Plagiarism

Rutgers academic policy sees plagiarism as the theft of  "another person’s words, ideas, or results without giving that person appropriate credit" (Academic Integrity Policy 2A). The idea of plagiarism to Rutgers simply means stealing, however this idea differs from Lethem's definition of plagiarism. Lethem begins his essay with an act of plagiarism when quotes John Donne "All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated" (Lethem 211). Lethem sees plagiarism as a opportunity to revamp the work of previous authors and see ideas such as that of John Donne's in  a new light. However in many ways he still fears the idea of people taking the ideas of other authors without giving them credit. In the text it states We have to remain constantly vigilant to prevent raids by those who would selfishly exploit our common heritage for their private gain. Such raids on our natural resources are not examples of enterprise and initiative. They are attempts to take from all the people just for the benefit of a few" ( Lethem 223). Lethem is explaining how the works of previous authors is not meant to be locked away from the public and in many ways can benefit the idea of others, but by miss using the work of others it harms not only the original author but everyone who could have benefited from that authors ideas. While Lethem sees plagiarism as opportunity to grow both him and Rutgers see the theft of someone's work as serious crime that harms everyone in the academic world.