Definition & Cultural Views
of Plagiarism
By Ye Peng, Yani He, Yang Gu, Ruiqi Wang
2016/3/21
Content
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Definition
Plagiarism in United States
Plagiarism in China
Plagiarism in Japan
Conclusion
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Definition
• Plagiarism is taking the writings or
literary ideas of another and selling
and/or publishing them as one's own
writing.
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Definition
• 3 different forms:
1) Quoting words directly or using the ideas or facts
presented by another without citation.
2) Quoting words directly without putting them in
quotation marks.
3) Paraphrasing your source’s words too
closely. Alternatively, using the words and/or
sentence structure of your source without putting
them into your own words. (Note: this is often the
most common form of plagiarism and the most
difficult to control. )
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Definition
• Example：
• “In many ways this period of capitalist-communist alliance
against fascism – essentially the 1930s and 1940s – forms the
hinge of twentieth-century history and its decisive
moment. In many ways it is a moment of historical paradox in
the relations of capitalism and communism, placed, for most
of the century – except for the brief period of antifascism – in
a posture of irreconcilable antagonism.” Eric Hobsbawm, The
Age of Extremes, p.7.
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Definition
A) Obviously, simply copying the passage into a paper without
quotation marks or citation is plagiarism。
B) This is also plagiarism: (quotation marks omitted):
• The period of capitalist-communist alliance against fascism in the
1930s and 1940s is the pivotal and decisive era in the twentiethcentury because of the paradox that the relations of capitalism and
communism were, for the rest of the century, those of irreconcilable
difference (Hobsbawm 7).
C) Still plagiarism (inappropriate borrowing of phrases and words):
• The period of capitalist-communist alliance against fascism was
pivotal to the history of the twentieth-century history because the
paradox of the 1920s and 1930s was that during the rest of the
century capitalism and communism assumed the posture of
irreconcilable adversaries (Hobsbawm, 7).
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Definition
Acceptable paraphrase:
• The great paradox of the twentieth century resides in the
roughly twenty years of antifascist coalition between the
communist powers and the capitalist west. These years were
central to the history of the century because after about
1950, as before the mid-1930s, these two forces were
unflinchingly opposed to each other (Hobsbawm 7).
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Definition
• You don’t want people stealing your work.
And, you also do not want to make plagiarism
in your writing.
• How to avoid plagiarism?
1. Do not use someone’s words without referencing
the source or including the information in
quotation marks or a block quote.
2. Do not use someone’s ideas without referencing
the source.
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Plagiarism in United States
• In the U.S., the use of someone else’s ideas or
words without clearly giving credit to that
source is considered plagiarism. And in
American institutions, plagiarism is an
academic crime with often-serious
consequences: failure of a paper, failure in a
course, even expulsion from a university.
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• Students in U.S. once said “as a student I am
constantly asked to work with other people’s ideas
and words. I’m asked to look at what has been
written about a subject, and sometimes I have to
write about something I know nothing about”. Yes,
academic writing is often a collaboration among
students, their reader, and their sources. Students
do have to work with the ideas, research, and words
of others-- but students must give credit to the
originator of any ideas, research, words, or other
expression been used in writing. If not, they will be a
plagiarism, an academic thief who will be punished
finally.
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• Examples:
Michael Hand “earned” a Ph.D. in
counseling psychology at New Mexico State
University in 1982. In the Fall of 1987 an
anonymous tipster sent to the university a
copy two scholarly sources that Hand had
plagiarized in his dissertation. In April 1988,
the university rescinded the Ph. D. it had
awarded to Hand.
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Plagiarism in China
• Efforts to build China's academic stature may
be hindered by widespread plagiarism, the
Associated Pressreported. One ghostwriter is
quoted saying: "My opinion is that writing
papers for someone else is not wrong.... There
will always be a time when one needs help
from others. Even our great leaders Mao
Zedong and Deng Xiaoping needed help
writing."
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• When given English-language writing
assignments, it is common for Chinese
students to rely upon translating Chinese
sources into English and passing it off as their
own work, or simply copying and pasting
directly from Wikipedia.Acknowledgement
from students that copying the ideas of
another person, combined with threats of a
failing grade and being expelled from the class,
still did not deter the students from
plagiarizing. It is not such a surprise that this
behavior was not easily curtailed when
plagiarism extends into the upper echelons of
Chinese academia.
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• One plagiarism monitor, Fang Shimin, is a molecular
biologist trained at Michigan State University who
returned to China and began to root out scientific
fraud.
• "Plagiarizing foreign papers is a common practice in
China," Fang said. "They don't think it's a big deal.
Besides, China doesn't have a system to protect
whistleblowers, so even if someone has integrity and
guts to stand up against his or her wrongdoing peers
or supervisors, he or she will certainly face
retaliation."
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• "In general, in China there is a kind of climate
of temptation to use other people's work and
put your name on it. No one condemns you
for it," said Choi Kai Yan, an assistant
professor at Shantou University. "No one
takes plagiarism very seriously."
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Plagiarism in Japan
Before:
Plagiarism is considered culturally acceptable.
But it is low
morals
!
Present:
Plagiarism is illegal !!!
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• The Japanese parliament has passed an
amendment to their copyright laws, due to
come into effect on 1 January 2010, which
extends further protection to copyright
holders. It makes it illegal for private users to
download copyright material which has been
uploaded without the permission of the
copyright owner.
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The cases of
plagiarism in
Japan!!!
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Walang Utak points out in a
Blackstones livejournal entry
that a photo looked strikingly
similar to Ai Yazawa's Nana .
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Eden no Hana vs. Slam Dunk et al
In October 2005, users on 2ch pointed out
similarities between Yuki Suetsugu's Eden no
Hana (Flower of Eden) and Takehiko Inoue's
Slam Dunk and REAL. In no time Kodansha
released their statement regarding the issue:
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• We are still looking into the plagiarism case
regarding Suetsugu Yuki, but we can already
confirm that much of it is true. Suetsugu has
also admitted to it. Serialization in 'Bessatsu
Friend' has immediately been stopped, as
well as the shipping of all of Suetsugu's
tankoubon. They will no longer be printed
and steps for a recall have been taken. We
deeply regret that the plagiarism went
unnoticed by our editorial department, and
we apologize to the copyright holders as well
as all our readers.
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• Suetsugu also expressed her view:
I am really sorry for having invited this
situation. I have caused much trouble, due to
my low morals and lack of foresight and deeply
apologize to all copyright holders, all people
involved and above all to all readers.
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Conclusion
•Source：
1. “What is Plagiarism” by S.E. Van
Bramer, Widener University 1995
2. “Plagiarism in College in America”
by Dr. Ronald B. Standler
3. “In China, faculty plagiarism a
`national scandal’” from Knight Ridder
Newspaper by Tim Johnson
4.http://www.wadsworth.com/english_d/special_features/pl
agiarism/definition.html / http://www.rbs2.com/plag.htm
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