Plagiarism

[Hiroi Sekai]

"The wrongful appropriation, close imitation, or purloining and publication, of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, and the representation of them as one's own original work."

Sometimes people accidentally plagiarize without intention; what is unacceptable in my opinion is claiming someone's work as your own whilst knowing it isn't yours.


Here are a few plagiarists; some have been labelled so as a piece of their work has too many similarities as an earlier creation. Others are obvious to the common eye.


George Harrison
His "My Sweet Lord" had an uncanny number of similarities from the Chiffons' song, "He's So Fine". Harrison claims this was unintentional, and his other works are filled with originality, I believe it. However, this case moved through the courts for several years before the ruling became absolute.

Helen Keller
Was accused of plagiarizing an entire short story in her youth. Many of us have probably done so without knowing better in our youths as well.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Apparently plagiarized multiple times in college with his articles. Even more shocking is that his famous "I Have a Dream" speech contained unbelievable amounts of the same speech, which originally was spoken by an African-American preacher named Archibald Carey, Jr., who was a friend of King. Some say that King copied most of it word for word, while others say only the last portion was copied. At least the man used it to demand racial equality and an end to discrimination.

King's Speech, excerpt
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Carey's speech, excerpt
We, Negro Americans, sing with all loyal Americans: My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride From every mountainside Let freedom ring!
That's exactly what we mean--from every mountain side, let freedom ring. Not only from the Green Mountains and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire; not only from the Catskills of New York; but from the Ozarks in Arkansas, from the Stone Mountain
in Georgia, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia--let it ring not only for the minorities of the United States, but for the disinherited of all the earth--may the Republican Party, under God, from every mountainside,
LET FREEDOM RING!


And for a few less recognized people:

Carlos Mencia
Obviously steals Bill Cosby's joke involving his child and his progression as a football player. That was only the most famous one; he has stolen from many others and even said he does on camera (though it sounded like he was trying to be funny).

Chris Bores, "The Irate Gamer"
A YouTube personality who reviews bad games from the old days. Has been accused by a large number of people of stealing from "James Rolfe, The Angry Video Game Nerd". At first, his "Back To The Future" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reviews had a striking similarity to James' videos, which came out a year before Chris' did. To make things worse, James started with game reviews but moved on to movie reviews and a series called "You Know What's Bullshit" where he complains about the annoying things in life. Following suit yet again, Chris Bores started doing movie reviews and also opened two mini series (I Rate the 80s, and The Breakfast Rant), which take the exact same idea.

So those are the examples. What are your thoughts on this act, and do you have any examples of plagiarism to share?

[SaintessHeart]

It is so common in my school that I don't bother about it anymore. Anti-plagarism is so hard to enforce at a college/university level because the lecturers can't check every single piece of work for familiarity.

What disses me off is that those people scored higher marks than me with copypasta analyses. I thought I'd learn to take that in stride since the industry I am going into revolves alot around "first to register" rather than "first to build".

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

What disses me off is that those people scored higher marks than me with copypasta analyses. I thought I'd learn to take that in stride since the industry I am going into revolves alot around "first to register" rather than "first to build".

Et tu, Saintess? A large populous of my high school knew somebody had been stealing my math homework for several years, but my math teacher never even tried to find out what was wrong. There's a lucky one somewhere out there who is enjoying my hard-earned grades.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

Et tu, Saintess? A large populous of my high school knew somebody had been stealing my math homework for several years, but my math teacher never even tried to find out what was wrong. There's a lucky one somewhere out there who is enjoying my hard-earned grades.

Outdo, outwit, outlast. Treat that as a chess game.

I usually get people into trouble by using Fedspeak and finance jargon. Sure it lowered my grades by a few marks but at least it helped to identify who stole my work.

I don't mind helping some of my foreign peers with English, but when they are mollified into passing my work to other people, it pisses me off. And it isn't just my work that is copied, many other of the local students have their work copied vis-a-vis too because they know the local education system better than their foreign peers.

