Plagiarism is a crime

Plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterwards.

Here are some of the latest cases of plagiarism:

• ·         Doris Kearns Goodwin: Goodwin, a former Lyndon Johnson aide, was accused of using phrases from other books in her own, including the popular The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys. Goodwin claimed it was accidental and withdrew unsold copies of the book to correct it.  

• ·         Jayson Blair: Jayson Blair was a young reporter at The New York Times before it was revealed in 2003 that he fabricated quotes, sources and datelines. Blair even submitted falsified receipts for reimbursement to back up his falsified datelines. The Times published a front-page piece on May 11, 2003 explaining what had happened. Blair was 27.

• ·         Rand Paul: The Kentucky Republican and potential 2016 GOP hopeful had a brush with plagiarism in 2013 in both speeches and in his book. Journalists accused him of lifting from Wikipedia, Focus on the Family and the Associated Press in his speeches. His book lifted heavily from studies produced by the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute. Paul, who said he was the victim of “haters,” admitted that he hadn’t properly used footnotes. 

People can’t avoid copying things especially in today’s society, most of the time people have their same thoughts and same opinion about things.

As a student I cannot avoid getting information to the web especially when it comes to research papers, project, and assignments even in a simple quotation. Because I have to find a way to be informed about the things I still have to know as well as for the professors out there they can’t avoid doing research about their topics that they supposed to be teaching their class or references that can be a help for them to be an effective educators.

As long as you put a copyright in it or just a simple credit to their work, I know it will be much appreciated by them because you took time looking for their creation, it’s not fair that you’ll be just getting something that is not originally yours, think about the time and heart of the person who did all his/her effort for doing something impressive. Right? What if that happens to you, would you feel happy about it ? 

Credits:

http://www.politico.com/gallery/2014/07/10-high-profile-plagiarism-cases-001770?slide=1

http://www.google.com