Talk:Plagiarism

I think that this article needs expansion and clarification. There are many examples of plagiarism on Conservapedia, perhaps because editors are not aware of what exactly constitutes plagiarism. Copy-and-pasting articles from other websites without quotation marks is plagiarism, even if the source website is listed as a 'reference' or 'source'. If the words are not yours, they should be in quotation marks, and the source is preferably mentioned directly in the text in addition to a reference footnote that shows exactly where the material came from. Footnotes should also lead the reader directly to the page from which the material was taken, if possible. Directing someone to a general web page and making them drill down through multiple layers of links to find the page from which you quoted is ethically questionable, as it obscures the true source of your information. When quoting from a printed work, page numbers should be used to aid the reader in tracking down the citation.

No doubt others will be able to give more concrete examples of how to avoid inadvertent plagiarism.Brossa 11:15, 7 October 2008 (EDT)

Plagiarism means a fradulent claim of authorship in order to get academic credit. It's all about papers written for school. The standard encyclopedias (like Britannica, World Book, Encarta) do NOT cite their sources. It is not plagiarism because there is no academic claim being made, and no deception is practiced. We should follow the usual practices of encyclopedias, not the rules colleges lay down for freshman papers. RJJensen 12:58, 7 October 2008 (EDT)

That's not really true. Plagiarism is using someone else's ideas and passing them off as your own. EB doesn't plagiarize, because they describe subjects, not ideas. They have an editorial board, so their description of a subject is an idea, and it's their own; not someone else's. However, if you use someone else's direct words, with no quotation marks (or no other way to set it off as a direct quote), it is always plagiarism, whether it be found in a freshman paper, a senior thesis, a professional journal, or an encyclopedia. HelpJazz 13:35, 7 October 2008 (EDT)

Plagiarism and the law

I'm pretty sure plagiarism and copyright infringement are different beasts. Plagiarism is a failure to give credit where credit is due (cite, as in a paper). Copyright infringement is using copyrighted material without authorization or compensation. Plagiarism is against the academic code, but not the legal code. Vice versa for copyvio. Ungtss 14:09, 7 October 2008 (EDT)