Large scale assessments do not exist in a vacuum and often rely on using the work of others — even feature the work of others. This can lead to concerns about copyright infringement and plagiarism.
Copyright is a legal construct. It is mentioned in the US Constitution. Article 1, Section 8 says, “Congression shall have the power to” of do whole bunch of things, and Clause 8 lists, “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;” But copyright is the focus of the next blog post. Today, I am focusing on plagiarism.
Plagiarism is not a legal issue. There are no hard and fast rules on plagiarism because there is no central authority who gets to decide on such things. But generally, plagiarism is inappropriately using someone else’s work — usually without proper attribution.
In the previous paragraph, “inappropriately” and “proper” are carrying a lot of weight. No one can give a general definition of plagiarism that is more specific than that because standards for plagiarism are contextual. That is, they vary from one context to another.
Example #1: Shakespeare
The great broadway musical and film West Side Story rips off Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We all know that. Two warring groups. A teen from each meet at party, immediately fall in love, find a way to be together — even to marry in secret. He kills one of of her cousins, but she marries him anyway. Through tragic misunderstanding and mistakes, they die in the end. Well, he dies. In West Side Story, she lives. Everyone knows that West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet.
So, is that plagiarism? It’s never credited. The story is changed, but it is barely changed. The setting is updated and it’s turned into a musical, but the plot and main characters are basically the same.
There is this book from the 1990’s by Jane Smiley, 1000 Acre. It’s King Lear on an 20th century American farm. The same plot and characters — whose first initials match their analogues in King Lear.
There’s this new play, Fat Ham. It’s Hamlet. Well, it’s not quite Hamlet. There are a LOT of changes. But the basic setup is Hamlet. And the main character slips into some of Shakespeare’s lines from time to time — from Hamlet, of course.
None of that is plagiarism. We are ok with movies, books, plays and television reusing old ideas, be they famous or more obscure. We do not expect them to attributed to the original author, and certainly do not require it. Often, knowing about the original work can deeper our appreciation of the new work. It is not the changes from the original plots or settings that keep them from being plagiarism. It is just the expectations that that in this context ideas are reused all the time, even with rather little change.
In this context, it’s just how it works. Heck, Shakespeare himself plagiarized almost everything. Sure, he added a twist here and there — brilliant alterations to make for a better story — but he based is work on the work of others without ever giving any credit for it. Scholars have basically figured out what books he owned because there are particular details in different plays that make clear whose versions he based his own work upon.
Example #2: Academic Writing
Academic writing is “the worst” (Manual Miranda, 2015). The expectation this that you have to attribute every idea that was not originally yours to the proper source. That is, “Using the ideas, data or language of another without specific and proper acknowledgement” (Vice Provost for Student Affairs, 2020). Like, if I wanted to mention chocolate chip cookies, I should credit Ruth Wakefield, who invented them in the 1930’s.
Whether I am using someone else’s words or someone else’s ideas, in academic writing I have to credit them. “Specific and proper acknowledgment,” says the Vice Provost of Teachers College.
Now, even in academic writing, as careful as it is about plagiarism and credit, there is room for judgment. No, no one would expect you to cite the inventor of the chocolate chip cookie. And these days, no one cites Watson and Crick for their 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA, either. Ironically, if a work is important enough — foundational enough — it transcends the need for credit. Watson and Crick (1953) have only been cited 16,000 times, even though vastly more work builds on their ideas. And though when I wanted to use the phrase “the worst” and I knew what I heard in my head was from Lin Manual Miranda’s use of it in Hamilton, I didn’t really need to cite him.
But if I were to talk about the need to consider the details of things and understand how it feels to be in them, and also to consider the big picture using the idea of the balcony and the dance floor, I would have to cite Heifetz. This video is all about that, and particularly ripping off how he used that metaphor, its purpose and context and lessons. There is nothing wrong with writing about this, even writing that much, but they really should have cited Heifetz. That video does not meeting academic standards for citation, but it is not from an academic institution.
Example #3: Blogs
There is no rule or expectation for blogs. Blogs are a little microcosm of the world, in this regard. Some blogs cite sources more, and some cite them not at all. With blogs, links often serve as citations.
Both academia and link-heavy blogs are about the conversation and the connection of ideas. There are other reasons (e.g., credibility) to cite and link, but a big part of it is just to continue to be a part of a larger and ongoing conversation. But that’s voluntary, when it comes to blogs.
Most blogs are not trying that hard to give credit. Their authors want to feel more ownership of their ideas. And adding all those citations and/or links actually makes it harder to read. Academic writing is really hard to read, and one of the contributors to that difficulty is all of those citations. Blogs want to be more accessible than that.
Plagiarism and Assessment Development
Plagiarism is about failing to give appropriate credit for using someone else’s words and/or ideas. And what constitutes appropriate credit varies by context. What is appropriate in the context of large scale assessments can be observed by looking at what large scale assessments have historically done.
Assessments do not credit originators for ideas, not generally. Excerpts from previously published works are generally credited to their authors and/or their copyright holders. Generally. And that’s it.
That is how it works.
One might argue that it should work otherwise. One might argue that it it should be more like academic standards for plagiarism. I would respond that the audience (i.e., the test takers) are likely not prepared for academic levels of citations and that they certainly do not expect it. But should there be more citation than there has been? Well, some might think that, but it is just their view in the context of established expectations that are quite different. They can try to convince people, but there is no authority they can cite that makes it mandatory or even appropriate.
They might argue that to do otherwise is copyright infringement. In fact, citation is no protection against copyright infringement and what they have a problem with is likely not copyright infringement, in the first place. But that’s for Part II.