As usual, I share my work with my local peers because I can trust them to twist around the words into something different, and also share some of their ideas with me (principle of fair trade - the most useful trick, and probably the only ethical one, for social engineering). It is the foreign students with an OCD for distinctions that I don't trust - their "anything it takes to get an A or top in class" annoys me.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

do you have any examples of plagiarism to share?

German minister gives up doctorate after plagiarism row

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I usually get people into trouble by using Fedspeak and finance jargon. Sure it lowered my grades by a few marks but at least it helped to identify who stole my work.

Damn, that's pretty sinister, yet clever. Wish I had that in my high school years.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

As usual, I share my work with my local peers because I can trust them to twist around the words into something different, and also share some of their ideas with me (principle of fair trade - the most useful trick, and probably the only ethical one, for social engineering). It is the foreign students with an OCD for distinctions that I don't trust - their "anything it takes to get an A or top in class" annoys me.

The principle of fair trade is agreeably the most effective method of exchange; if you want something, you give something back equally. What a simple idea.

Originally Posted by Simon

German minister gives up doctorate after plagiarism row

Boy, does this ever improve my interest in politics! *insert insanely sarcastic voice*

[NorthernFallout]

Some months ago a professor (in my field of study to boot) at my University was found to have plagiarized. He got fired in the spot. Similarly, teachers use a certain program (don't know the details) that checks the validity of student works. I'm not sure how it works but it seems efficient. Pure copypasta stuff is caught easily (I lol'ed when the teacher told us about a guy copying an entire Wikipedia article). Usually, it spells doom for the student if they are caught, as they are mostly expelled. Hell, they even check if you used earlier works made by yourself, as it should be.

So I'd say it's a very serious thing here. I personally is heavily against it too, especially in academic work.

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

Usually, it spells doom for the student if they are caught, as they are mostly expelled. Hell, they even check if you used earlier works made by yourself, as it should be.

I always wondered why students plagiarize...oh wait, it's because they're lazy and the only thought they can process is the fact that they'd be getting grades for doing absolutely nothing.

Okay, that's a little too harsh. Some are inspired to borrow from other people's works, but it's not difficult to use a bibliography at the end of your work and/or "quotation marks with italics for copied text".

I love how plagiarism destroys the one purpose of attending school: education.

[Dr. Casey]

Originally Posted by Simon

German minister gives up doctorate after plagiarism row

Wow, that's really harsh... I wonder who the asshole was that reported the alleged plagiarism in the first place. I find stories like that about plagiarism to be extremely disheartening, because it's an offense that I don't come anywhere close to giving a damn about on a personal level, but is treated with rather severe penalties. It's depressing to read about people being kicked out of college or whatever over something that doesn't actually bother me on any moral level at all.

But yeah, I've always been completely apathetic to any kind of cheating in school (Though I personally wouldn't cheat since I do care about my education and want to learn stuff; I plan on starting college and working up to a Masters or PhD this fall, by the way). If I knew that someone was plagiarizing, I wouldn't lose any respect for them whatsoever. I'd just feel really nervous because I know that colleges care a whole lot more than I do.

[Jinto]

@ Dr. Casey,

To be or to pretend to be, that is the question.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

I always wondered why students plagiarize...oh wait, it's because they're lazy and the only thought they can process is the fact that they'd be getting grades for doing absolutely nothing.

Okay, that's a little too harsh. Some are inspired to borrow from other people's works, but it's not difficult to use a bibliography at the end of your work and/or "quotation marks with italics for copied text".

I love how plagiarism destroys the one purpose of attending school: education.

Considering the fact that most school are simply milling just-standard workers for hiring today, there isn't any more purpose of attending school other than getting that piece of paper to show off.

I understand a licensing to drive a car, work a crane, etc, but a "license" to work? That is ridiculous when all the school teaches you are simply some reiterated stuff from a "Nobel Laureate".

Of course, the most interesting thing is that, most Nobel Prizes handed out to Economics are BS, yet their stuff is widely taught in business schools. I bet I can learn alot more stuff from the local library and internet than I do in school, but schooling for a degree is simply over-recognised and the knowledge taught is under-appreciated.

