Definition of Plagiarize by Merriam-Webster
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize
I sometimes browse the Blogger statistics for my blogs. I don't use any trackers other than what this site maintains by default so there isn't much detail, but it can be interesting nonetheless. Here's an example:
Obviously this isn't a hugely popular blog, but it lets me share some fun stuff I do and that makes me happy.
Mostly what I look at is the Audience and Posts pages. There was a time when the Traffic Sources page showed the search criteria people used to find this blog, but once Google started encrypting the search strings that went away. What's left is mostly referrer spam, but occasionally someone follows a real link. I like these, because it says someone has found my blog interesting enough to link to it.
Such was the case in the third link in the Traffic Sources list shown above. This is a link from a page describing a project by a graduate student at MIT. Woo hoo! That must mean something, right?
I decided to follow the link back and see what he'd written. He'd found my posting on Blocking Oscillator operation basics and referenced that in his project. But he didn't write about how a blocking oscillator works. No, he lifted two full paragraphs of my description and pasted it verbatim in his project report. Not as a quote, mind you, but as his own writing. That's not cool.
I could almost understand a grade school child doing this, not understanding how quotations and citations work. A good teacher would recognize that the phrasing is not that of the student and provide proper instruction. Even first year university students sometimes don't understand. But a graduate student? This kind of thing has been known to end careers.
I sent email to the professor who runs the program where this graduate student was working. An hour later I received a reply assuring me that they take plagiarism very seriously, and that they'll follow up with the student. The professor also pointed out that what the student quoted was used as background material and not evaluated as part of the student's project, which is likely true. I replied in turn that I'll be happy with a correctly attributed quotation.
I really don't mind if someone wants to make reference to my blog. In fact, I'm happy when someone does. It says that someone else has found my blog useful to them. But please, give credit where credit is due. Especially if you're benefiting from my efforts in some way other than self-entertainment.
Since I'm bitching about plagiarism, I went back and tweaked my own article to make it clearer where the two drawings come from. Clicking on the drawings always took you to the original source of the image (they're not on blogspot); now clicking takes you to the web pages from which they originate. This should make it easier to navigate around to other related material. However, the text and the oscilloscope screenshot are mine, ALL MINE!
Update: I'm happy to say this issue has been resolved amicably. I have NO PROBLEM with people citing my blog and using selective quotations with proper attribution. If it's something of interest to me I might post a link to your page. Just don't steal what I've created and make it look like your own.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize
plagiarize
verb
pla·gia·rize | \ ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz also -jē-ə- \plagiarized; plagiarizingDefinition of plagiarize
: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source
: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
I sometimes browse the Blogger statistics for my blogs. I don't use any trackers other than what this site maintains by default so there isn't much detail, but it can be interesting nonetheless. Here's an example:
Mostly what I look at is the Audience and Posts pages. There was a time when the Traffic Sources page showed the search criteria people used to find this blog, but once Google started encrypting the search strings that went away. What's left is mostly referrer spam, but occasionally someone follows a real link. I like these, because it says someone has found my blog interesting enough to link to it.
Such was the case in the third link in the Traffic Sources list shown above. This is a link from a page describing a project by a graduate student at MIT. Woo hoo! That must mean something, right?
I decided to follow the link back and see what he'd written. He'd found my posting on Blocking Oscillator operation basics and referenced that in his project. But he didn't write about how a blocking oscillator works. No, he lifted two full paragraphs of my description and pasted it verbatim in his project report. Not as a quote, mind you, but as his own writing. That's not cool.
I could almost understand a grade school child doing this, not understanding how quotations and citations work. A good teacher would recognize that the phrasing is not that of the student and provide proper instruction. Even first year university students sometimes don't understand. But a graduate student? This kind of thing has been known to end careers.
I sent email to the professor who runs the program where this graduate student was working. An hour later I received a reply assuring me that they take plagiarism very seriously, and that they'll follow up with the student. The professor also pointed out that what the student quoted was used as background material and not evaluated as part of the student's project, which is likely true. I replied in turn that I'll be happy with a correctly attributed quotation.
I really don't mind if someone wants to make reference to my blog. In fact, I'm happy when someone does. It says that someone else has found my blog useful to them. But please, give credit where credit is due. Especially if you're benefiting from my efforts in some way other than self-entertainment.
Since I'm bitching about plagiarism, I went back and tweaked my own article to make it clearer where the two drawings come from. Clicking on the drawings always took you to the original source of the image (they're not on blogspot); now clicking takes you to the web pages from which they originate. This should make it easier to navigate around to other related material. However, the text and the oscilloscope screenshot are mine, ALL MINE!
Update: I'm happy to say this issue has been resolved amicably. I have NO PROBLEM with people citing my blog and using selective quotations with proper attribution. If it's something of interest to me I might post a link to your page. Just don't steal what I've created and make it look like your own.
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