Since the first mention of the Howard article I have been contemplating the idea of plagiarism versus influence. In the Howard article she discusses originality has a difference between high and low culture. If being influenced by those that have come before us is considered plagiarism then would everyone in society be considered a plagiarist? Originality is considered important to being part of high culture but I believe that even the so-called high culture “authors” could be placed into a group with all those that have ever written anything as a plagiarist. Due to this reasoning I came to the conclusion that a significant difference exists between influence and plagiarism. Everyone has some form of influence in their life, whether it is their parents or the work of another student in their college English course. If society focused on avoiding the influence of others, due to the fear of being called a plagiarist, our world would not be able to advance. Whether or not the best authors, the best doctors, or best actors are willing to admit it, they have all been influenced in their work. The medical and literature fields have all advanced since the very first in the fields. It is only those people that can say they published the first book that are fully original; all others have learned from them what to do. Theses people are not plagiarists because the do not copy the work of others, they advance the information and improve the ways in which the information is portrayed. Influence and plagiarism are two separate entities and all of us should continue to improve society by looking back at what hasn’t worked and continue to build upon everything that has come before.
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You say that influence and plagiarism are two separate entities. I completely agree. The point I want to make is the difference between them. I believe that the difference is all dependent on the intentions of the author. Influence comes naturally in life. You plagiarize on purpose. I do not think that someone ever accidently plagiarizes. You plagiarize to try and steal credit or because you have run out of time on a deadline. So what's up with that phrase, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"?
I think plagiarism really refers to direct copying of someone else's ideas. Originality can be extended to improvements or horizontal analysis of already original work.
Of course influence and plagiarism are different! Plagiarism is when one takes words (or ideas) from someone else and plays them off as their own. Influence, as I understand it, can be related to plagiarism, but others are often influenced to write a text CONTRADICTING the original. Which in fact, I believe is the opposite of plagiarism, or is at least the sister of the opposite.
What I mean is, plagiarism also automatically relates to the "idea" of the text, influence does not.
I also agree with Molly and what she said about plagiarism is a pre-meditated act, where influence could be, but is not by definition.
I also agree. I think influence can play into plagiarism, but in itself it is not plagiarism. You have to intentionally imitate someone else to have plagiarized. Influence is everywhere and nearly impossible to avoid. I don't believe influence is a negative thing either. We need it in order to advance in so many fields.
I agree that there is a difference between simple influence and plagiarism. There doesn't seem to be any way you can write without being influenced at all because we are taught how to write from others and are influenced by them. I think plagiarism is when one intentionally takes another's work for their own without citing them but I think that in some cases it may not be very clear when trying to determine whether someone plagiarized or not.
I agree with your idea of separating influence and plagiarism. However, I would say that the in modern society the frequency of plagiarism is much higher than that of influence, as I would say that influence can only be applied to an entirely original idea, something never contemplated before. Unfortunately now it seems like everyone is running out of new things to say. Even if you try to be creative and avoid plagiarism, there has been so many ideas that your work would still fit into a psuedo-archaetype.
I think that using someone's thoughts without a reference is reproachfully and it should be punished! edit-it.org will tell you more how to determine plagiarism!
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