Still, I wonder how they are going to explain how the Yale university students from the 1960s graduation batch, who become incredibly successful in life as businessmen, got only Bs and Cs while the straight A scholars have to jump from one job to another.

[Knightrunner]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

I always wondered why students plagiarize...oh wait, it's because they're lazy and the only thought they can process is the fact that they'd be getting grades for doing absolutely nothing.

Okay, that's a little too harsh. Some are inspired to borrow from other people's works, but it's not difficult to use a bibliography at the end of your work and/or "quotation marks with italics for copied text".

I love how plagiarism destroys the one purpose of attending school: education.

Once you attend school long enough you begin to realize how terrible the school system is and what they are teaching students. I don't like plagiarism, but it is just a small problem. I remember reading somewhere professional journals mis-cite stuff 30% of the time. You also need to put into account why most professional journals are written. Most writers are force to keep writing professional journals to keep there "academic status." They say those who stop writing gets killed off so some of the professional stuff they teach you in college is bullsh*t.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Dr. Casey

But yeah, I've always been completely apathetic to any kind of cheating in school (Though I personally wouldn't cheat since I do care about my education and want to learn stuff; I plan on starting college and working up to a Masters or PhD this fall, by the way). If I knew that someone was plagiarizing, I wouldn't lose any respect for them whatsoever. I'd just feel really nervous because I know that colleges care a whole lot more than I do.

Do you REALLY want someone with all the paper certifications doing something important when they don't actually have a clue other than the ability to fake it? Honestly, it explains a lot of the general decay of why many companies are functionally broken.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Do you REALLY want someone with all the paper certifications doing something important when they don't actually have a clue other than the ability to fake it? Honestly, it explains a lot of the general decay of why many companies are functionally broken.

Do we actually have a choice in that matter?

[mindovermatter]

my uni is super strict about that stuff. Anyone gets caught, it's the boot for them. We're always having info-lectures and discussions about "what is plagiarism"
I'm happy about it, because I'm a "straight arrow" student that goes to extra lengths to make sure I can't even be accused of doing anything like that (some times people ask me if they smell because I sit so far away )
and it kind of annoys me that people can get away with not even trying.
I'm friends with a CS major in a uni in Florida though, and he said that it's not uncommon to have 90% of the class have the same exact code with the same exact errors, and no one cares.
Where as my Chem-lab coordinator loves to tell us about a senior one year who copied her final paper from wikipedia and was kicked out. Funny thing is, he says, is that she would have still passed the class even if she didn't hand it the paper at all.

[LeoXiao]

Once for German class we had to write an essay about a Barock poem, and two thirds of the class ended up googling the same online interpretation, copying it to various degrees. The funny thing is, our teacher, in her tirade before the class, announced that the online interpretation was bullshit anyway, and spent ten minutes explaining how she would've given it a shitty grade. I ended up with the equivalent of an A-, to which she said to the class "Even the American did better than you!"

[JC...]

Imo cheating in an exam is fine, if you can get away with it. Memorising makes up most of exams and it doesn't make you clever or intelligent and usually doesn't contribute to anything (Aside from interest in some cases).

If you have to cheat in coursework and essays, you must be pretty stupid, I mean come on they're practically handing you marks, get a mark scheme and voila.

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by JC...

Imo cheating in an exam is fine, if you can get away with it. Memorising makes up most of exams and it doesn't make you clever or intelligent and usually doesn't contribute to anything (Aside from interest in some cases).

If you have to cheat in coursework and essays, you must be pretty stupid, I mean come on they're practically handing you marks, get a mark scheme and voila.

At my university and my field of studies, you'ld be booted even you were allowed to cheat in an exam.

Funny thing is, in some exams we were allowed to use all our study material. So, looking up stuff that you had not memorized was not the problem, the problem is time.

Our written exams were organized in a way, that you could only pass them if you knew the solutions almost immediatly. Looking up stuff in your study material meant you wasted the time you need to write your solution down, so you could not solve all the tasks (trade off).

