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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013
Posts: 2006
Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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 Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:56 am Post subject: Famous Plagiarists: How to Avoid Becoming One |
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Yep! It's that time of the semester again. In just two weeks, I'll be introducing documentation and citation to my comp students.
Famous plagiarists that I often mention as examples of why plagiarism is a bad idea are:
1) The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Apparently King was guilty of plagiarism on his dissertation, something that wasn't discovered until years after his death. Probably it was simply a case of being careless about citations. Had he lived beyond the ripe young age of 39, this possibly may have come back to haunt him.
2) Dr. Rodney Smith, former president of the College of the Bahamas -- He plagiarized a commencement speech that he found online. Unfortunately for him, someone else found it too and called him on it. Conveniently, this scandal went down while I was teaching at another nearby school in the Bahamas. Nothing like telling your students, "See what happened to him," as a deterrent to plagiarism.
3) former Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colorado) -- His bid for the Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate went up in flames when it was discovered that he plagiarized several articles that he "wrote" while on a highly paid fellowship following his retirement from Congress, thus throwing the nomination to his dim-witted opponent who, in turn, lost the race to a congenial Democrat better suited as a stand-in for Howdy Doody rather than elected-politics.
4) Senator John Walsh (D-Montana) Appointed to fill a vacancy in the Senate a few years ago, Walsh--now an incumbent--is running for election for the very first time in his life. Unfortunately, while digging up dirt on him, his political enemies discovered that he plagiarized his whole entire final master's paper for the U.S. Army War College. Currently running at 30% in the polls, Walsh may not have had a snowball's chance in h--- of winning an election to national office in a bright red state, but I'm sure the plagiarism allegations haven't helped him any. In the meantime, pending the results of an official investigation, the U.S. Army War College may decide to rescind his degree since he was caught cheating.
Who are your favorite plagiarists that you encourage students NOT to imitate? |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013
Posts: 2006
Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 2:57 pm Post subject: |
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| johnslat wrote: |
How could the transgressions of the current Vice-President (liitle pun there) of the USA be overlooked?  |
Ooohhh! That's a good one. I'm definitely going to use it in class. |
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Mushkilla
Joined: 17 Apr 2014
Posts: 320
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:00 pm Post subject: Re: Famous Plagiarists: How to Avoid Becoming One |
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| esl_prof wrote: |
Yep! It's that time of the semester again. In just two weeks, I'll be introducing documentation and citation to my comp students.
Famous plagiarists that I often mention as examples of why plagiarism is a bad idea are:
1) The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Apparently King was guilty of plagiarism on his dissertation, something that wasn't discovered until years after his death. Probably it was simply a case of being careless about citations. Had he lived beyond the ripe young age of 39, this possibly may have come back to haunt him. |
"An academic inquiry concluded in October 1991 that portions of his dissertation had been plagiarized and he had acted improperly, but that his dissertation still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship"; the committee recommended that his degree not be revoked."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_plagiarism_incidents#Martin_Luther_King.2C_Jr.
It seems Comrade Vladimir Putin has been accused of plagiarism by fellows at the Brookings Institution who allege that large chunks of Putin's economics dissertation on planning in the natural resources sector were lifted from a management text published by two University of Pittsburgh academics nearly 20 years earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_plagiarism_incidents#Vladimir_Putin
Let's see how Comrade Sasha will defend Comrade Putin?  |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013
Posts: 2006
Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:52 pm Post subject: Re: Famous Plagiarists: How to Avoid Becoming One |
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Thanks for sharing, Mushkilla!
Again, King's plagiarism is one of the less serious cases of academic honesty, but still potentially embarrassing.
| Mushkilla wrote: |
It seems Comrade Vladimir Putin has been accused of plagiarism by fellows at the Brookings Institution who allege that large chunks of Putin's economics dissertation on planning in the natural resources sector were lifted from a management text published by two University of Pittsburgh academics nearly 20 years earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_plagiarism_incidents#Vladimir_Putin |
Interesting! It sounds like these allegations are too new and untested to know if they'll have a negative impact on Putin's career. Given that they're from a foreign source, they may go largely ignored within Russia proper. Textbook material, it seems, would be too elementary to pass off as dissertation level material. If the allegations are true, I'd think that this would reflect worse on Putin's advisors and university for not having caught such an obvious case of plagiarism than it would on Putin himself.
In the meantime, I'm anxiously awaiting for Comrade Sasha to weigh in . . .  |
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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013
Posts: 2006
Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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| johnslat wrote: |
| Such disparate individuals as Jane Goodall and Rand Paul were tainted in 2013. |
If plagiarism is the unpardonable sin, hell is going to be a very crowded place. |
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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 4:16 am Post subject: |
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Weigh in? How can one? And when Wiki is the source, there can be no dispute. Citations and references always perfect there. No chance at all that this Putin claim might be a minor attempt at a smear campaign, none.
Well, at least we know he has a real birth certificate... |
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adaruby
Joined: 21 Apr 2014
Posts: 171
Location: has served on a hiring committee
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:12 am Post subject: |
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| Sashadroogie wrote: |
No chance at all that this Putin claim might be a minor attempt at a smear campaign, none.
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How could they? After all, he is such a decent bloke. Misunderstood perhaps, but cute and cuddly to those who know him best, I'm sure. |
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Mushkilla
Joined: 17 Apr 2014
Posts: 320
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 9:09 am Post subject: |
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| Sashadroogie wrote: |
| Well, at least we know he has a real birth certificate... |
Are you sure is an authentic certificate, not 'plagiarized' one by the KGB? |
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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:29 pm Post subject: |
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| You may not like him, but do you really think he is stupid? Would he need to plagiarise. Bush II, on the other hand... The Harvard graduate : )) |
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Dedicated
Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 972
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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Most plagiarism has little to do with intelligence but more to do with ethics.
You can be talented and intelligent but not a good writer. As in the case of the German Minister of Defence, Karl-Theodor Zu Guttenberg, who had to resign in 2011 because of plagiarism, people think they won't get caught. Total hubris.
They think it's the best way to get the results they want, putting outcomes ahead of process. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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Hey, why reinvent the wheel? There's nothing new under the sun. And maybe they missed the lesson in paraphrasing. 
Regards.
John |
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esl_prof
Joined: 30 Nov 2013
Posts: 2006
Location: peyi kote solèy frèt
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| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 2:22 am Post subject: |
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| Sashadroogie wrote: |
| Weigh in? How can one? And when Wiki is the source, there can be no dispute. Citations and references always perfect there. |
Silly me! And to think that I've actually spent all these years forbidding students from using Wikipedia in their research papers. Oh, my! |
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