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Grace

FORMER JOURNALIST LOOKS AT PLAGIARISM IN NEW NOVEL, 'GRACE'

When Norwegian novelist Linn Ullmann worked full-time for Oslo's leading morning newspaper, she occasionally felt the "urge" to change what people said and make it hers -- "the urge to make things up."
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...24716%2C00.html

Grace

I think the urge to make things up is greater now than ever. We do some much writing online that its easy, per anonymity, to slip someone elses words into what you are typing. I have had the urge before myself, but since I write allot of poetry, I understand what someones words mean to them. I would be devastated if I wrote something and someone else took credit for it. I think the next great area of copyright and plagiarism is going to be in the area of online blogs. Blogs have virtually no way to mediate what others write without infringing on their privacy. Law officials will have to find a way to enforce laws that already exist, without break other laws and violating privacy.

Grace UFO & Writing Art Education Sciences

As a wordsmith, I loathe plagiarism too. I make all my students sign a plagiarism certification for each formal essay or research paper they write. That gives me a leg to stand on, if I catch them. It says that they have been taught about plagiarism and how to avoid it and that they did, in fact, avoid it. It's as simple as Googling a suspicious sentence, printing the original, and stapling it to the offender's paper. It's hard to refute that. Sometimes, it's easier. I've had essays turned in with the URL still on the bottom of the pages and the original author's name crossed out. Other times, the writing style of the paper is choppy, and it is obvious that several people "wrote it," but I can't find the original. That's frustrating because it's nearly unprovable to someone other than an English teacher or writer.

As to tougher laws . . . eh, I can't stand regulation other than self regulation. Copyright is one thing, but in an academic setting, we have to police ourselves and make sure we are teaching kids what plagiarism is and burning them appropriately when they do it.

Grace

Calaban my wife used to teach some convent girls that did the same thing (copy from the internet), but what amazes me is how stupid someone can be as to put the URL of a web site on their submitted paper where they stole the content and to be so forward as to declare it their own hand?! We have had some members here do the same thing. One member quoted line to line from a book and then blended in their own words to make it look as if it was their statement of eloquence. Fortunate for me it was my favorite book - unfortunately for them when they were caught..