Jonah\'s practice of recycling his own work for different publications is plagia
ID: 3469177 • Letter: J
Question
Jonah's practice of recycling his own work for different publications is plagiarism, because it follows from the definition set by journalists to govern their profession. The main reason given is that journalists' work is copyrighted and the copyright is usually owned by a third party or publisher. In addition, verbatim incorporation or paraphrasing of press releases without citing it is a type of plagiarism.
If a student recycles his or her work, then the academic code of student conduct also classifies this act as plagiarism. Why? because students learn by writing, and if students submit their written work several times to different professors, then the student defeats the goals of writing a paper.
For each of the premises below classify it as a type of mistake in reasoning, or as following from either this definition of plagiarism endorsed by journalists ethics or the academic code of conduct or from the definition implied in a counterexample:
For each question below, choose between: follows the journalists definition; follows both academic and journalists definition; false dilemma and red herring; red herring; false dilemma; counter-argument based on a different definition.
1. Prior to printing press in Europe, plagiarism was not policed. Many authors copied others' work and it is sometimes difficult to tell who the original author was.
2. Press releases are sources of information. He was fired, in part, for paraphrasing the information from a press release and not citing it, and this was classified as an infraction.
3. Should recycling be classified as plagiarism? Either recycling one's own work is legitimate practice or it is plagiarism. There is no third option.
4. 'Recycling' one's own work is a type of plagiarism.
5. No one should be penalized for plagiarism if they submit their own work for two different assignments. Anyone should be allowed to take credit for their own work, as long as it is their own work, as many times as they can. The only relevant question is: is this the author's own work?
6. Singing the 'Happy Birthday' song is either plagiarism, or it is not. It would be silly to claim it is. And if it is not, then recycling one's own work should not be considered plagiarism. There is no third option.
Explanation / Answer
1. This statement demonstrates false reasoning as it commits fallacies of both false dilemma and red herring. It assumes that there are only two alternatives which made copying of a text as either an example of plagiarism or not plagiarism without making evident another alternative. Moreover, it commits the fallacy of red herring as it only distracts attention by discussion practices in the Medieval past.
2. This follows the journalist’s definition of plagiarism wherein verbatim copying or paraphrasing of press releases without citation are seen as acts of plagiarism.
3. This statement demonstrates false reasoning as it commits fallacy of false dilemma where it claims that there is no other alternative like recycling with accurate citation which will be legitimate.
4. This premiss follows from both the journalist’s definition as well the academic definition of plagiarism.
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