Plagiarism happens, sometimes intentionally, other times accidentally.
For communicators, unintentional incidences of plagiarism should be as worrisome as instances of intentional plagiarism.
Try this: Read an article someone else wrote, then try to craft a summary of it. After that, look at the original article and your summary. Surprised at how many phrases and ideas you unintentionally borrowed, sometimes word for word, from the original?
Another exercise: Take an article you’ve written, read it carefully, then pretend you’ve been asked to write an article for another outlet on the same topic. Write the first few paragraphs. Surprised at similarities between the two? This is an example of plagiarizing yourself.
More Unintentional Plagiarism
Another example of unintentional plagiarism occurs when people without adequate knowledge of plagiarism cut and paste large swaths of copy and use it as their own. The writer is unaware of sinning.
In this cut-and-paste world, it’s up to teachers and supervisors to educate their charges about plagiarism. In addition, it's the role of editors and senior PR leaders to be plagiarism police. Certainly, assuming that role will reduce productivity and there’s so much you have to edit in a day and, and, and…. Still, it's part of the job.
Editor Beware
Years ago, long before the internet, a submitted article reached my desk. I had a lot of issues with it and the author didn't return my phone calls, so I put it aside. A few days later the article, nearly word for word, appeared in a competitor's publication. I phoned the editor of that publication. The author had duped us, we concluded. The article's author purported to be an independent analyst. Instead, his article flattered several tech brands.
Those companies paid him to flatter them in his article. The goal was to improve their stock prices.
Who? Me?
Be prepared, though, for those accused of plagiarism to make excuses. “I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to do that…” or “I’ve been working so hard, weekends, nights…and I used just a few sentences from someone else’s work. What’s the harm?” I’ve heard variations on both during my career. The first one, if you believe the person, warrants a plagiarism seminar. The second excuse obviously is tougher. Perhaps the workload in your office is onerous. You’ll need to deal with that or suffer the consequences. Offering a heavy workload as an excuse for plagiarism, though, should be unacceptable.
Speaking of unintentional plagiarism, is the phrase “in this cut-and-paste world” that I used above my own? Am I plagiarizing? I wrote the phrase before I read it in an article, but then I wondered: Had I heard it or seen it previously?
A headline we ran earlier in the year read: How to Build a Relationship With Influencers, Not Just a One-Night Stand. One month later another website ran a similar headline. Plagiarism or a creative idea that occurred separately to two people?
Yes, You
After writing a rough draft of the essay you are reading, I looked closer at the Times article I mentioned above. I was horrified when I saw the approach I’d taken is very similar to the one the Times used in 2015. These and others—yes, as we noted above, you can plagiarize yourself, ask Jonah Lehrer—are some of plagiarism's gray areas.
Of course, we’re talking about plagiarism because it was alleged March 6, 2017, that the White House took a portion of an ExxonMobil statement and a quote from Darren Woods, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, about oil exploration activities. It used them in its press release without attribution.
It’s hardly the first instance of plagiarism at the highest levels of society. I wouldn’t have been able to function in graduate school without the books of Stephen Ambrose, who, years later, was caught plagiarizing several times. Just as I was recovering from that shock, another eminent historian whom I admired, Doris Kearns Goodwin, also was caught.
Even in the highest levels of government, examples of plagiarism can be found: see Crowley, Monica and a speechwriter for Trump, Melania.
In defense of ignorant plagiarists (did I really write that?), the concept of borrowing is all around us in the digital world. Pulling a piece of art or music off the internet is ridiculously easy. And it seems above board. Why should it be different for the written word?
Creative Borrowing
In the art world, people borrow all the time. Indeed, we encourage music and art students to imitate their favorite artists. Don't we ask of actors, writers and filmmakers, "Who were your influences?" Wasn't Romeo and Juliet adapted to create West Side Story? In jazz, students are told that stealing phrases, or licks, from the likes of Charlie Parker or Dizzy Gillespie is not only permissible, but recommended. And, yes, jazz teachers use the word “stealing.”
Perhaps rule number one for writers, young and old, is to read as much as possible. In addition to being enjoyable, reading great literature allows aspiring writers to "borrow" from the masters, with attribution, of course.
Look at television for examples of networks appropriating large chunks of each other’s shows. Especially when ratings are at stake, nothing succeeds in TV like success. When a series becomes popular, expect other networks to copy it. Sometimes it’s barely disguised: a few years ago you could watch Flip This House on A&E and Flip That House on Discovery Channel. In writing, though, there’s a difference between purloining, plagiarism and attributed borrowing.
The Takeaways
The takeaways from all this might be that the best offense is a good defense (is repeating a cliché plagiarism?). In an atmosphere where the work of others is a few clicks away and communicators’ workloads keep rising, reduce the temptation by making sure staffers know the definition of plagiarism and its rules (suggestions contained in the linked Times article are great places to start, as are the sites plagiarismtoday.com and plagiarism.org).
In addition, have a plagiarism policy in your company handbook and make sure the penalties are commensurate. Using a phrase I'm sure I didn't invent, go back to the basics. Hold yearly plagiarism seminars that are must-attends Inculcate newcomers upon their joining your team. Make it impossible for a staff member to plead ignorance on plagiarism.
Seth Arenstein is editor of PR News. Follow him: @skarenstein