in this Sunday's drawing. Email me your address so I can send you your prize.
I'm hoping you'll help spread the word about this heinous crime. An illustrator in my chapter of SCBWI (Wisconsin) has had his artwork stolen, along with 92 other illustrators! Below is a post from the illustrator, Jeff Miracola.
* * * * *
This isn't the good news an artist likes to wake up to.
My artwork, along with the work of 92 other illustrators (both well-known and up-and-coming), has been stolen and published in a book titled "Colorful Illustrations 93ºC." It appears as though the book originated in either China or Japan. Myself and other artists are trying to get to the bottom of this.
To make a long story short, the book basically took all of the content from one art community web site called "The Little Chimp Society" and reprinted all the interviews and art in this book. The fake publisher claims in the book that they wrote the interviews and they even slapped their own copyright on the book. How do you like that?
I've been writing lately about how disturbing I find letters and interviews printed in our local newspapers with unfounded accusations and barely-disguised untruths stated in them. Obviously, there's something in the air. Or perhaps the art of lying is contagious.
In the publishing/book world, there's a James Frey redux. Only this time it's Margaret B. Jones, a/k/a Peggy Seltzer. Another memoir that received positive reivews is fiction.
There are some differences. One is that the lie was promptly exposed by the author's sister after publication of the book and the news publicity it engendered. So Oprah isn't embarrassed this time.
The publisher has also changed its response --recalling all copies of the book and cancelling Ms. Seltzer's book tour. No chance for extra sales of copies after the scandal, as happened with James' Frey's book A Million Little Pieces.
There's an interesting discussion at Galley Cat about why this problem continues to resurface. While you can vote in a small poll, there's no option that includes "people like to lie; it makes them feel important." Meanwhile, Media Bistro is selling a video lesson on fact-checking.
And if you get tired of the fact-checking problem, you can always read about plagiarism, and its latest incarnation at the NYT, here at SLATE .
0 Comments on 197. Something in the Air as of 1/1/1900
Two days ago, this was the scene from our front window...
Cows on the loose! Or so we thought. A quick call to a knowing friend and we were informed that the whole of our valley is designated "open range." Technically then, cows can be fenced out (we don't have a fence), but there is no real responsibility to fence them in. Fine stuff. The 10 x bovine heard moved on pretty quick but they hung out near one house or another for about 24 hours. Especially ghostly looking at night...
Otherwise, cool and rainy weather has left early hints of winter on the surrounding peaks. It might even stay. This has also been good weather for sitting inside, painting some books and practicing my ink work:
0 Comments on Open Range as of 10/4/2007 1:06:00 AM
Apologies. This is by far the most scary Art Exchange image that I have posted yet.
Alas, said 'Exchange' hasn't really gone as planned this year -- with near zero participation by the partner -- and thus my own 4 month break from the practice. Hence the weirdness? Who can say. This is image no. 8 and I fully plan on completing the series by December 31st. Perhaps this will be come less of an exchange and more of a gifting process... I hope not. Any willing AND READY - meaning that you will actually complete your end of said bargin :) - exchangers out there for 2008? Drop me note.
0 Comments on Art Exchange '07 No. 9 as of 1/1/1900
It’s good to have smart people in your corner. Mentors can help you take your writing far, and I’m quick to lean on people for advice or to get help when I am stuck on something. Like most writers, I get fixated on “what” I’m writing so often, I try to remember to consult with people from time-to-time about “how” I’m writing. I’ve been having some ongoing dialogue with my former high school English and Journalism teacher, Vickie Benner, who read the first three Chapters of my new novel, When it Comes in Threes. For some time, she and I have been discussing whether or not I should change the voice in my first draft of the book from an adult to a child’s narrative as suggested by someone I highly respect in the literary community. When I finally decided to give the new voice a whirl, I discovered I was having much more fun writing the piece from a child’s perspective than I ever did before. Long story short, it’s a full rewrite, but will be much more suited for the 
.jpeg?picon=893)
.jpeg?picon=3626)
St. Martin’s Press defended novelist Lenore Hart against plagiarism charges this week. A blogger who runs a Edgar Allen Poe 
.jpg?picon=507)
Interesting post, Darcy--I hadn't heard about the NTY controversy, but I bet that guy never even thought about the whole "rights" issue, which is a whole other can of worms.
For everyone who has copyright questions, I am currently editing an issue for WOW! all about copyright laws/issues, and it will be in the July issue!
Thanks, again, Darcy.
It's funny that you mentioned this because we had a similar experience a while back. One of our blog tour hosts was upset because she found out the touring author had posted the same guest post elsewhere. She said, "She's an author who doesn't create original content for her blog tour stops and self-plagiarizes her own post word for word . . ." And I said, "Huh?" It was the first time I'd ever heard anyone use the term plagiarize about a person using her own work! Yes, that goes against the definition!
Anyway, the whole double post was something we don't allow on tours and an honest mistake from the author, but it blew my mind that this blogger was so dramatic about it. And it sounds like the people who called Lehrer a plagiarist are a bit over dramatic, too.