DOCUMENTATION
Plagiarism & Copyright
College students, especially upper division college students, should be clear about what constitutes plagiarism and how to correctly document their academic writing. Certainly every major college in the country has adequate tutorials online and academic policies published in catalogs and posted on Web sites. Like traffic laws, ignorance is no excuse. The topic is actually quite clear and easy, and it may be summarized this way: Do not use anything created by anyone else without clearly defining the source. To use what belongs to someone else without attribution is to present it as your own work when it is not. That is wrong. That can cause you to fail a class or even be expelled from your school. However, in most of my classes, we are not studying academic writing. We are concerned with workplace writing.
Consider the role of plagiarism in workplace writing. Sometimes using what has been written by others without attribution is required. Generally that practice is called boiler-plate writing. Sections of text that have been carefully worded and approved by the legal department may be required in letters to clients or suppliers, in various sections of reports or instruction manuals. Writing for an organization often means collaborative writing and is always work-for-hire. You have no copyright claim to your work; your writing is owned by the organization that pays you. Certainly you will not steal a co-workers writing and claim it as your own--that could be a good way to bring your job to a sudden end--but you do not have to fear using company resources. When in doubt, ask.
Another time when plagiarism could arise in a workplace setting is when writing reports and providing information and backing from written sources just as when writing academic articles. The result of plagiarism in such situations could be the loss of confidence of the organization's clients, the general public, and your boss. This seems like a risk not worth taking especially when the purpose of using written sources is to pack your argument with support so that it is more persuasive.
Learn about plagiarism at the VAIL Plagiarism Tutor online at http://www.umuc.edu/cip/vail/students/students_tutorials.html
For a slightly different approach, visit the Purdue OWL pages on plagiarism online at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
College students are less likely to understand copyright law. Most have heard that an exclusion exists for educational use, and that leaves many with the idea that they can take anything they see online and use it for class projects. As long as they document their source material and keep their borrowing down to a small part of the whole, they are correct. However, we are concerned with workplace writing and the technical writers and editors in organizations are viewed by others as the experts. Learning about copyright law is a writer's obligation, and knowing how to avoid embroiling one's company from unnecessary law suits is every employee's responsibility. As a student in one of my classes, you are required to make a good faith attempt at understanding copyright laws and techniques for avoiding violating the law.
CLASS RULE: Create your own visuals. That means draw and scan, photograph, use a drawing program (but not its clip art or other visuals created by other people), or using PrtScr to take your own screenshots. If you are not an artist (most of us are not), consider your visuals as placeholders for the company artist's work-to-come. If you take photographs of people, they must be 18 years old and sign a model's release. If the picture is of children, you need their parents' written consent. Yes, you submit copies of these to me when you submit your assignment.
Learn about copyright law at the VAIL ©Primer tutorial online at http://www.umuc.edu/cip/vail/students/students_tutorials.html
For the source, see the US Copyright Office's Copyright Website online at http://www.copyright.gov/
Of special interest (this includes the provision for work-for-hire and that is you) is the ownership page online at http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html
Creative Commons has a new approach to copyright with a licensing approach. Please visit their Web site and learn about this alternative: http://creativecommons.org/
Consider the role of plagiarism in workplace writing. Sometimes using what has been written by others without attribution is required. Generally that practice is called boiler-plate writing. Sections of text that have been carefully worded and approved by the legal department may be required in letters to clients or suppliers, in various sections of reports or instruction manuals. Writing for an organization often means collaborative writing and is always work-for-hire. You have no copyright claim to your work; your writing is owned by the organization that pays you. Certainly you will not steal a co-workers writing and claim it as your own--that could be a good way to bring your job to a sudden end--but you do not have to fear using company resources. When in doubt, ask.
Another time when plagiarism could arise in a workplace setting is when writing reports and providing information and backing from written sources just as when writing academic articles. The result of plagiarism in such situations could be the loss of confidence of the organization's clients, the general public, and your boss. This seems like a risk not worth taking especially when the purpose of using written sources is to pack your argument with support so that it is more persuasive.
Learn about plagiarism at the VAIL Plagiarism Tutor online at http://www.umuc.edu/cip/vail/students/students_tutorials.html
For a slightly different approach, visit the Purdue OWL pages on plagiarism online at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
College students are less likely to understand copyright law. Most have heard that an exclusion exists for educational use, and that leaves many with the idea that they can take anything they see online and use it for class projects. As long as they document their source material and keep their borrowing down to a small part of the whole, they are correct. However, we are concerned with workplace writing and the technical writers and editors in organizations are viewed by others as the experts. Learning about copyright law is a writer's obligation, and knowing how to avoid embroiling one's company from unnecessary law suits is every employee's responsibility. As a student in one of my classes, you are required to make a good faith attempt at understanding copyright laws and techniques for avoiding violating the law.
CLASS RULE: Create your own visuals. That means draw and scan, photograph, use a drawing program (but not its clip art or other visuals created by other people), or using PrtScr to take your own screenshots. If you are not an artist (most of us are not), consider your visuals as placeholders for the company artist's work-to-come. If you take photographs of people, they must be 18 years old and sign a model's release. If the picture is of children, you need their parents' written consent. Yes, you submit copies of these to me when you submit your assignment.
Learn about copyright law at the VAIL ©Primer tutorial online at http://www.umuc.edu/cip/vail/students/students_tutorials.html
For the source, see the US Copyright Office's Copyright Website online at http://www.copyright.gov/
Of special interest (this includes the provision for work-for-hire and that is you) is the ownership page online at http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html
Creative Commons has a new approach to copyright with a licensing approach. Please visit their Web site and learn about this alternative: http://creativecommons.org/
For Discussion
When you are looking at clip art and pictures online and they are offered as free, does that mean the copyright holder has granted you, as an employee of your organization doing work-for-hire, the right to use that work in your document project? What are the alternatives for obtaining artwork for a brochure or report?
Copyright 2012
Ida L. Rodgers, See terms on Course Style Guide Home page.
Copyright 2012
Ida L. Rodgers, See terms on Course Style Guide Home page.