• Copyright is the right of authors to control the use of their work for a period of time. It is also designed to promote creativity and learning.
• All original work that is fixed in a tangible form of expression is copyrighted, even when it does not include a copyright symbol or notice. This includes — but is not limited to — books, journal articles, web sites, music, photographs, computer programs, and audiovisual materials.
• Copyright is federal law, Title 17 of the United States Code, and it includes penalties for infringement.
• The Copyright Law includes exceptions for teaching, research, scholarship, criticism, comment, and news reporting.
1. Is the work protected by copyright? Items published in the United States prior to 1923 are in the public domain; they can be used without seeking permission. Items published after 1923 may be protected. Copyrights extend for 70 years after the death of the author. Work produced by the U.S. government is most likely in the public domain.
2. How will the work be used? Incorporating copyrighted material into a paper for class and posting material on a website have different copyright requirements. The broader the access to a work, the more copyright considerations are involved.
3. What exceptions apply? When using copyrighted work, determine if exceptions to the copyright law apply allowing you to use the work without seeking permission. Consult the Fair Use Check List and weigh each factor to make your determination.
4. Is permission needed? When the exceptions do not apply seek permission to use the copyrighted material. It is wise to request the permission in writing and keep all documents associated with your request.
• You are both an author and copyright holder of all of your original work, as well as a user of other’s copyrighted works.
• Other’s works and third-party content in your paper must be authorized under the Fair Use exception or used by permission of the rights holder, and you must always give credit to the original author.
• The Seminary will request that you submit dissertations and theses to the Denver Seminary Open Repository and the Theological Research Exchange Network. This allows researchers from around the world to benefit from your research. You will sign an agreement with the Seminary and with TREN for them to accept your work. These non-exclusive licenses only authorize them to disseminate your work as described in the agreement. You retain the copyright.
• If you have further questions about copyright law, please contact the Seminary Library.
Denver Writing Center
Plagiarism is presenting another’s work or one’s own previous work as one's own original academic achievement without proper acknowledgment.
You plagiarize when, intentionally or not, you use someone else’s words or ideas but fail to credit that person, leading your readers to think that those words are yours . . . . In all fields, you plagiarize when you use a source’s words or ideas without citing that source. In most fields, you plagiarize even when you do credit the source but use its exact words without using quotation marks or block indentation . . . . In other fields, you plagiarize when you paraphrase a source so closely that anyone putting your work next to it would see that you could not have written what you did without the source at your elbow.[1]
Plagiarism takes many forms, but all are considered to be a form of taking what belongs to someone else. In the words of the above authors, it is “stealing” and, hence, a breach of ethics and academic integrity. The definition provided above will be used in the examples below to illustrate several forms of plagiarism.
1. Intentional Plagiarism of Words: this is the absence of quotation marks or block quotation with proper reference to the source, as is the case in the following example where the writer prefaces the above material with a couple of introductory words:
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ORIGINAL SOURCE |
PLAGIARISM |
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You plagiarize when, intentionally or not, you use someone else's words or ideas but fail to credit that person. You plagiarize even when you do credit the author but use his or her exact words without so indicating with quotation marks or block indentation. |
I believe that one plagiarizes when, intentionally or not, you use someone else's words or ideas but fail to credit that person. You plagiarize even when you do credit the author but use his or her exact words without so indicating with quotation marks or block indentation.2 Comment: While the source is footnoted, this example illustrates intentional plagiarism by the lack of quotation marks and/or block formatting.
2 Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), 201-2.
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2. Intentional Plagiarism of Ideas: this is developing an idea that originates with someone else as a part of one's argument, even when a reference is made to the source, as is the case in the following example:
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ORIGINAL SOURCE |
PLAGIARISM |
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You also plagiarize when you use words so close to those in your source. that if your work were placed next to the source, it would be obvious that you could not have written what you did without the source at your elbow. |
The "elbow rule" is the norm by which you can check yourself against plagiarism. When you place your writing next to the original and the similarities are so great that it is impossible that you could have written it without the use of a source right in front of you. Comment: The author does not give credit to the source of his or her idea. It is apparent that he or she has "stolen" it from the original source. |
3. Intentional Plagiarism of Papers, Abstracts, etc.: this includes the purchase or copying of someone else's paper, abstract, or thesis and submitting it as if it were one's own.
4. Indirect Plagiarism of Words: this is a paraphrastic use of some else's words, even when loosely reworded; a wording of the material that suggests or implies that it is your own, as is the case in the following example:
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ORIGINAL SOURCE |
Indirect PLAGIARISM |
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You plagiarize when, intentionally or not, you use someone else's words or ideas but fail to credit that person. You plagiarize even when you do credit the author but use his exact words without so indicating with quotation marks or block indentation. You also plagiarize when you use words so close to those in your source, that if your work were placed next to the source, it would be obvious that you could not have written what you did without the source at your elbow.
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Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional. Plagiarism is the use of the words or ideas of someone else while not giving credit to the author. Plagiarism even takes place when citing an author while taking over his or her exact words without using quotation marks or block indentation. The test of plagiarism is whether it would be obvious that you could not have written what you did without the source if your work is placed next to the source.
Comment: The paragraph is plagiarized because it is a paraphrastic reworking of the original source without a footnote or parenthetical cite. |
Both intentional and unintentional plagiarism are equally serious offenses of the community standards. The latter is, at the very least, an expression of poor scholarship. Carelessness in scholarship is poor scholarship and will not permitted at Denver Seminary.
Further information:
[1] Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), 201-2.
This is a Tool to help you determine whether your use of copyright material is fair use. For each of the four sections determine whether the factor favors or disfavors fair use. If less than half of the four factors favor fair use, permission should be obtained before copyright or disseminating copies of the work. When it is split between the sections, weigh each factor to make a determination.
Favoring Fair Use |
Opposing Fair use |
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Teaching (including multiple copies for classroom) Research Scholarship Nonprofit educational institution Criticism Comment News reporting Transformative or productive use (changes the work for new utility) Restricted access (to students or other appropriate group) Parody |
Commercial activity Profiting from the use Entertainment Bad-faith behavior Denying credit to original author |
| Favoring Fair Use |
Opposing Fair Use |
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Published work Factual or nonfiction based Important to favored educational objectives |
Unpublished work Highly creative (art, music, novels, films, plays) Fiction |
Favoring Fair Use |
Opposing Fair Use |
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Small quantity Portion used is not central or significant to entire work Amount is appropriate for educational purpose |
Large portion or whole work used Portion used is central to or the heart of the work |
Favoring Fair Use |
Opposing Fair Use |
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User owns lawfully purchased or acquired copy of original work One or few copies made No significant effect on the market or potential market for copyrighted work No similar product marketed by the copyright holder Lack of licensing mechanism |
Could replace sale of copyrighted work Significantly impairs market or potential market for copyrighted work or derivative Reasonably available licensing mechanism for use of the copyrighted work Affordable permission available for using the work Numerous copies made You made it accessible on the Web in a public form Repeated or long-term use |
Permission to use and adapt licensed through Creative Commons (CC). The checklist was created by Kenneth D. Crews (formerly of Columbia University) and Dwayne K. Buttler (University of Louisville).