Lesser artists borrow. Great artists steal.

Actually, we all learn and remember everything we've ever heard or read. Poynter on How To Be A Great (music) Journalist: Give Credit ... especially where it's due.

"Maybe we need to create a pre-plagiarism frame we can work with that allows us to come up with questions that help us give credit when, and where, it's due.

In operating within such a frame, here are some questions we might ask about what we've written:

Does this wording sound familiar?

Do I know where it came from?

Have I arranged my notes so attributed material remains separate from my own material?

Can I document the source of my information, description, or observation?

Have I asked my editor to alert me to anything she, or he, thinks reads like something else she, or he, has read?

Am I giving credit, or some indication, as to where this material came from when appropriate?

Have I double-checked the source of work?


  ¶ 1/17/2004 08:19:00 PM