Plagiarism--Whose fault is it?

We had an interesting chat session for helping each other understand the concept of PLAGIARISM in academic English writing.

Wednesday, 13 June 2007, 10:26 AM --> Wednesday, 13 June 2007, 11:29 AM

10:27 Sang: First of all, let's share our understanding on "plagiarism".
10:28 Sang: Is it purely "American things" that happens in USA?
10:29 Younglee: Plagiarism is copying or using paper without author's areement or footnotes.
10:30 Jae Sung: oh~ Younglee~ how did you know that?
10:30 Sang Min: Everything to copy without mention is plagiarism~..
:31 Jae Sung: ok~ could you explain some more??????? cause~ I don't know about that.
10:31 Young Rim: This article already explained "borrowing other people's ideas" .
10:31 Jae Sung: I just know plagiarism is not good.
10:32 Sang Min: the strictest country about plagiarism is U.S.A.
10:32 Sang Min: I think that..
10:32 Younglee: right
10:32 Jae Sung: oh~ Young rim~~ you are expert...too.
10:32 Young Rim: No, I think Korea had the same thing.
10:33 Sang Min: I don't think so...
10:33 Jae Sung: I don't think so ...that is not that strict in Korea.
10:33 Sang Min: Not like America..
10:33 Jae Sung: See a lot of Korean student
10:33 Sang: Sara, Are you talking about Dr. Hwang..stem cell guy?
10:33 Sang: I wonder what Dr. Hwang is doing
10:33 Jae Sung: They are copying some one's homework...now...
10:33 Sang Min: It is relate to this
10:34 Sang: Dr. Hwang is a very famous case on plagiarism.
10:34 Jae Sung: Who is doctor Hwang?
10:34 Younglee: Dr.Hwang is different case.
10:34 Sang: It's kind of plagiarism.
10:34 Younglee: he was lying about his paper.
10:34 Sang: Cheating, he reported what he actually didn't.
10:35 Sang: I saw his name on one of university sites explaining as an example of plagiarism.
10:35 Young Rim: What do you think about copying or imitating ours art work ?
10:35 Sang Min: they think process not important.
10:35 Tae Yoon: could anybody explain how far plagiarism or not? I can hardly understand about that because there is difference between Korea and America.
10:36 Jae Sung: Yes..but, I heard that Korean doc always do that..They have no time to make their report so, their students are studying on behalf of professors.
10:36 Sang: Plagiarism is quite a big concept.
10:36 Sang: First of all, writers need to credit other writers' ideas.
10:37 Sang: However, the concept of plagiarism is different in different cultures.

