Exercise: Identifying plagiarism

Read the brief original passage that follows, and then look closely at the five attempts to quote or paraphrase it. Decide which attempts are acceptable and which plagiarize, prepare notes on what supports your decision in each case, and bring your notes to class for discussion.

The strange thing about plagiarism is that it’s almost always pointless. The writers who stand accused, from Laurence Sterne to Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Susan Sontag, tend to be more talented than the writers they lift from.

—MALCOLM JONES, “Have You Read This Story Somewhere?”

Click Submit after each question to record your answer. If your instructor has assigned this exercise set, you must answer every question before your answers will be submitted to the gradebook.

  1. Question

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    According to Malcolm Jones, writers accused of plagiarism are always better writers than those they are supposed to have plagiarized.
  2. Question

    XjGX8Fjb28vdw8j8bk+dT4sgILnv23JWm9JN0WC0dgmNiV0HuWG00X74q7RwPlFHT+QybWZzFHEzIRUMVONNKa1iTDeWTti1LyZmWJNx22/91iZUAWREI3bo7t4bqjR8HVWGbQxvUnHZ0h5umxl2bHCvB6evty8RQgwYD1Ezz0M=
    According to Malcolm Jones, writers accused of plagiarism “tend to be more talented than the writers they lift from.”
  3. Question

    7/+Y7rAJJOmhi/mOo2d6NTA3wLJc/v+2j2TfpuOY7YT8dWm3ewdBlFd21Ce22Kuu7Y1BVCuDeymxNM3t77Biwg==
    Plagiarism is usually pointless, says writer Malcolm Jones.
  4. Question

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    Those who stand accused of plagiarism, such as Vice President Joseph Biden, tend to be better writers than those whose work they use.
  5. Question

    3znErLACilP1BidPNFiFwNpFFTsDwpU/Xsn6e5mcddUJ5KgXSRtn6+EzZ0/P6zWWlI9ZISpGXRBkJdr15BwVEhQVYOkZHYu9Osc3oMHa0PlkOoXrvmXWkD89ltum3kkV/pQDm1hpMIqqEuokgfUbE2eyxmabuun0
    According to Malcolm Jones, “plagiarism is . . . almost always pointless.”