Historian’s Ethics And the problem of plagiarism

Professional Ethics “Crediting and acknowledging sources is a professional and ethical responsibility for all historians.” Importance of citing sources:  Provides an acknowledgement that your work builds up the works of others  Allows others to retrace your steps and go back to the original primary source  Serves as a validation of your research, citing sources is analogous to the scientific method

Plagiarism is: “using another's words or ideas without proper citation” “the appropriation of someone's artistic, musical, or literary work for personal ends” “the theft of ideas or of written passages or works, where these are passed off as one's own work without acknowledgement of their true origin” “lip-synching to someone else’s voice and accepting the applause and rewards for yourself”

Types of plagiarism Deliberate fraud – taking credit for another’s work Non-attribution – not properly citing direct quotations or paraphrases Patchworking – unintentional overdependence on another’s work to make a point rather

Is plagiarism on the increase? Survey of 3,500 students in  23-25% admitted to “cutting and pasting" from Internet sources and other published documents 2001 survey of college administrators  “sharp increase in students cutting and pasting material into papers from Web sites without attribution, or purchasing term papers from online term-paper mills”

Recent cases of plagiarism Stephen Ambrose  The Wild Blue Doris Kearns Goodwin  The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys

What needs to be cited: Words or ideas from published sources, such as a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, advertisement, or any other medium Diagrams, illustrations, charts, and pictures Words or ideas from unpublished sources, such as class or lecture notes, handouts, speeches, interviews, conversations, , etc.

What doesn’t have to be cited: Common knowledge:  facts that can be found in many sources and are likely to be known by many people. “something that a typical high school student can reasonably be expected to know. For example, there is no need to cite the facts that George Washington was the first U.S. president, George Bush was president during the Gulf War, or Canada and Mexico both border the United States. A similar rule of thumb is that anything you need to look up is not common knowledge.”

Conclusion Give credit when you use somone's words. Give credit when you use someone's ideas. Give credit when you use someone's terms.