10:37 Hye Eun: we need to be wary of inadvertent plagiarism of other people's work.
10:37 Sang Min: Yes I agree with Sang.
10:37 Sang: Hannah, you point out a very important point.
10:38 Sang: In the handouts, it says "incidental, accidental"
10:38 Sang Min: It depends on circumstance of country.
10:38 Sang: It means you were not quite sure what you were doing when you borrowed others' ideas.
10:38 Jae Sung: could you explain a little bit about inadvertent plagiarism????????????????????????? Hye Eun?
10:38 Sang Min: but It is not good thing. everybody knows.
10:39 Sang: In your first draft, I made many notes on citations. Not only Jae Sung, almost of you had similar mistakes on your first drafts.
10:40 Sang: "Incidental" means you had no intention to cheat your professors.
10:40 Young Rim: I heard that plagiarism's problem of college in Korea.
10:42 Sang Min: I thought that knowledge I learned before are not plagiarism...^^
10:42 Sang: Sang Min, it is true. Sometimes it is not clear where that is mine or others.
10:43 Yang Yi: As i understand... if we use some source but we did not explain the origin it is a kind of plagiarism.
10:43 Sang: To prevent from being innocently accused of plagiarism, we need to read carefully and read a lot.
10:43 Tae Yoon: Sang Min how about general information?
10:43 Sang: Yang Yi, you are right.
10:43 Young Rim: for example,when we draw, we don't use another idea.
10:44 Sang: Tae Yoon, general information should be distinguished from common sense.
10:44 Sang: Common sense, by my definitions are, the earth is round.
10:44 Hye Eun: sang, ghostwriting is plagiarism, too? a person who writes for another.
10:45 Jae Sung: but~ how do I know? the limit of common sense?
10:45 Sang: As long as this kind of information was not found by you, you need to find a book/article to include citation.
10:45 Sang: Jae Sung, so we have to read many books and articles to see how other writers work.
10:46 Sang: Hannah, you got me! Guys, do you know what is ghostwriting?
10:46 Sang: For example, President Bush is plagiarizing in terms of strict standards.
10:47 Sang: All of his speeches are made by famous writers. This is ghostwriting.
10:47 Sang: I am not sure President Bush should be punished by that or not... Anyhow, he is the president.
10:48 Hye Eun: in Korea, students wrote a thesis for professor.
10:48 Sang: Hannah, it is true in the U. S. A.
10:48 Young Rim: I learned last semester that how to use quotation mark and summary is .
10:49 Sang: I also have a big trouble with plagiarism.
10:50 Sang: My big trouble is self-plagiarism, meaning, I copied my ideas without citing them.
10:50 Jae Sung: I think that is not plagiarism.
10:51 Sang: Jae Sung and Sang Min, it is one of serious plagiarism.
10:51 Sang Min: If I copy my other paper. Is It
10:52 Yang Yi: I don't think so, Sang Min.
10:52 Sang: Sang Min, let me explain this. If you copy your previous report in other course, it is plagiarizing.
10:52 Sang Min: But it is still my ideas~....
10:52 Sang: Actually some profs. in English programs found a couple of students who borrowed "reflections" and papers and reported to school.
10:52 Jae Sung: Me too~ that is my idea.~ It is not from the book~
10:53 Sang: So it is named "Self-plagiarism."
10:54 Yang Yi: Yes i heard about that.
10:54 Sang: You can be caught for "plagiarism." and may be punished by that.
10:54 Sang Min: If I have to write same topic that i wrote before and I have a same idea about that...How can I write papers????
10:55 Sang: haha, Sang Min, that is my big challenge all the time.
10:55 Sang Min: It is too difficult...
10:57 Sang: In terms of Plagiarism, "honesty" is the best policy.
11:00 Sang: One of my friends in my graduate school was rejected in the doctoral program because she plagiarized in her term paper.
11:00 Sang Min: Yes...^^
11:00 Jae Sung: ^^ ..No.
11:01 Sang: OK, if you need more concerns on plagiarism, see me. I keep many cases to share with.
11:01 Sang: Let's go back to the article, Igo and Professor Graham.
11:01 Younglee: In the contrast if someone was using my idea without any mention probably I will be angry
11:01 Sang: Hannah, yes.
11:03 Young Rim: Because Igo wants to excellent grade.
11:03 Sang: Jae Sung, do you remember Igo is one of best students, hard workers?
11:03 Sang Min: But I think I can give a chance to him. Everybody makes a mistake...
11:08 Young Rim: I think two students didn't have a pure heart.
11:09 Sang: Yang Yi, and Tae Yoon, what do you think?
11:16 Tae Yoon: I do not know well, but we need to think about what place called as school is....I agree with Sang Min.
11:16 Tae Yoon: focusing on purnishment or giving chance to develop
11:17 Yang Yi: I mean the professor has to notice about this case and then giving chance or not is his own decision.
11:17 Young Rim: 'plagiarism' is very difficult thing.
11:18 Jae Sung: Yes...I agree with Young Rim~
11:18 Hye Eun: yes, it 's very difficult.
11:19 Jae Sung: What if.....he is not international student????????That's totally different story...
11:20 Sang Min: honesty
11:21 Young Rim: because, exactly we have to follow the another rule
11:21 Jae Sung: please...take a break.....please please please