Plagiarism: The Blurred Line of Literature

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Recommended: Different types of behavior in plagiarism

If anything is held to the highest value in any array of schools, it is a policy against plagiarism. Academics understand the severity that plagiarism can hold, especially since many of them tend to do it to each other. In 2005, Melissa Elias, who was at the time the President of the Madison School Board, gave a commencement speech that had several sections that were plagiarized from a speech Anna Quindlen, a Pulitzer Prize winner author, had given to Mount Holyoke in 1999. Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard University Sophomore, had published a book with several portions of copied from works of four different authors. Individuals held at high academic expectations committed both of these incidents, one being the president of a school and the other being a student of an Ivy League University. However, despite their valor in academia they both plagiarized, the only difference being that Viswanathan was getting royalties for her act of plagiarism. One has to question whether there really is a difference between these two cases, because both individuals clearly intentionally plagiarized. When handling cases of plagiarism one has to be extremely cautious due to the various degrees of plagiarism that depend on the individual’s intentionality and regards to profit.

There is no accusation of plagiarism for some forums of writing until there is an opportunity of profit. J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, accused Steven Vander Ark, a diehard Harry Potter fan, of plagiarism after a publishing company approached him to make his free online Harry Potter lexicon into a book. An article by David B. Caruso, in USA Today, covers the account of the beginnings of the lawsuit. According to Caruso before Vander Ark was accused, Rowli...

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... of profit through her plagiarism; and Melissa Elias can relate to Steven Vander Ark because although she plagiarized someone else’s speech she had virtually no personal gain from the speech. Regardless of the spectrum of severity to plagiarism that by no means justifies the act of stealing another’s idea. The one thing that makes every living thing on this planet unique is the originality of each organism and that originality should embody the mark they leave behind.

Works Cited

Caruso, David B.. "Harry Potter case illustrates blurry line in copyright law - USATODAY.com." USATODAY.com. USA TODAY, 20 Apr. 2008. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.

Gladwell, Malcolm. "Something Borrowed." The New Yorker.com. The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2004. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.

Widdicombe, Lizzie. "The Plagiarist’s Tale." The New Yorker.com. The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.

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