If a university wants to boot students (like our university... 1300 first semester students, but only 400 can reach the finals, because the university's limited staff - part of the finals (before writing two thesis papers) were 5 oral exams, and only professors are allowed to do those exams with students... one student at a time - hence the 400 students limit => means that most students had to be booted before they reached the finals)

Besides, in math and computer science/computational logic memorizing is not exactly too important. You have to be able to solve problems, for which you won't find a solution in your study materials, because most of the time it contains just basic examples that often cannot be applied for the problem in the exam.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

Once for German class we had to write an essay about a Barock poem, and two thirds of the class ended up googling the same online interpretation, copying it to various degrees. The funny thing is, our teacher, in her tirade before the class, announced that the online interpretation was bullshit anyway, and spent ten minutes explaining how she would've given it a shitty grade. I ended up with the equivalent of an A-, to which she said to the class "Even the American did better than you!"

Buuuuuuuuuuurn.


Plagiarism is a very important subject for me, as I'm pursuing a career as a science fiction/fantasy author. I will tell you, I have done tons of research into both the genres as well as tons of just plain reading for pleasure, and while I am a pretty good writer in terms of grammar and rhetoric, I'm still working on narration technique. More specifically, how to effectively integrate both character narration with exposition without my story getting bogged down by the latter, yet still make my story immersive and compelling. Not as easy as it sounds, at times.

Then again, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it, right?

Anyway, as I was saying..... As a future writer, plagiarism is a big deal, for obvious reasons. It is very tough to emulate my favorite authors' style of narration without copying off of their story ideas. It's harder than it sounds to separate the two, since I don't typically forget stuff I've read (my good visual memory is backfiring on me).

[Dr. Casey]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Do you REALLY want someone with all the paper certifications doing something important when they don't actually have a clue other than the ability to fake it? Honestly, it explains a lot of the general decay of why many companies are functionally broken.

Of course not, and I'd be favor of some kind of penalty in situations where the plagiarism is enough to hamper one's understanding of the material they're supposed to learn. Due to the general zero tolerance policy against plagiarism and the ease with which teachers can now detect such copied material, though, the usual stories seem to be more along the lines 'A Computer Sciences major got kicked out during the third year of his Bachelor's program because he copied three sentences in an essay about Huck Finn.' Plagiarism is a crime that's punished quite brutally to serve as a deterrent, but in many of the individual cases I don't think the punishment fits the crime. Punishing people after the fact doesn't seem quite fair, either - if that German defense minister was doing perfectly fine at his job, where's the logic in getting rid of him just because he copied one stupid paragraph in his thesis (Or Atomico's professor, for that matter)? I mean, I guess that turning a blind eye would send the wrong message - 'Plagiarizing is okay so long as nobody finds out before you graduate' - but firing people that have always done a perfectly good job just because they copied a few sentences a number of years ago doesn't sound right to me, either.

I'm not saying that the way colleges treat plagiarism is necessarily unjust. Maybe being that harsh is necessary to deter people from plagiarizing. But regardless, these kinds of stories do involve people that might otherwise be perfectly decent having their lives turned upside down because they made one mistake; and yeah, those kinds of stories do bring down my mood.

Originally Posted by MindOverMatter

Where as my Chem-lab coordinator loves to tell us about a senior one year who copied her final paper from wikipedia and was kicked out. Funny thing is, he says, is that she would have still passed the class even if she didn't hand it the paper at all.

Yeah... your teacher sounds like a dick.

"Hey guys, did I ever tell you about that one time that a student of mine got kicked out for plagiarizing? She spent thousands of dollars towards a college education and devoted years of her life to pursuing certification in her field, but all that was a total waste and she never got to achieve one of her primary goals in life because she made a stupid choice right at the finish line! LMFAO, isn't that hilarious? XD XD XD XD XD"

Regardless of whether you think she deserved to be kicked out, it's heartless and distasteful to talk about what happened in the same light that you might talk about that one time a friend of yours got drunk and fell down the stairs. It was an unfortunate event, and the only context in which that story should ever be told should be as a warning to students not to plagiarize.