This blog has featured past articles and discussions about plagiarism. I wrote about my experience when I discovered my own post from this blog was used elsewhere without credit. Guest blogger Rob Greenberg also wrote about how to address plagiarism committed against you.
Plagiarism is not only a problem in academia, it is anywhere people are reading or watching content. This includes the Internet, business, entertainment and even scientific research.
Here are some examples of how plagiarism spans many areas of expertise:
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- Recently, Fox was sued for intellectual theft for the story behind its hit show New Girl.
- In 1990, the California Supreme Court ruled that the film studio Paramount plagiarized the idea for the 1988 film Coming to America from a treatment provided by columnist Art Buchwald.
- George Harrison was found to have “subconsciously plagiarized” the melody in his 1969 hit song My Sweet Lord from the 1963 hit He’s So Fine.
- In 2012, a respected Canadian scientist and student were caught plagiarizing entire paragraphs about chip technology written by US researchers.
Accidental Versus Intentional Plagiarizing
Eddie Murphy, the Coming to America star and co-writer and George Harrison were more or less excused for their actions. Murphy and his co-writers were discovered to have had previous access to Buchwald’s treatment although the court was careful to not criticize them.
Similarly, George Harrison insisted he had another song in mind when he wrote My Sweet Lord; an 18th century hymn called Oh Happy Day. He freely admitted that he knew the Chiffons’ hit as a musician; it would be virtually impossible for him to not know it.
As a writer, I can see how unintentional plagiarizing can happen. Writers research so many topics that as we gain expertise, we must take extra care to continue to credit original ideas that are not our own.
Take Steps To Avoid Unintentional Plagiarizing
You already know that documenting is an important part of writing. It is vitally important to give credit where it is needed and to keep copies of your original drafts. Err of the side of caution; site more rather than less. Let the editors decide whether to include footnotes or citations.
Can One Self-Plagiarize?
In 2012, science journalist Jonah Lehrer was found to have fabricated some of his work during a separate investigation of whether he self-plagiarized by “repurposing” columns in different media outlets.
Self-plagiarism remains a grey area. If you develop an expertise, you will likely market it. But in terms of publishing, especially on the Internet, you need to be careful about not repeating yourself. Duplicate content can hurt you or the publication you’re writing for, particularly if you’re concerned about Google rankings.
In addition, as the website ithenticate.com points out, there is the issue of copyright infringement to consider with self-plagiarism. This site offers free white paper and video tutorials with additional tips on how to manage this interesting paradox.
All in all, it is easy to get caught in sticky situation even if it is unintentional. When writing, always keep plagiarism in mind and try to avoid it at all costs!
