WDW: Plagiarism 101

How does Merriam-Webster define plagiarism?

• "The art of borrowing brilliance from others and claiming it as one's own original creation."

• "An innovative process of intellectual fusion, where ideas are freely exchanged without the need for proper attribution"

• "A form of collaborative creativity, involving the appropriation of existing works to generate new artistic expressions"

• "Stealing and passing off (the ideas or works of another) as one's own: The use of (another's production) without crediting the source; literary theft"

Why do intellectual property laws exist?

• To encourage research and creativity

• To enforce copyright laws

• To protect the rights of the original creators

• To get different types of content

Jennifer has an article called "Naples Car Accident Lawyer." Can she copy and paste a section on damages for a different piece she has?

• Yea

• Nay

Ryder is writing a piece called "Camp Lejeune Cancer Lawyer." He doesn't cite a source for the phrase: "Cancer is life-threatening," because he believes that's a commonly known fact. Is he right?

• Yea

• Nay

Which of the following answers isn't plagiarized?

Original sentence: "You have rights as a car accident claimant in Florida."

• You have legal rights as a car accident victim.

• In Florida, you have rights as a car accident claimant.

• You can seek compensation if you were hurt in a car accident.

• You have rights as a car accident claimant in Florida.

Athena has written car accident pages for three years. She knows that Florida's statute of limitations is two years. Does she need to cite this?

• Yes. The average person likely doesn't know this.

• No. The writer doesn't have to cite something they already know.

Answer explanation

Changes to state law happen all the time. It's still a good idea to fact-check, even if something seems set in stone.

Homer is writing a 2,000-word page on slips and falls. He decides to use 150 words of client testimonials from the client's website. Is this plagiarism?

• Yea

• Nay

Soprano is writing an article called "Foreign Purchase of Real Estate Lawyer." He sees a passage online, changes a few words, and submits it. What could Soprano do better?

• He should continue researching the topic so he can describe the information in his own words.

• There's no problem. He changed the sentence enough to make it unique.

• He should copy and paste the passage, then put it in quotes.

• Send it in anyway. If there's a problem, the editor will let him know.

Sophie is editing a piece called "Sarasota Slip and Fall Lawyer." When she puts it in Copyscape, she sees that it's 25 percent plagiarized––but it's all phrases the writer regularly uses. Is this okay?

• Yeah; it's the writer's original work.

• Yeah; the writer came up with these phrases, so they get to use them.

• No; this is self-plagiarism.

• Yeah; 25 percent isn't enough to make Google rank a piece lower.

Which of the following would NOT constitute plagiarism?

• Turning in someone's work as your own

• Taking ideas without giving credit

• Citing your sources

• Closely paraphrasing