Plagiarism

Rutgers academic integrity policy suggests that any use of another individual’s ideas without proper citation is plagiarism. There does not seem to be any “gray spaces” in the wording of the policy as it demands a proper citation for any direct quotation or paraphrased text. Lethem’s text, however, states on page 225, “substantially all ideas are secondhand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily used by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them…”. This quote (including the remainder of the quote) goes on to suggest that no idea is truly original. Every idea has been influenced by some past work and although a creator may believe they are original “there is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands” . Lethem shines a positive light upon the idea of plagiarism and promotes the idea that it is a necessary evil, one that is inevitable and must be accepted. However, there is a distinction between the Rutgers academic integrity policy and Lethem’s view on plagiarism. Lethem’s seems to be more applicable to larger works, publications, movies, music, etc.. In this context, yes, using previous works as a source of inspiration to create a brand new product may seem morally acceptable. However, when it comes to school work, students aren’t exactly copying text for the purposes of creating new art / inspiring others with their work. Most of the time, one intentionally or unintentionally plagiarizes due to the necessity to complete an assignment. In this case, using another individual’s ideas to bring you to the same destination as them is unacceptable. This does not lead to a new product, but rather, something that has “ not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral caliber and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing” (Lethem 225).