What Is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is an inflammatory topic that may inspire feelings of fear, anger, or frustration. In today’s global society, it is critical that professionals achieve a nuanced understanding of this complex topic.
Andrea Klingler and I conducted an international survey about plagiarism among professionals who work with English-language research and nonfiction content. We included editors, writers, and publishers.
The purpose of this study was to:
Explore current global differences in defining and approaching plagiarism
Identify existing training and education about plagiarism
Understand unique pain points regarding plagiarism
Survey results and forthcoming online course:
We’re working toward publishing an article on this topic, but plan to make the detailed results publicly available as a downloadable PDF afterward.
Sign up to get notified when these resources are available. In the meantime, you can download a handout in the next section that cover additional resources.
When you sign up, you will also receive information on an online course that I’m designing with Caitlin O’Brien. The course will provide a deep dive on plagiarism, copyright, and permissions with practical takeaways, tips, and templates (forthcoming by the end of 2024).
There will be a version designed specifically for editors and one for writers. The course will include a module addressing the complexity that generative AI adds to these discussions. We’ll provide a certificate of completion when you, your staff, or your writers finish the course.
In the sign-up form, there are optional feedback questions on what would be most useful to you, your staff, or your writers in such a course. Any updates from us will be sporadic. This is not a weekly newsletter.
Andrea and I presented our results at the ACES: The Society for Editing virtual conference and the in-person American Medical Writers Association conference on September 21 and November 3, 2022 respectively. We also presented at the September 2023 Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (Glasgow, Scotland) hybrid conference. We addressed our overall results at the ACES conference, focused on medical/scientific writers and editors at the AMWA conference, and tailored aspects of our discussion to editors in the United Kingdom at the CIEP conference.
The emergence of generative AI creates additional complexities. I will be presenting “Plagiarism and Copyright in an Age of Content Recycling, AI, and Global Discourse” with Caitlin O’Brien at the ACES San Diego 2024 conference on April 6, 2024.
Additional resources:
Access a list of additional resources covering plagiarism and copyright via this PDF.
Cartoon by Iva Cheung. You can enjoy other cartoons on her blog.