Posts Tagged ‘plagiarism’

Writing is hard. There’s no doubt about it. It’s also lonely and isolating. Try staring a blank page, and then put some words on it. Your words. Not someone else’s words. If you take the short cut and copy someone else’s words, that’s plagiarism.

Internet plagiarism has become a very serious topic as the amount of information available to anyone anywhere at anytime increases each day. And so plagiarism can be very tempting, given the ease of the Internet.

Many people assume that because some words on the web don’t have a visible copyright, those words are up for grabs. As we learned in the previous YSM blog on copyright laws, that is not necessarily true. All material on the Internet is copyrighted, and therefore owned by someone. Violating that copyright is plagiarism and plagiarism is stealing.

Academics and students have long struggled with plagiarism, how to find it and how to discipline a student when that student plagiarizes. This article in the New York Times does a decent job of discussing academic plagiarism. The comments section is also a good read, as educators challenge students’ ignorance of what Internet plagiarism really is.

When you do write an article, a blog or a paper, you can use someone else’s words, just as long at that information is cited and attributed to the original author. Attribution can also include posting links to your source material as a way to identify the author. However, if you want to use the words from a private blog, it’s best to ask permission first and avoid any misunderstandings.

For more information about plagiarism, what it is and how not to do it, go to plagiarismtoday.com. Then settle in and enjoy using your own words to create your own story.