Being a student of university in a developing country its been a pleasure to share my experience regarding my research work over plgiairism from the parents of of post graduate students of universities here in pakistan.i would like all of ytou to write some comments on it.

While doing research i do feel that plgiarism is an ponion rather than anythingelse.

what do you say abt it???

Regards

And everyone should read Mari Sandoz and Luther Standing Bear. Seriously, you’ll be delighted.

If any good has come out of this, it’s that these folks’ achievements are being brought back to our attention. These folks’ achievements, and the black-footed ferrets (and I, too, have a little crushlet on Paul Tolme now!)

moments in the last couple of weeks where we’ve asked ourselves: Have I ever been careless? I know I’ve asked myself that.

But I think we need to understand that there’s a difference between copying down a couple of lines in research–forgetting to change it, or not changing it enough–and copying chunks, word for word, then doing the merest hint of paraphrasing. And doing so again and again and again.

That’s not careless or inadvertant or forgetful, imo.

Again, Nora, you’ve hit it on the head. Mistakes happen. Katrina Strauss and I talk to each other so frequently that we often finish each others sentences now. We share our WIPs with each other, and at times use each other as sounding boards to bounce plot ideas off of. Because of this, there are similarities between our works that we can see quite clearly. Add in the fact that we have the same tastes on many things, and the same influences, and yes, if you look at our work together, you can see the parallels.

Particularly when an author starts out, it’s easy to find clues as to their influences. I think the longer an author works to perfect her craft, the more distinct her own voice becomes.

I have another friend who is also an author. We were crit partners before either of us achieved publication. I had her reading one of my novels for crit (prior to publication) and she found a sentence that was almost exactly the same as a sentence she’d written in a piece a year prior, one which I had read and critiqued for her.

When she pointed this out to me, I was beyond horrified. I felt physically ill, and thoroughly disgusted with myself. Dear God, was I a plagiarist?

In the strictest sense, I suppose, yes. I obviously had gotten that sentence from her, and stored it in my brain somewhere. I hadn’t done anything consciously, or deliberately, but I’d done it all the same. It reminded me of Helen Keller’s Frost King incident.

But, as you said, Nora, there’s a difference between one or two lines, and entire chunks of text copied verbatim from one source to another. We could all stand to go that extra mile to be careful with our work, to make sure credit is given where credit is due, and to make sure we are extra vigilant.

It ought to be that important to all of us. We should take a beating before we let someone’s words be stolen. And some of us are taking a beating now, by being told to shut up, or by having our motives in speaking out impugned.

I posted my blog on this several days ago. I am so glad that the Internet allows us all to comment, and in multiple forums. People who have been plagiarized are not as alone as they might think. The rest of us might not be able to help you win your legal battle, but we can help with the public face of the struggle, and with the private grief. We also can help at the local level with campaigns to get books containing plagiarism off library shelves, and by urging booksellers not to carry plagiarized books, and by speaking up every time someone makes light of plagiarism. And, of course, by supporting ferrets.

And yes, it costs the victim. Emotionally and financially. The stress, the expense of lawyers, the loss of work time, the sheer emotional toll costs so much. Added to the response of some–it’s no big deal, why are you being so mean/snotty/picky and so on just piles on that emotional distress.

If you need somewhere to vent, please e-mail me. You’re not alone.

On another note, I’ll never complain about my writing hardships again. Trying to finish that fifth damn chapter while sitting at my comfy desk with my Dr. Pepper nearby…. while Mari Sandoz got beaten just to be able to put her voice out there….
It’s good to get knocked with the “Get over yourself” stick now and again.

Truly inspirational in all the best ways, thanks again.

The Society of American Archeology established the Arthur C Parker Scholarship “for Native Americans and Native Hawaiians . . . to support training in archaeological methods, including fieldwork, analytical techniques, and curation for Native Americans and Native Hawaiians.” Parker was the Society’s first president.

Totally unrelated… but my daughter has talked about being an archaeologist since she was old enough to say ‘dinosaur’ (yeah, I know they aren’t the same…)

And my husband’s Native. Never knew this particular specialized scholarship was out there. I’ve got time (ten years, that’s plenty of time, right? don’t tell me otherwise, I’m in denial) but still… something to keep on the back burner.

Thank you Jane for bringing so many of these people to life again and for putting faces and histories to the words.