Plagiarism: The term “plagiarism” includes, but is not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work or sections of a work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment. This includes any material copied directly or paraphrased from the Internet. The unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials, including material taken from or ordered through the Internet and constitutes plagiarism. (Missouri State University’s Academic Policies and Procedures, accessed May, 2008)
Problems arise because, in various forms, copying, restructuring, and repurposing professional material is one of the essential skills in technical writing. Using boilerplates and templates, relying on existing material for designs and layouts, and single sourcing are all, by current definition, plagiarism.
Dr. Jessica Reyman has written a great article called "Rethinking Plagiarism for Technical Communicators" in the recent 55th volume of Technical Communication, the premier scholarly journal for technical writing. I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to find out more about the gray areas of academic plagiarism.
1 comment:
Justin,
I don't know if you remember what Tom Warren and Sam Dragga said about plagiarism at the STC conference, but they mentioned something along the lines of your argument. The fact is, as technical communicators, we work in collaborative groups that "steal" ideas from each other and sometimes other companies. Dr. Warren stated that students know that there's no such thing as "plagiarism" once they enter the workplace. It was interesting that Sam Dragga concured. We (academia) haven't even begun to adequately define what plagiarism is, so how do you know what to do when you think it has landed on your doorstep?
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