When we talk about “Intellectual Property Rights” (IPR) we usually refer to those laws that were developed to respect the rights of the inventors of new tools and machines or of the artists. What about ideas and words used to express ideas and opinions? Even words and ideas have their original source and it’s really important to respect it! If we don’t attribute words and ideas to their original source we become guilty of plagiarism. For this reason we must pay attention to the words we use every time we write something that is not a shopping list! This means we must avoid plagiarism not only in our academic papers but also in our blog posts. Sometimes we find something really interesting in other people’s blogs that is very difficult not to copy and paste, especially when we realize other people express what we think in a better way. In an article published by The Boston Globe I read that blog plagiarism has become a very widespread phenomenon: every day, people read and steal other people’s blog entries, no matter how personal or famous a blog is. We should avoid doing so. I think a blog is something that we create to have the possibility to say what we think using our own words: copying someone else’s words doesn’t make sense! We can refer to other people’s opinions and ideas without using their words, for example paraphrasing or summarizing them. We can also use quotations and make explicit reference to the original source. Moreover, we should tell the reader where the photos or images we use on the blog come from, writing links to the source. In short, in our blog posts we should follow the same rules we usually respect when we write an academic essay. To have a general idea about the good way to write in our own words, have a look at this website “ABC of quotations and your own words and references versus plagiarism”. In this way, we obtain something that is personal and reflects our way of thinking and express our opinions.Then we should protect our blog from other people’s plagiarism! As far as this problem is concerned, “Plagiarism Today”, a blog dedicated to the issue of plagiarism online, says that plagiarism can be reduced in many ways, for example by putting a copyright notice on the blog. We really need to protect our English blogs: we are working hard on them, nobody can copy them without making reference! Do you agree with me?
Ilaria.
Dear Ilaria,
RispondiEliminaI agree with you especially when you say that nobody can copy ideas, works or projects without making references. To make references it is also a work that takes a lot of time, but it must be done!
I don't have to say much about feedback in your article, because I think you write in a very clear way. The only think I noticed is that you don't put commas after the very first introductory sentence, for example:
"For this reason we must pay attention to the words we use every time we write something that is not a shopping list!"- I would put a comma after "For this reason, we must..."
"Sometimes we find something really interesting in other people’s"- "Sometimes, we find something really..."
"As far as this problem is concerned, “Plagiarism Today”, a blog dedicated to the issue of plagiarism online, says"- "..., Plagiarism Today, which is a blog dedicated to the issue of..."
"This means we must avoid plagiarism not only in our academic papers but also in our blog posts"- "this means that we must..." I think it is preferable to put the relative.
I hope my corrections aren't wrong.
I wish you a nice weekend
Bye bye
Arianna
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RispondiEliminaHello Ilaria!
RispondiEliminaI really enjoyed your post, very nice indeed! I must admit that I never thought about plagiarism before but it is a very serious topic to deal with. However, from now on I’ll be very careful about it! As far as our personal blogs are concerned, I don’t know what to think…I’d like to know if someone else in our group thinks that we should put a copyright notice on it. Personally, I firstly thought that it is not a necessary thing to do, but then thinking carefully on it I thought it wasn’t so absurd a thing…
As far as language is concerned, I found only few slips I want to let you notice.
• In the second sentence I have a doubt about the three ‘of’ you used. The sentence isn’t wrong but doesn’t sound too much good to me.
• In the twelfth line you wrote “every day, people read…” but I don’t think you need that comma.
• In the twenty-first line you need to add a colon: “have a look at this website: “ABC of quotations…””.
• In the twenty-third line you forgot a third person –s. ‘expresses’ instead of “express”.
• And finally, in the following line you should add a comma. ‘Then,…’ instead of “Then…”
Ok, that’s all. I hope to hear from you soon.
Chiara ;-)