Plagiarism is taking another person’s work, whether literary, musical, or artistic images, and claiming it as your own unique work. It is not simply copying another’s work word for word, bar by bar, or canvas stroke by canvas stroke. Derivative works are also considered plagiarized works if the new work is not significantly different from the original. For example, paraphrasing or rewording a literary idea is another form of plagiarism if it lacks attribution. Likewise, someone else can plagiarize a song without being an exact duplicate, if the new song derives the bulk of its composition from an original work.
Caroline Bucky-Beaver on 12 Nov 08Under the 4th Principle regarding students' use of copyrighted material the article references students' use of copyrighted music. They cannot rely on it when their goal is to establish a mood or convey an emotional tone, or to simply use a popular song to exploit its appeal. This is what I find most students doing when they are using copyrighted songs. In order to use copyrighted songs, they have to demonstrate how they have repurposed or transformed the original. I'm curious to see examples of this that meet fair use.
