Plagiarism vs. copyright | NSPA News & Notes - 0 views
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Randy Kolset on 21 Oct 13"Plagiarist!" It is an accusation that strikes fear in the hearts of students, academics, journalists, authors and presidential candidates alike. The fear is certainly that of being caught: punished by those in authority, professionally censured by one's peers, publicly humiliated. Often too, however, it is a fear of the unknown. From the day a third grade student, armed with cut-and-paste commands, is assigned a report on Thomas Jefferson and turns to Wikipedia, he confronts the same questions faced by the best-selling historian who dares consult secondary sources: how do I use this information without "overusing" it. How much use is too much? What needs to be attributed and what doesn't? Is substantially rewording or paraphrasing a passage sufficient to make it my own? What constitutes "substantially?" And on and on. Even when one makes every conscious effort to avoid the P-word, the nagging thought can remain: what if it wasn't enough?