ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Playlist How to Write an A Essay 30 videos
This video covers the top ten things to definitely not do in an essay and provides some tips for how to avoid them. Plagiarism and disorganization...
We like to say that the first step toward asking a good question is marinating in your thoughts. Uncle Bob's BBQ chicken isn't any good unless it h...
You should probably know what kind of essay you're writing before you actually start writing it. Just like you should probably know where you're go...
Plagiarism 11859 Views
Share It!
Description:
If you copy this video description in its entirety and paste it somewhere else on the Internet, we will be none too pleased. And trust us—we will find you. In fact, we’re going to end things with an unusual word, just so it’s easier to track you down. Boondoggle.
Transcript
- 00:00
Plagiarism, a la Shmoop. Johnny Theatre just loves life under the bright
- 00:12
lights.
- 00:13
And yeah, okay… “Johnny Theatre” is just his stage name. He changed it a few years
- 00:20
back from “Joe Actor.” Johnny is in awe of playwrights who can manipulate
- 00:25
language like it was Play-doh…
Full Transcript
- 00:27
He is so in awe of them, in fact, that he decides to start… borrowing some of their
- 00:34
work, and passing it off as his own.
- 00:37
That is why they call it “play-giarism,” after all… right?
- 00:41
Like any thief, he starts small.
- 00:43
For a while, it’s just a line here and there that… speaks to him.
- 00:47
But by the end of the year, he’s submitting full plays to publishers with just the title
- 00:51
changed.
- 00:52
It isn’t long before someone realizes that Johnny’s play “Seriously Tortured Guy”
- 00:58
is actually “Hamlet.” Whoopsies. Immediately, Johnny is kicked out of his theatre
- 01:03
group. No other theatres in town will have him.
- 01:06
But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. The head of his old theatre company publicizes
- 01:11
the offense, and suddenly Johnny’s writing career is as dead as his acting career.
- 01:16
David Mamet catches wind of the fact that Johnny took his play “Glengarry Glen Ross”
- 01:21
and published it under the title “Dude, Where are My Leads?”
- 01:25
He brings a lawsuit against Johnny… before long, Johnny has lost his life savings in
- 01:30
court fees, his home, his possessions… and his pet turtle, Gilbert, who can’t even
- 01:35
look him in the eye anymore. He even serves a few months jail time.
- 01:39
And plagiarizers don’t get their own jail. He shares a cell with some guy who’s still
- 01:43
got half an ear in his mouth. Things got bad in a hurry for Johnny… but
- 01:47
they don’t have to get bad for you.
- 01:50
Plagiarism is a crime… a theft of ideas, rather than of a physical thing… but a crime
- 01:55
all the same. And it’s totally unnecessary. You can always
- 01:59
reference someone else’s words or ideas…
- 02:02
…as long as you give them credit, by citing them properly.
- 02:06
Of course, not all plagiarism is intentional… some people have gotten in quite a bit of
- 02:10
trouble for repeating someone else’s phrasings unintentionally…
- 02:14
…which is why you must be sure to know and understand the citation process…
- 02:20
…and to be careful whenever you are putting to paper… or to keyboard… anything that
- 02:24
may have originated elsewhere. Students who are caught plagiarizing can be
- 02:29
expelled or suspended.
- 02:33
Journalists or others in the media can lose their jobs… and have trouble ever finding
- 02:37
another one that doesn’t involve offering French fries to hungry customers.
- 02:44
But what are some of the types of plagiarism you have to be aware of?
- 02:47
Well, there’s “copying verbatim,” i.e…. copying someone’s work word for word without
- 02:54
citation. No bueno. Obviously.
- 02:56
Then there’s “copying verbatim with citation”… which happens when you fail to put quotes
- 03:02
around the line or lines you’re copying. Just a couple clicks of a particular keyboard
- 03:09
button could keep you out of a ton of hot water.
- 03:14
And finally there’s paraphrasing, which is when you get really clever and change 3
- 03:18
or 4 words to make it seem like a totally different sentence.
- 03:22
Nice try, slick. Copyrights protect ideas, not just the words expressing them. So if
- 03:27
it’s obvious you’re ripping off someone’s precise idea… start thinking about whom
- 03:32
you’d like to be the recipient of your one phone call.
- 03:36
When in doubt… cite. You can get in trouble for not citing…
- 03:43
…but you’ll never get in trouble for citing too much.
- 03:47
You might give your readers a headache, but at least you won’t suffer Johnny’s fate.
Related Videos
This video offers some rules of thumb for writing a good introduction. It covers everything from tone (confidence is key!) to phrases and clichés...
Even the best essays can go wrong in the conclusion—this video covers what not to do in a conclusion to help avoid any essay-ending problems. The...
You want to be as picky with your citations as Goldilocks was with her porridge—not too many, not too few... juuust right. You want to prove that...
Want even more deets on wordiness? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.
Want even more deets on Run-on Sentences? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.