Plagiarism and Copyright
Answer only 2 of them. :
- The assigned readings about Kaavya Viswanathan, including the Wikipedia entry for her, present us with more than just a case of a plagiarized academic paper; they present us with issues of fair use and copyright infringement. What distinguishes plagiarism from copyright infringement? What, exactly, constitutes “fair use?”2. Most college professors do not allow students to cite Wikipedia in their research papers, myself included. But of the three readings on Viswanathan, only one cites its sources: the Wikipedia entry. Why, then, is Wikipedia still considered a suspect source, whereas an article from The New York Timesis not?
3. There are reasons to avoid plagiarism besides that it can get you in trouble. Plagiarism speaks to issues of character. Ultimately, what plagiarism does is deceive the audience, and audiences don’t like to be fooled. Such deception undercuts the writer’s ethos, or reputation, which calls into question all future utterances, both spoken and written.
But issues of deception get blurred when new creative works come about through a derivation of a previous work or a pastiche of works. When rap singers “sample” the work of another artist’s recording in their own song, is that plagiarism, or are there only so many notes and rhythms available to a musical artist? When an artist creates a collage out of photographs taken by other photographers, is that plagiarism? If the film Shakespeare in Lovelifts direct quotations from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet but uses them in a different context, is that plagiarism? Did Kaavya Viswanathan’s “borrowing” of Megan McCafferty’s writing constitute a derivation or a copyright infringement?
Answer preview
- The assigned readings about Kaavya Viswanathan, including the Wikipedia entry for her, present us with more than just a case of a plagiarized academic paper; they present us with issues of fair use and copyright infringement. What distinguishes plagiarism from copyright infringement? What, exactly, constitutes “fair use?”
Plagiarism may be defined as an act of fraud, focused on stealing or copying someone’s work or presentation of original work as new from an existing source. On the other side, copyright is the legal protection of ones work whereby the owner is permitted to decide how others can use his or her work. It may also be defined as using another person’s original work for personal gains without crediting him or her or the source. Just like innovative inventions…
(700 words)