Years ago now, when I worked at the Sweetland Writing Center at the University of Michigan, we hosted a large conference called, “Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism,” to place “plagiarism in dialogue with notions of originality and imitation” (3) [1]. In the years since, as I work with departments to integrate writing across the disciplines and with graduate students and faculty to publish in their fields, I find myself continuing to think about how we can do a better job teaching these three cornerstones. [Read more…]
On plagiarism
November 28, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: April 12, 2019
April 12, 2019 By Leave a Comment
This week’s quote – “Plagiarism: Getting in trouble for something you didn’t do.” – comes from an unknown source, but as often seems to be the case, the articles in our collection from around the web seem to have kindly fallen in line with this academic pun.
While our collection doesn’t have anything to do with the true definition of plagiarism, it does have a lot to do with the concept of getting in trouble for something you didn’t do. Specifically, problems or challenges may arise if you don’t check an index properly, if you don’t adequately prepare for a thesis proposal defense, if you don’t accept the dissertation publication requirement, if you don’t follow a traditional research path, if you don’t include your PhD on your CV (or if you do as the article discusses), if you linger in between identities during a career transition, if you don’t properly market yourself for a job, or if you don’t plan your approach attending a large conference.
As you approach your writing efforts this week, challenge yourself to not only look at accomplishing the things on your to-do list, but also examine the things that never made it there – the things that you aren’t doing that may be making your efforts more difficult than they need to be. Happy writing! [Read more…]
Copyright basics: Another layer of rules for scholars
January 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment
In a recent TAA webinar, Stephen E. Gillen, a lawyer with more than 40 years of experience in and around the publishing business, and author of the book, Guide to Rights Clearance and Permissions in Scholarly, Educational, and Trade Publishing, shared critical information about copyright law, rights clearance, and permissions.
During the session, Gillen introduced an additional layer of rules for scholars, specifically focused on academic integrity. [Read more…]
Using scholarly models for academic writing
November 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I’m not, of course, talking about simple imitation, or worse, 
plagiarism: the models are not there to replace our voice, but to help us find it. Models can help provide structure and ideas that we can adapt to suit our own ends and intentions.
We have to start writing with our own vision of what we want to accomplish, and our own sense of what is important and interesting. But that’s just a jumping off point. We need to focus these general interests and ideas into a specific project.
Models can help with this. We can look at other work that has dealt with the same subject; in fact, as academics, we are obliged to do so, that’s just basic research. But to find our own voice, we start to look at these other works, and we pick which ones resonate most strongly with us: which work best? Which provide us with the most insight? Which are the best planned and executed and written? Choosing among the possibilities helps us understand what kind of research and writing we want to do. [Read more…]
