copyright / plagiarism exercise

Copyright / Plagiarism Workshop - Preliminary Exercise

This is the first exercise of RIT Library's Copyright & Plagiarism tutorial for students. Please interact with this exercise and then view the streamed tutorial, Plagiarism -You can Avoid it...

Please read the brief scenarios below and respond with answers that best describe your reactions. You may have more than one answer for each question.

  1. Your best friend at RIT had a contract and signed proposal to design software for a computer game. After spending 3 quarters programming, the software was delivered to the company. Your friend was subsequently notified the game was too similar to another that had recently been released. After investigating who the programmer was that sold the similar software, your friend found out that it was his/ her roommate (off-campus apartment) who had accessed the computer files.

    2. Do you feel this is

    a. plagiarism     b. stealing     c. breaking copyright law     d. all’s fair-that’s the breaks

     

  2. Your Father, a science teacher, had been working for 3 years in his spare time on a book detailing his scientific research. He had given up family and personal time for this major accomplishment that was very important to him. The book was successfully published, but within 2 years, another author took some of your father’s ideas and used them as his own in a science publication; there were no citations crediting your father. Your father’s book sales fell off and the scientific community was uncertain to whom to credit the research.

    3. Do you feel this is

    a. plagiarism     b. stealing     c. breaking copyright law     d. all’s fair-that’s the breaks

     

  3. Your neighbor, a recent college graduate, is aspiring to be a well-known photographer. You can see her darkroom window dimly lit into the early hours of the morning. She has a creative Web site where she displays some of her photographs. On her Web site she states that her photos may be used for educational purposes by contacting her for permission. Surfing on the Web one evening, your neighbor comes across a Web site that sells copies of displayed photographs. To her surprise, two of her photos were offered for sale for a sizable sum of money.

    4. Do you feel this is

    a. plagiarism     b. stealing     c. breaking copyright law     d. all’s fair-that’s the breaks