You may remember from some point in your schooling a lecture about a little thing called plagiarism. Wikipedia states, “Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as ‘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,’” attributing this definition to the 1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary. In other words, plagiarism is stealing ideas. While you may not mean to steal someone else’s work, it can happen accidentally, especially with so much information abundantly available online, and available for use with a simple copy and paste. So, how do you keep from doing it? Here are some basic rules to keep in mind:
Keep Close Track of Sources
Sometimes it’s harder than it sounds to know when ideas are not your own. Say you are putting together a report on the implications for your company of current economic conditions. You may end up reading many sources, and unconsciously using the words of one of them in your report. To avoid this scenario, be sure to track and use your sources carefully.
Know When Ideas Are Not Your Own
You should attribute ideas to someone else when (1) they are not your own ideas or (2) they are not commonly known. Specifically, you should cite your source when:
- You write something exactly the way someone else has written or said it.
- You paraphrase a key idea written or spoken by someone else.
- You mention ideas that are not easily located in three or more sources.
Learn How to Cite Sources
There are varying ways of presenting this information. To identify the right way to do it, use a good style manual, like the The Chicago Manual of Style (used for book and general publishing), The Associated Press Stylebook (used for journalistic publications), or The Gregg Reference Manual (used for general business writing). Use the one most closely associated with your industry, or your company’s standard (some companies will also have in-house style guides with additional or alternative guidelines).
Hint: Citing sources typically involves noting the name of the author, the name of the publication where the information appeared, the date, the publisher, and the publisher’s location. If you’re caught without a style manual, include this information in some form.
Know Where They Go
You can cite sources in a footnote, an endnote, some variation of a “works cited” list, or within the text. Some citation systems include more than one of these approaches. Use the one that’s most appropriate according to your style manual, or the one that is least obtrusive for readers. When writing online content, use links liberally.
When in Doubt, Cite Your Sources
If you have any doubts as to the originality of your work, go ahead and mention your sources. For example, you could mention several sources you used that, combined, helped you formulate a particular idea. It can’t hurt, and actually lends credibility to your writing; readers know you have put some thought, and research, into your work.
How do you avoid being an idea thief? Let us know in the comments!
About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter and grant writer who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.
Need someone to assist you with tracking and citing resources in your writing? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.
Thanks for the reminder, Karen–online, the danger of unwitting plagiarism increases many times as people innocently copy and paste, and then forget to add an attribution. Even if it’s not an academic paper, quotes and a source link is the ethical responsibility of us all.
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Karen Marcus Reply:
December 16th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Well put: “the ethical responsibility of us all.” Yet, as you noted, it is easy to forget to add an attribution. One way for writers to remember is to consider how they would feel if someone else tried to pass off their work as that person’s own.
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Thanks for the informative article. This is a hot topic right now between myself and my coaching colleagues. It is sometimes impossible to know where you got your ideas and knowledge. I read daily, attend seminars, watch videos, read blogs; how do I know if something I come up with for a talk or blog post came from someone else? I sometimes think there are no original ideas. Most of the personal development books I read all have a very similar theme but use different methods of getting the point across. If I use the similar theme but present it with my own special sauce, is it plagiarism? This is so confusing and definitely needs more discussion.
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Karen Marcus Reply:
December 16th, 2010 at 10:49 am
You bring up a good point: Plagiarism is not necessarily a black-or-white issue. Where do you draw the line if you’re using others’ work as a starting point for your own? Would love to hear others’ thoughts on this.
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Vicki Garcia Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 9:31 am
If I know I got an idea from someone else, I try to get clarity on how this idea has worked in my life. I then use my experience, in my own words to convey the idea. Hope that makes sense. Also, if that person has some new spin or way of presenting the idea or even a new tool to help you use that idea, that absolutely belongs to them and I would never use it and claim it as my own. For instance, many of the personal development books I read speak about fear and getting out of your comfort zone. To me, this is almost a universal idea when it comes to self-growth. I also talk about these concepts and do not feel that I am stealing because so many others talk about this topic; all in different ways. There is no way to know who originally came up with this concept. This is most definitely a confusing topic and I feel that just being aware that you may be stealing an idea is a start. Thanks for bringing up this important issue!
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Plagiarism may not be illegal, but it is certainly unethical. (While plagiarism isn’t illegal, I think it should be a hanging offense.) In academics, plagiarism is the height of immorality. A tenured faculty member may get a reprimand for sleeping with his students, but one instance of plagiarism will cost him his job.
In contrast to plagiarism, copyright infringement is illegal. However, unless you paid $35 for a registered copyright, any enforcement lawsuit probably won’t get you more than the cost of actual damages (usually $0).
One of the most extreme cases of plagiarism that I have heard recently concerned Cooks Source magazine (http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/cooks_source_sunderland_magazi_1.html). Basically, they were publishing recipes and photos found on the web without citing their sources. Some of the more notable victims included Food Network’s Robin Miller, Tyler Florence, Danny Boome, and powerhouse Paula Deen. When the publisher of Cooks Source was asked about the plagiarism, she responded that “the web is considered ‘public domain’ and you should be happy we just didn’t ‘lift’ your whole article and put someone else’s name on it!” (http://illadore.livejournal.com/30674.html — I swear that I cannot make this up.)
After a Google Spreadsheet was created that listed some of the instances of plagiarism (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmTaIPHPnkSedGFhbHo1d1FIR2oxNWJLaDZLeXhEVEE&hl=en&pli=1#gid=0), the magazine decided to close shop.
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Karen Marcus Reply:
December 7th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Thanks, Neal, for the additional info, and the reminders that (1) plagiarism is very serious, and (2) information available online is NOT necessarily public domain!
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