Better safe than sued

If you follow my blog, you may or may not recall that I am currently the opinions editor and a writer for the Skyline College publication, The Skyline View. Being on the paper staff is really amazing. My time on staff has had no shortage of fun and frustration, but it is also the best learning experience for the aspiring journalist.

One thing that we learned about first hand at the Skyline View was plagiarism. Most of us know that plagiarism is wrong and can result in dire consequences, but sometimes avoiding plagiarism is a lot easier said than done.

When writing a news story, a reporter has to obtain sources. These sources can be first-hand interviews, speeches or written statements, or they can be other newspapers. There’s nothing wrong with getting some of your information from other papers, but you have to be especially careful using content that’s already been published as one of your sources.

First, you should cross reference the info in the publication with as many other sources as you can to make sure the information has merit. Second and most importantly, you need to make sure—beyond a doubt—that you do not inadvertently plagiarize the publication.

It can be really easy to read a piece of information, and then when the time comes to write your own piece, use the information in almost exactly the same words.

The frustrating thing about plagiarism is that intent is pretty much irrelevant. It doesn’t matter whether or not you meant to do it. It’s still been done. So the only safeguard against plagiarism is constant vigilance. Writers should check and double check their work against any written sources they use. And if you’re ever in doubt about whether or not a sentence verges on plagiarism, put it in quote. Better to be safe than very, very sorry.